diff --git a/pkg/log/zap/flags.go b/pkg/log/zap/flags.go
index 3339655075..7fa080b6b5 100644
--- a/pkg/log/zap/flags.go
+++ b/pkg/log/zap/flags.go
@@ -128,3 +128,41 @@ func (ev *stackTraceFlag) String() string {
 func (ev *stackTraceFlag) Type() string {
 	return "level"
 }
+
+type timeEncodingFlag struct {
+	setFunc func(zapcore.TimeEncoder)
+	value   string
+}
+
+var _ flag.Value = &timeEncodingFlag{}
+
+func (ev *timeEncodingFlag) String() string {
+	return ev.value
+}
+
+func (ev *timeEncodingFlag) Type() string {
+	return "time-encoder"
+}
+
+func (ev *timeEncodingFlag) Set(flagValue string) error {
+	val := strings.ToLower(flagValue)
+	switch val {
+	case "rfc3339nano":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.RFC3339NanoTimeEncoder)
+	case "rfc3339":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.RFC3339TimeEncoder)
+	case "iso8601":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.ISO8601TimeEncoder)
+	case "millis":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.EpochMillisTimeEncoder)
+	case "nanos":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.EpochNanosTimeEncoder)
+	case "epoch":
+		ev.setFunc(zapcore.EpochTimeEncoder)
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid time-encoder value \"%s\"", flagValue)
+	}
+
+	ev.value = flagValue
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/log/zap/zap.go b/pkg/log/zap/zap.go
index 22eb5d771a..d53a14156f 100644
--- a/pkg/log/zap/zap.go
+++ b/pkg/log/zap/zap.go
@@ -273,6 +273,15 @@ func (o *Options) BindFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 	}
 	fs.Var(&stackVal, "zap-stacktrace-level",
 		"Zap Level at and above which stacktraces are captured (one of 'info', 'error', 'panic').")
+
+	// Set the time encoding
+	var timeEncoderVal timeEncodingFlag
+	timeEncoderVal.setFunc = func(fromFlag zapcore.TimeEncoder) {
+		o.EncoderConfigOptions = append(o.EncoderConfigOptions, func(ec *zapcore.EncoderConfig) {
+			ec.EncodeTime = fromFlag
+		})
+	}
+	fs.Var(&timeEncoderVal, "zap-time-encoding", "Zap time encoding (one of 'epoch', 'millis', 'nano', 'iso8601', 'rfc3339' or 'rfc3339nano')")
 }
 
 // UseFlagOptions configures the logger to use the Options set by parsing zap option flags from the CLI.
diff --git a/pkg/log/zap/zap_test.go b/pkg/log/zap/zap_test.go
index 095fc54598..1647b9de42 100644
--- a/pkg/log/zap/zap_test.go
+++ b/pkg/log/zap/zap_test.go
@@ -472,6 +472,38 @@ var _ = Describe("Zap log level flag options setup", func() {
 		})
 	})
 
+	Context("with zap-time-encoding flag provided", func() {
+
+		It("Should use ISO8601TimeEncoder, with iso8601 as time encoding specified", func() {
+			// zaps ISO8601TimeEncoder uses 2006-01-02T15:04:05.000Z0700 as pattern for iso8601 encoding
+			iso8601Pattern := `^[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}T[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}.[0-9]{3}(\+[0-9]{4}|Z)`
+
+			args := []string{"--zap-time-encoding=iso8601"}
+			fromFlags.BindFlags(&fs)
+			err := fs.Parse(args)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			logOut := new(bytes.Buffer)
+
+			logger := New(UseFlagOptions(&fromFlags), WriteTo(logOut))
+			logger.Info("This is a test message")
+
+			outRaw := logOut.Bytes()
+
+			res := map[string]interface{}{}
+			Expect(json.Unmarshal(outRaw, &res)).To(Succeed())
+			Expect(res["ts"]).Should(MatchRegexp(iso8601Pattern))
+		})
+
+		It("Should return an error message, with unknown time-encoding", func() {
+			fs = *flag.NewFlagSet(os.Args[0], flag.ContinueOnError)
+			args := []string{"--zap-time-encoding=foobar"}
+			fromFlags.BindFlags(&fs)
+			err := fs.Parse(args)
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+		})
+
+	})
+
 	Context("with encoder options provided programmatically", func() {
 
 		It("Should set Console Encoder, with given Nanos TimeEncoder option.", func() {