custom form date fields--handled differently by module

We've got a custom project form that contains a field for the project's recording date; the field is set up to show only the date, not the time of day.  I'm working on an automation, triggered by an addition or change to this date field, that adjusts the planned start date for the corresponding recording task to match.

I first tested the scenario using hard-coded info from a sample project.  I used a Read a Record module to pull the field info--it shows the field only as a date:

I parsed this date and added 7 hours to it before passing it to the Update Record module for the task (our Fusion is on Denver time, and we're on EST, so this results in the date having a 9:00am time).  This worked fine.

I then started playing around with triggers.  I created a second scenario with a Watch Field module to detect changes in the recording date field.  The task gets updated with this scenario but with the wrong time.  I started inspecting the modules, and I discovered that the Watch Field module shows the old and new dates with time values--in this case, 6 hours before the correct dates:

The first scenario works because Fusion views my 2024-09-20 date as 9/20/24 12:00am.  Why does the Watch Field module (which apparently creates journal entries) use earlier times?

Thanks.