FYI, r1567530 tweaks the unit test harness to get e.what() when e inherits from std::exception.
$ ./src/test/cpp/testsuite -v cacheddateformattestcase ... Line -1: Unexpected std::exception: basic_string::compare Line -1: Unexpected std::exception: basic_string::compare Line -1: Unexpected std::exception: basic_string::compare Hope that helps you isolate it, Rhys