I genuinely still don't get it, but why do you need to fix the reference point once and for all? I would assume in 99% of cases the user is simply just interes

I genuinely still don't get it, but why do you need to fix the reference point once and for all? I would assume in 99% of cases the user is simply just interested in his local time anyway. If you really need the location info, then you would obv have to make some other tradeoffs like either 1) always store the location alongside the timestamp or 2) complicate (probably massively so) the time format, storing and parsing/processing logic But I don't see how that's an issue of UTC timestamps per se rather than being an issue of requiring more information than just time (i.e. time AND location at the time). Again, really would appreciate an explanation of where I am mistaken here because thus far the whole point of OP seems like a trivial non-issue to me.