diff --git a/db/jsobj.cpp b/db/jsobj.cpp
index 35192b2c42c..7d5a4ae14d8 100644
--- a/db/jsobj.cpp
+++ b/db/jsobj.cpp
@@ -1474,6 +1474,16 @@ namespace mongo {
         }
     }
 
+    time_t OID::asTimeT(){
+        int time;
+        char* T = (char *) &time;
+        T[0] = data[3];
+        T[1] = data[2];
+        T[2] = data[1];
+        T[3] = data[0];
+        return time;
+    }
+
     Labeler::Label GT( "$gt" );
     Labeler::Label GTE( "$gte" );
     Labeler::Label LT( "$lt" );
diff --git a/db/jsobj.h b/db/jsobj.h
index 3b08d6f1f3e..002ae28975b 100644
--- a/db/jsobj.h
+++ b/db/jsobj.h
@@ -172,6 +172,9 @@ namespace mongo {
 
         /** Set to the hex string value specified. */
         void init( string s );
+
+        time_t asTimeT();
+        Date_t asDateT() { return asTimeT() * (long long)1000; }
         
     };
     ostream& operator<<( ostream &s, const OID &o );
diff --git a/dbtests/jsobjtests.cpp b/dbtests/jsobjtests.cpp
index be730e0adae..844b97af803 100644
--- a/dbtests/jsobjtests.cpp
+++ b/dbtests/jsobjtests.cpp
@@ -729,6 +729,30 @@ namespace JsobjTests {
                 ASSERT( a.woCompare( c ) < 0 );
             }
         };
+
+        class time {
+        public:
+            void run(){
+                OID oid;
+
+                {
+                    time_t before = ::time(0);
+                    oid.init();
+                    time_t after = ::time(0);
+                    ASSERT( oid.asTimeT() >= before );
+                    ASSERT( oid.asTimeT() <= after );
+                }
+
+                {
+                    Date_t before = jsTime();
+                    sleepsecs(1);
+                    oid.init();
+                    Date_t after = jsTime();
+                    ASSERT( oid.asDateT() >= before );
+                    ASSERT( oid.asDateT() <= after );
+                }
+            }
+        };
     } // namespace OIDTests
 
     namespace ValueStreamTests {
@@ -1497,6 +1521,7 @@ namespace JsobjTests {
             add< OIDTests::initParse1 >();
             add< OIDTests::append >();
             add< OIDTests::increasing >();
+            add< OIDTests::time >();
             add< ValueStreamTests::LabelBasic >();
             add< ValueStreamTests::LabelShares >();
             add< ValueStreamTests::LabelDouble >();