How To Change Time On Garmin Forerunner 55 | Set It Right In Minutes

Set time to Auto, sync with your phone or GPS, and your watch will snap to the correct local time, time zone, and daylight saving.

Your Forerunner 55 usually keeps time without you thinking about it. Then you travel, your phone changes time zones, daylight saving flips, or a sync hiccup hits, and the watch looks “off” by an hour (or more). The good news: fixing it is simple once you know which setting controls what.

This walkthrough shows three reliable ways to set the time: automatic via phone, automatic via GPS, and manual as a fallback. You’ll end with a watch that matches your local time and stays that way after runs, reboots, and syncs.

How To Change Time On Garmin Forerunner 55

If you want the clean, no-drama fix, set the watch to automatic time and force a sync. That handles time zone changes and daylight saving without you chasing settings later.

Use Auto Time With Your Phone

1. On the watch face, press and hold UP to open the menu.
2. Go to System > Time > Set Time.
3. Choose Auto (paired phone).
4. Open the Garmin Connect app on your phone.
5. Sync the watch (pull down on the home screen in the app, or tap the device icon and sync).

If your phone shows the right local time, this method is usually the smoothest. If your phone time is wrong, fix the phone first, then sync again.

Use Auto Time With GPS

1. On the watch, go to System > Time > Set Time.
2. Select Auto (GPS).
3. Go outside with a clear view of the sky.
4. Start an outdoor GPS activity (like Run) and wait for GPS lock.
5. End the activity once the time updates.

This is the best move when you’re traveling without reliable phone sync, or when the phone connection is flaky. A single good GPS lock can correct time zone and daylight saving shifts.

Set Time Manually When You Need A One-Off Fix

1. From the watch face, hold UP.
2. Select System > Time > Set Time.
3. Choose Manual.
4. Set the time and confirm.

Manual time works in a pinch, like when you’re indoors and GPS won’t lock. Still, it’s worth switching back to Auto once you can, so the watch stays aligned after travel and seasonal clock changes.

Find The Time Controls On The Watch

Garmin tucks all time options under one path, so you don’t need to hunt through apps or widgets.

Menu Path You’ll Use Most

• Watch face → hold UP
• System → Time

Inside Time, you’ll see settings like time format (12-hour or 24-hour), auto/manual time, and a GPS sync option. Garmin lists these items under the Forerunner 55 time settings page here: Forerunner 55 Time Settings.

Pick 12-Hour Or 24-Hour Time

If the time itself is correct but the display style feels wrong, you likely just want the format.

1. Go to System > Time.
2. Select Time Format.
3. Choose 12-Hour or 24-Hour.

This won’t change your time zone. It only changes how the same time is shown.

Changing Time On Garmin Forerunner 55 After Travel And DST

Travel is where people get tripped up. Your watch can be right on minutes and seconds, yet still show the wrong hour because it’s parked in the old time zone. Daylight saving changes can do the same thing.

Best Routine When You Land In A New Time Zone

1. Turn Bluetooth on for both phone and watch.
2. Open Garmin Connect and sync once.
3. If it’s still wrong, switch Set Time to Auto (GPS) and get a GPS lock outdoors.

This two-step approach works because phone sync is fast, and GPS sync is a strong fallback when the phone connection is spotty.

Quick DST Fix Without Changing Anything Else

If you only need the “one hour” correction after a clock change, do a GPS sync. On the Forerunner 55, the Sync With GPS option is meant for time zone changes and daylight saving updates. Use it when the watch is close, yet not quite right.

Once it updates, your workouts, sleep tracking, and alarms line up again without you manually nudging the hour.

Time-Setting Methods Compared

Each method has a sweet spot. Use the table to pick the fastest fix for your situation.

Method	Best When	What To Watch For
Auto (Phone)	Your phone shows correct local time	Phone time must be correct before syncing
Auto (GPS)	Travel, weak phone sync, or no data	Needs clear sky and a GPS lock
Manual	Indoor fix or temporary workaround	May drift after travel or clock changes
Sync With GPS	Clock is off by an hour after DST or travel	Run it outdoors; patience helps
Time Format (12/24)	Time is right, display looks wrong	Doesn’t affect time zone
Sync Via Computer	Phone pairing is acting up	Computer clock must be correct
Re-pair Phone Connection	Sync completes but time won’t update	Remove device in the app, then pair again
Restart Watch	Time changed once, then “snaps back”	Restart after changing Set Time mode

Fix A Forerunner 55 That Keeps Showing The Wrong Time

If your time keeps drifting or jumping back, treat it like a sync chain problem: the watch is pulling time from somewhere that’s wrong, or it’s not pulling time at all.

Start With The Simple Checks

• Confirm Auto time is on: System > Time > Set Time > Auto.
• Check your phone’s time: If the phone is off, the watch can mirror that error after sync.
• Sync again: Open Garmin Connect and run a fresh sync.
• Restart the watch: A reboot can clear a stuck time state after you change settings.

Garmin’s own troubleshooting notes point to syncing with the app, syncing via computer, or grabbing a GPS signal as the main ways to correct a watch that displays the wrong time: Watch Displays The Incorrect Time.

When GPS Fixes What Phone Sync Can’t

Sometimes the phone sync completes, yet the hour stays wrong after travel. GPS is the tie-breaker. Switch to Auto (GPS) or run Sync With GPS, then get a clean satellite lock outdoors. If the watch updates during an activity, end it and return to the watch face to confirm the time is stable.

When Manual Time Is Fine

Manual time is fine when you just need the clock to match a wall clock and you don’t care about time zone logic for a day. If you’re logging runs, sleep, and alarms, Auto is the safer long-term setting.

Common Scenarios And Fast Fixes

This section is meant to save you time. Find your situation, do the matching fix, and move on with your day.

After A Flight, The Minutes Are Right But The Hour Is Off

1. Set Time to Auto (Phone) and sync.
2. If it stays off, run Sync With GPS outdoors.

After Daylight Saving, The Watch Is One Hour Behind Or Ahead

1. Run Sync With GPS outdoors.
2. If you can’t get outside, sync with your phone once your phone time is correct.

You Changed The Time, Then It Changed Back

1. Check Set Time mode. If it’s Auto, the watch may overwrite your manual setting on the next sync.
2. If you truly want manual time, set Set Time to Manual and avoid syncing until you switch back to Auto.
3. Restart the watch after changing the mode.

The Watch Won’t Sync With The Phone

1. Toggle Bluetooth off and on (phone and watch).
2. Open Garmin Connect and sync again.
3. If it still fails, remove the device from the app and pair again.
4. Use GPS time sync as a stopgap so your clock stays right.

Time Troubleshooting Table

If you’re stuck, match what you see on the screen with the most likely cause, then use the fix shown.

What You See	Most Likely Cause	Fix
Hour is off after travel	Time zone not updated	Sync with phone, then Sync With GPS outdoors
One-hour error after clock change	Daylight saving not applied yet	Run Sync With GPS; confirm Set Time is Auto
Time correct, display feels “wrong”	12/24-hour format mismatch	System > Time > Time Format
Time changes back after you set it	Auto time overwriting manual time	Pick one mode; restart after switching
Time wrong after computer sync	Computer clock incorrect	Fix computer time, sync again
Time wrong, GPS won’t lock	Indoor use or blocked sky view	Go outside; start an outdoor activity and wait
Time fine, activities show odd timestamps	Recent time change shifted logs	Resync; wait for next activity to confirm normal timestamps

A Simple Checklist To Keep Time Accurate

If you want the watch to stay boringly correct, this is the routine that works for most people.

• Leave Set Time on Auto unless you have a clear reason to go manual.
• After travel, sync with your phone once, then do a GPS sync if the hour still looks off.
• If time keeps drifting, check the phone’s clock and time zone settings first.
• When you change time settings, restart the watch once to clear any stuck state.
• If you only want a different display style, change Time Format, not the time itself.

Once you’ve set Auto time and proved a clean sync, the Forerunner 55 tends to stay locked in. Your alarms fire when you expect. Your runs land in the right day. And you stop second-guessing your watch before heading out the door.