Europe comes online around the middle of your day, and a call agreed for 1:21 pm is often the first point in the afternoon when everyone is actually awake at the same time. This page counts down to 1:21 pm on your own device's clock, so the wait is exact rather than something worked out twice and disagreed on.
If 1:21 pm has already gone today, the count simply carries on towards tomorrow's occurrence. That rollover happens by itself at the moment the time passes, with nothing to reset and no need to reload, so a page left open overnight is still showing something useful in the morning.
Having all three forms in front of you saves a good deal of squinting: 1:21 pm for everyday reading, 13:21 for anything printed in timetable style, and twenty-one minutes past one in the afternoon for whatever was actually said down the phone. They are three ways of writing one instant, and mixing them up is easier than it sounds.
Common questions
What is 13:21 on a 12-hour clock?
The same instant is 1:21 pm in writing and twenty-one minutes past one in the afternoon out loud. Anything from 13:00 onwards loses twelve to give the pm figure, which is the only sum involved in moving between the two.
Does the number update by itself?
Yes. It is recalculated every second from your device's clock, so nothing needs refreshing or restarting. Whatever is on screen is the current gap to 1:21 pm, not a figure worked out when the page first opened.
What happens once 1:21 pm has passed for today?
The count rolls over and carries on towards the same time tomorrow. That happens on its own at the moment the time passes — the page does not need reloading and there is nothing to reset by hand.
Which clock does the countdown use?
Your own. It reads the local time and time zone from the device in front of you, which in the Emirates means Gulf Standard Time, UTC+4. Travel and the count follows whatever the device picks up.
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