diff --git a/googlebigtable/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/GoogleBigtableClient.java b/googlebigtable/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/GoogleBigtableClient.java
index 86ab94eac7d74a9c85c5edb7f883fa9cbd5bcdb7..d0d21dda4b22e796a18d0918846f7afb8bce8842 100644
--- a/googlebigtable/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/GoogleBigtableClient.java
+++ b/googlebigtable/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/GoogleBigtableClient.java
@@ -365,7 +365,9 @@ public class GoogleBigtableClient extends com.yahoo.ycsb.DB {
       setCellBuilder.setFamilyNameBytes(ByteStringer.wrap(columnFamilyBytes));
       setCellBuilder.setColumnQualifier(ByteStringer.wrap(entry.getKey().getBytes()));
       setCellBuilder.setValue(ByteStringer.wrap(entry.getValue().toArray()));
-      setCellBuilder.setTimestampMicros(System.nanoTime() / 1000);
+
+      // Bigtable uses a 1ms granularity
+      setCellBuilder.setTimestampMicros(System.currentTimeMillis() * 1000);
     }
     
     try {