Moment.js timezone valueOf returning wrong timestamp

Question

I want to use moment.js to shift an input moment to a different timezone and get its timestamp.

moment.tz(moment(), \"Pacific/Auckland\").valueOf();
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Answer 1

var time  = moment.tz("2016-04-25 12:00", "Pacific/Auckland");

then

time.format();

Try this

Answer 2

I think there might just be a conceptual lack of understanding of what the timestamp actually is.

Let's say the current time where I am is:

04/25/2016 @ 10:21am (UTC-7)

What is the timestamp of this moment?

1461604867

What is the UTC time?

04/25/2016 @ 5:21pm (UTC)

What is the timestamp of this moment?

1461604867

What, the same, why?

A moment in time is the same timestamp, regardless of which timezone it is in. When you call moment(), it is referring to right NOW, this particular moment in time in the grand space-time continuum. Same with Date.now(). The moment you are reading this is, in reality, still the exact same moment where you are, where I am, in Japan, in Antarctica, in Syria, in Greenland, etc. It just so happens that this one moment is visually represented (the time string) by humans in different ways in each area.

Moment timezone does not affect the actual Date object it stores. It only affects the visual representation of the date. The visual representation varies across timezone. That is why you will not get a different timestamp.