diff --git a/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Needles.pm b/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Needles.pm
index d341c716e8a..5af2980cc67 100644
--- a/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Needles.pm
+++ b/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Needles.pm
@@ -216,4 +216,12 @@ sub to_json ($self) {
     };
 }
 
+my $fmt = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z';    # with offset
+sub last_seen_time_fmt ($self) {
+    $self->last_seen_time ? $self->last_seen_time->strftime($fmt) : 'never';
+}
+sub last_matched_time_fmt ($self) {
+    $self->last_matched_time ? $self->last_matched_time->strftime($fmt) : 'never';
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Plugin/Helpers.pm b/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Plugin/Helpers.pm
index 6a7a1e40649..6fe737d4599 100644
--- a/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Plugin/Helpers.pm
+++ b/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Plugin/Helpers.pm
@@ -290,8 +290,8 @@ sub register ($self, $app, $config) {
         populate_hash_with_needle_timestamps_and_urls => sub {
             my ($c, $needle, $hash) = @_;
 
-            $hash->{last_seen} = $needle ? $needle->last_seen_time || 'never' : 'unknown';
-            $hash->{last_match} = $needle ? $needle->last_matched_time || 'never' : 'unknown';
+            $hash->{last_seen} = $needle ? $needle->last_seen_time_fmt : 'unknown';
+            $hash->{last_match} = $needle ? $needle->last_matched_time_fmt : 'unknown';
             return $hash unless $needle;
             if (my $last_seen_module_id = $needle->last_seen_module_id) {
                 $hash->{last_seen_link} = $c->url_for(