CET to EST Time Converter

Here CET means Central European Time, CET (UTC+1) in its winter and CEST (UTC+2) in its summer, as kept in Berlin; EST means Eastern Time, EST (UTC−5) in its winter and EDT (UTC−4) in its summer, as kept in New York. So EST is 6 h behind CET most of the year, and 5 h behind for a few weeks. Two 9-to-5 working days overlap by 2 h most of the year.

CET to EST is the transatlantic sum for Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome or Amsterdam against New York, Boston or Toronto: for trading desks, airlines, conferences and families split across the Atlantic. Most of the year Europe is six hours ahead, so a European afternoon meeting at 3:00 pm is 9:00 am on the US East Coast, and the overlap is the European afternoon.

The EU and the US change their clocks on different Sundays. The US springs forward on the second Sunday in March, two or three weeks before Europe does on the last Sunday in March, and falls back on the first Sunday in November, a week after Europe. In those weeks the gap is five hours, not six. A recurring video call set in one continent’s time shows up an hour off on the other continent’s calendar during those weeks, so check the dates around late March and late October.

Rule of thumb: Subtract six hours from Central European time to get Eastern time, or five during the US–EU mismatch weeks in March and late October.