diff --git a/background.html b/background.html
index bc86e1adf..2eddd549a 100644
--- a/background.html
+++ b/background.html
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@
   <script type='text/x-tmpl-mustache' id='conversation-preview'>
       {{> avatar }}
       <div class='contact-details'>
-          <span class='last-timestamp'> {{ last_message_timestamp }} </span>
+          <span class='last-timestamp' data-timestamp={{ last_message_timestamp }}> </span>
           {{> contact_name_and_number }}
           {{ #unreadCount }}
             <span class='unread-count'>{{ unreadCount }}</span>
diff --git a/js/views/conversation_list_item_view.js b/js/views/conversation_list_item_view.js
index c7c49bc46..5664e4283 100644
--- a/js/views/conversation_list_item_view.js
+++ b/js/views/conversation_list_item_view.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
             this.listenTo(this.model, 'destroy', this.remove); // auto update
             this.listenTo(this.model, 'opened', this.markSelected); // auto update
             extension.windows.onClosed(this.stopListening.bind(this));
+            this.timeStampView = new Whisper.BriefTimestampView();
         },
 
         markSelected: function() {
@@ -36,12 +37,14 @@
                 Mustache.render(_.result(this,'template', ''), {
                     title: this.model.getTitle(),
                     last_message: this.model.get('lastMessage'),
-                    last_message_timestamp: moment(this.model.get('timestamp')).format('MMM D'),
+                    last_message_timestamp: this.model.get('timestamp'),
                     number: this.model.getNumber(),
                     avatar: this.model.getAvatar(),
                     unreadCount: this.model.get('unreadCount')
                 }, this.render_partials())
             );
+            this.timeStampView.setElement(this.$('.last-timestamp'));
+            this.timeStampView.update();
 
             twemoji.parse(this.el, { base: '/images/twemoji/', size: 16 });
 
diff --git a/js/views/message_view.js b/js/views/message_view.js
index 89a3e4121..69daaa5b6 100644
--- a/js/views/message_view.js
+++ b/js/views/message_view.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
             this.listenTo(this.model, 'destroy', this.remove);
             this.listenTo(this.model, 'pending', this.renderPending);
             this.listenTo(this.model, 'done', this.renderDone);
-            this.timeStampView = new Whisper.MessageTimestampView();
+            this.timeStampView = new Whisper.ExtendedTimestampView();
         },
         events: {
             'click .timestamp': 'select',
diff --git a/js/views/timestamp_view.js b/js/views/timestamp_view.js
index 54b1a845b..73d156932 100644
--- a/js/views/timestamp_view.js
+++ b/js/views/timestamp_view.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     'use strict';
     window.Whisper = window.Whisper || {};
 
-    Whisper.MessageTimestampView = Whisper.View.extend({
+    Whisper.TimestampView = Whisper.View.extend({
         initialize: function() {
             extension.windows.onClosed(this.clearTimeout.bind(this));
         },
@@ -16,19 +16,8 @@
             if (millis >= millis_now) {
                 millis = millis_now;
             }
-            var lastWeek = moment(millis_now).subtract(7, 'days');
-            var time = moment(millis);
-            var result = '';
-            if (time > moment(millis_now).startOf('day')) {
-                // t units ago
-                result = time.fromNow();
-            } else if (time > lastWeek) {
-                // Fri 1:30 PM or Fri 13:30
-                result = time.format('ddd ') + time.format('LT');
-            } else {
-                // Oct 31 1:30 PM or Oct 31
-                result = time.format('MMM D ') + time.format('LT');
-            }
+            // defined in subclass!
+            var result = this.getRelativeTimeSpanString(millis);
             this.$el.text(result);
 
             var delay;
@@ -42,7 +31,7 @@
             } else if (millis_since <= moment.relativeTimeThreshold('h') * 1000 * 60 * 60) {
                 // N hours ago
                 delay = 60 * 60 * 1000;
-            } else if (time > lastWeek) {
+            } else { // more than a week ago
                 // Day of week + time
                 delay = 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 - millis_since;
             }
@@ -56,4 +45,63 @@
             clearTimeout(this.timeout);
         }
     });
+
+    Whisper.BriefTimestampView = Whisper.TimestampView.extend({
+        getRelativeTimeSpanString: function(timestamp_) {
+            // Convert to moment timestamp if it isn't already
+            var timestamp = moment(timestamp_),
+                timediff = moment.duration(moment() - timestamp);
+
+            // Do some wrapping to match conversation view, display >= 30 minutes (seconds)
+            // as a full hour (minute) if the number of hours (minutes) isn't zero
+            if (timediff.hours >= 1 && timediff.minutes() >= 30) {
+                timediff.add(1, 'hours');
+            } else if (timediff.minutes() >= 1 && timediff.seconds() >= 30) {
+                timediff.add(1, 'minutes');
+            }
+
+            if (timediff.years() > 0) {
+                return timestamp.format('MMM D, YYYY');
+            } else if (timediff.months() > 0 || timediff.days() > 6) {
+                return timestamp.format('MMM D');
+            } else if (timediff.days() > 0) {
+                return timestamp.format('ddd');
+            } else if (timediff.hours() > 1) {
+                 return timediff.hours() + ' hours';
+            } else if (timediff.hours() === 1 || timediff.minutes() >= 45) {
+                // to match conversation view, display >= 45 minutes as 1 hour
+                return '1 hour';
+            } else if (timediff.minutes() > 1) {
+                return timediff.minutes() + ' min';
+            } else if (timediff.minutes() === 1 || timediff.seconds() >= 45) {
+                // same as hours/minutes, 0:00:45 -> 1 min
+                return '1 min';
+            } else {
+                return 'now';
+            }
+        },
+    });
+
+
+    Whisper.ExtendedTimestampView = Whisper.TimestampView.extend({
+        getRelativeTimeSpanString: function(timestamp_) {
+            var timestamp = moment(timestamp_),
+                now = moment(),
+                lastWeek = moment().subtract(7, 'days'),
+                lastYear = moment().subtract(1, 'years');
+            if (timestamp > now.startOf('day')) {
+                // t units ago
+                return timestamp.fromNow();
+            } else if (timestamp > lastWeek) {
+                // Fri 1:30 PM or Fri 13:30
+                return timestamp.format('ddd ') + timestamp.format('LT');
+            } else if (timestamp > lastYear) {
+                // Oct 31 1:30 PM or Oct 31
+                return timestamp.format('MMM D ') + timestamp.format('LT');
+            } else {
+                // Oct 31, 2012 1:30 PM
+                return timestamp.format('MMM D, YYYY ') + timestamp.format('LT');
+            }
+        },
+    });
 })();
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 2e92128e4..d28870653 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@
   <script type="text/javascript" src="views/whisper_view_test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="views/group_update_view_test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="views/message_view_test.js"></script>
+  <script type="text/javascript" src="views/timestamp_view_test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="views/list_view_test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="views/conversation_search_view_test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="models/conversations_test.js"></script>
diff --git a/test/views/timestamp_view_test.js b/test/views/timestamp_view_test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d471208c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/views/timestamp_view_test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * vim: ts=4:sw=4:expandtab
+ */
+'use strict';
+
+describe('TimestampView', function() {
+    it('formats long-ago timestamps correctly', function() {
+        var timestamp = Date.now();
+        var brief_view = new Whisper.BriefTimestampView().render(),
+            ext_view = new Whisper.ExtendedTimestampView().render();
+
+        // Helper functions to check absolute and relative timestamps
+
+        // Helper to check an absolute TS for an exact match
+        var check = function(view, ts, expected) {
+            var result = view.getRelativeTimeSpanString(ts);
+            assert.strictEqual(result, expected);
+        };
+
+        // Helper to check relative times for an exact match against both views
+        var checkDiff = function(sec_ago, expected_brief, expected_ext) {
+            check(brief_view, timestamp - sec_ago * 1000, expected_brief);
+            check(ext_view, timestamp - sec_ago * 1000, expected_ext);
+        };
+
+        // Helper to check an absolute TS for an exact match against both views
+        var checkAbs = function(ts, expected_brief, expected_ext) {
+            if (!expected_ext) expected_ext = expected_brief;
+            check(brief_view, ts, expected_brief);
+            check(ext_view, ts, expected_ext);
+        };
+
+        // Helper to check an absolute TS for a match at the beginning against
+        var checkStartsWith = function(view, ts, expected) {
+            var result = view.getRelativeTimeSpanString(ts);
+            var regexp = new RegExp("^" + expected);
+            assert.match(result, regexp);
+        };
+
+        // check integer timestamp, JS Date object and moment object
+        checkAbs(timestamp, 'now', 'a few seconds ago');
+        checkAbs(new Date(), 'now', 'a few seconds ago');
+        checkAbs(moment(), 'now', 'a few seconds ago');
+
+        // check recent timestamps
+        checkDiff(30, 'now', 'a few seconds ago'); // 30 seconds
+        checkDiff(50, '1 min', 'a minute ago'); // >= 45 seconds => 1 minute
+        checkDiff(40*60, '40 min', '40 minutes ago');
+        checkDiff(60*60, '1 hour', 'an hour ago');
+        checkDiff(125*60, '2 hours', '2 hours ago');
+
+        // set to third of month to avoid problems on the 29th/30th/31st
+        var last_month = moment().subtract(1, 'month').date(3),
+            months = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
+                      'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'],
+            day_of_month = new Date().getDate();
+        check(brief_view,last_month, months[last_month.month()] + ' 3');
+        checkStartsWith(ext_view,last_month, months[last_month.month()] + ' 3');
+
+        // subtract 26 hours to be safe in case of DST stuff
+        var yesterday = new Date(timestamp - 26*60*60*1000),
+            days_of_week = ['Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat'];
+        check(brief_view, yesterday, days_of_week[yesterday.getDay()]);
+        checkStartsWith(ext_view, yesterday, days_of_week[yesterday.getDay()]);
+
+        // Check something long ago
+        // months are zero-indexed in JS for some reason
+        check(brief_view, new Date(2012, 4, 5, 17, 30, 0), 'May 5, 2012');
+        checkStartsWith(ext_view, new Date(2012, 4, 5, 17, 30, 0), 'May 5, 2012');
+    });
+
+});