diff --git a/Quda/Benchmark_Quda.cpp b/Quda/Benchmark_Quda.cpp
index 11d8c6e..7421652 100644
--- a/Quda/Benchmark_Quda.cpp
+++ b/Quda/Benchmark_Quda.cpp
@@ -22,15 +22,20 @@ json json_results;
 
 using namespace quda;
 
-// timestamp = seconds since program start.
-// these are written to the json output with the goal of later matching them against
-// power-measurments to determine energy efficiency.
-using Clock = std::chrono::steady_clock;
-Clock::time_point program_start_time = Clock::now();
-double get_timestamp()
+// thanks chatGPT :)
+std::string get_timestamp()
 {
-  auto dur = Clock::now() - program_start_time;
-  return std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::microseconds>(dur).count() * 1.0e-6;
+  // Get the current time
+  auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+
+  // Convert the current time to a time_t object
+  std::time_t currentTime = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
+
+  // Format the time using std::put_time
+  std::stringstream ss;
+  ss << std::put_time(std::localtime(&currentTime), "%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S");
+
+  return ss.str();
 }
 
 // This is the MPI grid, i.e. the layout of ranks
@@ -235,9 +240,9 @@ void benchmark_wilson(std::vector<int> const &L_list, double target_time)
     double flops = 1.0 * dirac.Flops();
 
     // actual benchmarking
-    double start_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto start_time = get_timestamp();
     double secs = bench(f, target_time);
-    double end_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto end_time = get_timestamp();
 
 #ifdef FLOP_COUNTING_GRID
     // this is the flop counting from Benchmark_Grid
@@ -297,9 +302,9 @@ void benchmark_dwf(std::vector<int> const &L_list, double target_time)
     double flops = 1.0 * dirac.Flops();
 
     // actual benchmarking
-    double start_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto start_time = get_timestamp();
     double secs = bench(f, target_time);
-    double end_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto end_time = get_timestamp();
 
 #ifdef FLOP_COUNTING_GRID
     // this is the flop counting from Benchmark_Grid
@@ -385,9 +390,9 @@ void benchmark_axpy(std::vector<int> const &L_list, double target_time)
     f();
 
     // actual benchmarking
-    double start_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto start_time = get_timestamp();
     double secs = bench(f, target_time);
-    double end_time = get_timestamp();
+    auto end_time = get_timestamp();
 
     double mem_MiB = memory / 1024. / 1024.;
     double GBps = mem_MiB / 1024 / secs;