diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 1d7335d6..95050129 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ byobu (5.34) unreleased; urgency=low
     - fix time_binary printing "\n" and killing other output
   * usr/lib/byobu/updates_available:
     - make updates_available aware of homebrew
+  * usr/lib/byobu/time, usr/share/byobu/status/statusrc:
+    - add an option to time to hide seconds
 
  -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:48:02 -0600
 
diff --git a/usr/lib/byobu/time b/usr/lib/byobu/time
index e35c98de..d527c5f5 100755
--- a/usr/lib/byobu/time
+++ b/usr/lib/byobu/time
@@ -24,12 +24,18 @@ __time_detail() {
 }
 
 __time() {
+	local secs=1
+	[ -n "$TIME_SECONDS" ] && secs=$TIME_SECONDS
 	case "$BYOBU_BACKEND" in
 		screen)
-			printf "\0050c:\005s"
+			format="\0050c"
+			[ "$secs" != "0" ] && format="$format:\005s"
+			printf $format
 		;;
 		tmux|*)
-			date +"%H:%M:%S"
+			format="%H:%M"
+			[ "$secs" != "0" ] && format="$format:%S"
+			date +$format
 		;;
 	esac
 }
diff --git a/usr/share/byobu/status/statusrc b/usr/share/byobu/status/statusrc
index d9d20dcc..048598a8 100644
--- a/usr/share/byobu/status/statusrc
+++ b/usr/share/byobu/status/statusrc
@@ -72,3 +72,7 @@
 # to instead count number of distinct users logged onto the system
 # Default: 0
 #USERS_DISTINCT=0
+
+# Set this to zero to hide seconds int the time display
+# Default 1
+#TIME_SECONDS=0