In December the light is already going by half three, and by four most of it has gone. That makes the clock a steadier guide than the window for anything scheduled in the late afternoon. This page counts down to 4:18 pm exactly, reading straight from the time your own device is keeping.
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: 4:18 pm for everyday reading, 16:18 for anything printed in railway style, and eighteen minutes past four in the afternoon 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 4:18 pm, 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 16:18 in the 12-hour clock?
That is 4:18 pm, or eighteen minutes past four in the afternoon 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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