Einstein grew up while the clock synchronization thing was
   happening. I suspect it led to his interest in Time.

   In 1884, the GMT was established. Einstein was born in 1879. He
   would've been 4 years old, too young to remember it happening,
   but it would've grown up with the IMPLEMENTATION and the
   controversy of implementing a standardized set of worldwide
   clocks.

   I suspect it bugged him... this dissonance between the two views
   of Time and it sparked his interest and curiosity.

   I could be wrong of course. This is just speculation on my part
   but I'm sure _somebody_ else made the same connection as me. I
   usually find I'm not the first with ideas.