Since I found this question not being aware, that mysql always stores time in timestamp fields in UTC but will display (e.g. phpmyadmin) in local time zone I would like to add my findings.

I have an automatically updated last_modified field, defined as:

`last_modified` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Looking at it with phpmyadmin, it looks like it is in local time, internally it is UTC

SET time_zone="+04:00"; // or '+00:00' to display dates in UTC or 'UTC' if time zones are installed.
SELECT last_modified, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(last_modified), from_unixtime(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(last_modified), '%Y-%c-%d %H:%i:%s'), CONVERT_TZ(last_modified,@@session.time_zone,'+00:00') as UTC FROM `table_name`

In any constellation, UNIX_TIMESTAMP and ‘as UTC’ are always displayed in UTC time.

Run this twice, first without setting the time_zone.