diff --git a/apply.c b/apply.c
index 40707ca50c..e5d7959b29 100644
--- a/apply.c
+++ b/apply.c
@@ -820,8 +820,7 @@ static int has_epoch_timestamp(const char *nameline)
 	const char *timestamp = NULL, *cp, *colon;
 	static regex_t *stamp;
 	regmatch_t m[10];
-	int zoneoffset;
-	int hourminute;
+	int zoneoffset, epoch_hour, hour, minute;
 	int status;
 
 	for (cp = nameline; *cp != '\n'; cp++) {
@@ -830,6 +829,18 @@ static int has_epoch_timestamp(const char *nameline)
 	}
 	if (!timestamp)
 		return 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss must be from either 1969-12-31
+	 * (west of GMT) or 1970-01-01 (east of GMT)
+	 */
+	if (starts_with(timestamp, "1969-12-31"))
+		epoch_hour = 24;
+	else if (starts_with(timestamp, "1970-01-01"))
+		epoch_hour = 0;
+	else
+		return 0;
+
 	if (!stamp) {
 		stamp = xmalloc(sizeof(*stamp));
 		if (regcomp(stamp, stamp_regexp, REG_EXTENDED)) {
@@ -847,6 +858,9 @@ static int has_epoch_timestamp(const char *nameline)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	hour = strtol(timestamp + 11, NULL, 10);
+	minute = strtol(timestamp + 14, NULL, 10);
+
 	zoneoffset = strtol(timestamp + m[3].rm_so + 1, (char **) &colon, 10);
 	if (*colon == ':')
 		zoneoffset = zoneoffset * 60 + strtol(colon + 1, NULL, 10);
@@ -855,20 +869,7 @@ static int has_epoch_timestamp(const char *nameline)
 	if (timestamp[m[3].rm_so] == '-')
 		zoneoffset = -zoneoffset;
 
-	/*
-	 * YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss must be from either 1969-12-31
-	 * (west of GMT) or 1970-01-01 (east of GMT)
-	 */
-	if ((zoneoffset < 0 && memcmp(timestamp, "1969-12-31", 10)) ||
-	    (0 <= zoneoffset && memcmp(timestamp, "1970-01-01", 10)))
-		return 0;
-
-	hourminute = (strtol(timestamp + 11, NULL, 10) * 60 +
-		      strtol(timestamp + 14, NULL, 10) -
-		      zoneoffset);
-
-	return ((zoneoffset < 0 && hourminute == 1440) ||
-		(0 <= zoneoffset && !hourminute));
+	return hour * 60 + minute - zoneoffset == epoch_hour * 60;
 }
 
 /*