A feed, a nappy and a stretch of pacing about the landing is how a lot of people spend this hour, and the next fixed moment can feel a very long way off. If that moment is 12:23 am, the countdown here gives it a shape — an exact figure, ticking down, rather than an open-ended wait.
Because the count reads straight from your device's clock, its accuracy rests on that clock being right, time zone included. Phones and computers normally handle this themselves, so in practice the figure here lines up with whatever time the device is already showing elsewhere on screen.
Matching what somebody said against what somebody wrote is easier with all three versions to hand: 12:23 am for everyday reading, 00:23 for anything printed in railway style, and twenty-three minutes past twelve at night for whatever was actually spoken down the phone. All three describe precisely the same point in the day, and having them side by side saves a good deal of squinting at a timetable.
Common questions
Which clock does it use?
Your own. It reads the local time and time zone from the device you are looking at, so the figure reflects where you actually are rather than a fixed zone written into the page.
Will this alert me when the time arrives?
No. It is a live number rather than an alarm — nothing rings, buzzes or notifies you at zero. If you need to be interrupted at 12:23 am, set an alarm as well and treat this page as the running total.
Is it affected by the clocks changing?
Only in the sense that your device is. When the change between GMT and BST happens at the end of March and October, the device adjusts and the countdown follows it without anything to do here.
What is 00:23 in the 12-hour clock?
That is 12:23 am, or twenty-three minutes past twelve at night if you are saying it aloud. From 13:00 onwards, subtracting twelve gives the pm figure — the same moment written three different ways.
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