diff --git a/lib/timing.cpp b/lib/timing.cpp
index b4a7974f..1d760ab1 100644
--- a/lib/timing.cpp
+++ b/lib/timing.cpp
@@ -100,15 +100,12 @@ long long int Util::epoch() {
   return time(0);
 }
 
-std::string Util::getUTCString(){
-  time_t rawtime;
+std::string Util::getUTCString(long long int epoch){
+  if (!epoch){epoch = time(0);}
+  time_t rawtime = epoch;
   struct tm * ptm;
-
-  time ( &rawtime );
-
-  ptm = gmtime ( &rawtime );
-
+  ptm = gmtime(&rawtime);
   char result[20];
-  snprintf(result, 20, "%0.4d-%0.2d-%0.2dT%0.2d:%0.2d:%0.2d", ptm->tm_year, ptm->tm_mon, ptm->tm_mday, ptm->tm_hour, ptm->tm_min, ptm->tm_sec);
+  snprintf(result, 20, "%0.4d-%0.2d-%0.2dT%0.2d:%0.2d:%0.2d", ptm->tm_year+1900, ptm->tm_mon+1, ptm->tm_mday, ptm->tm_hour, ptm->tm_min, ptm->tm_sec);
   return std::string(result);
 }
diff --git a/lib/timing.h b/lib/timing.h
index 9e8a40f6..e7486806 100644
--- a/lib/timing.h
+++ b/lib/timing.h
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 /// \file timing.h
 /// Utilities for handling time and timestamps.
-#include <string>
 
 #pragma once
+#include <string>
 
 namespace Util {
   void wait(int ms); ///< Sleeps for the indicated amount of milliseconds or longer.
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ namespace Util {
   long long unsigned int getMicros(long long unsigned int previous);///<Gets the time difference in microseconds.
   long long int getNTP();
   long long int epoch(); ///< Gets the amount of seconds since 01/01/1970.
-  std::string getUTCString();
+  std::string getUTCString(long long int epoch = 0);
 }