diff --git a/pubber/src/main/java/daq/pubber/Pubber.java b/pubber/src/main/java/daq/pubber/Pubber.java
index 200dfde75f..bc3bb4a1e7 100644
--- a/pubber/src/main/java/daq/pubber/Pubber.java
+++ b/pubber/src/main/java/daq/pubber/Pubber.java
@@ -351,9 +351,7 @@ static void augmentDeviceMessage(Object message) {
       Field version = message.getClass().getField("version");
       version.set(message, UDMI_VERSION);
       Field timestamp = message.getClass().getField("timestamp");
-      if (timestamp.get(message) == null) {
-        timestamp.set(message, getCurrentTimestamp());
-      }
+      timestamp.set(message, getCurrentTimestamp());
     } catch (Throwable e) {
       throw new RuntimeException("While augmenting device message", e);
     }
diff --git a/pubber/src/test/java/daq/pubber/PubberTest.java b/pubber/src/test/java/daq/pubber/PubberTest.java
index a5f2edc80b..87725a4908 100644
--- a/pubber/src/test/java/daq/pubber/PubberTest.java
+++ b/pubber/src/test/java/daq/pubber/PubberTest.java
@@ -134,6 +134,6 @@ public void augmentDeviceMessageTest() {
     testMessage.timestamp = new Date(1241);
     Pubber.augmentDeviceMessage(testMessage);
     assertEquals(testMessage.version, Pubber.UDMI_VERSION);
-    assertEquals(testMessage.timestamp, new Date(1241));
+    assertNotEquals(testMessage.timestamp, new Date(1241));
   }
 }