diff --git a/log-tree.c b/log-tree.c
index 1c9eefee33b38a44f34d21c47bc1f16af1443a6c..1618f3c79a3095ab88553d9ca71ce0c4024c6b97 100644
--- a/log-tree.c
+++ b/log-tree.c
@@ -390,7 +390,9 @@ void show_log(struct rev_info *opt)
 			 */
 			show_reflog_message(opt->reflog_info,
 				    opt->commit_format == CMIT_FMT_ONELINE,
-				    opt->date_mode);
+				    opt->date_mode_explicit ?
+					opt->date_mode :
+					DATE_NORMAL);
 			if (opt->commit_format == CMIT_FMT_ONELINE)
 				return;
 		}
diff --git a/revision.c b/revision.c
index 35eca4a36185b1c5c40245748d0004fdaf0f6c00..9fc4e8d3818f29261b1963f4995bc36f8af31179 100644
--- a/revision.c
+++ b/revision.c
@@ -1159,8 +1159,10 @@ static int handle_revision_opt(struct rev_info *revs, int argc, const char **arg
 		revs->simplify_history = 0;
 	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--relative-date")) {
 		revs->date_mode = DATE_RELATIVE;
+		revs->date_mode_explicit = 1;
 	} else if (!strncmp(arg, "--date=", 7)) {
 		revs->date_mode = parse_date_format(arg + 7);
+		revs->date_mode_explicit = 1;
 	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--log-size")) {
 		revs->show_log_size = 1;
 	}
diff --git a/revision.h b/revision.h
index 9d0dddbcbc981c60fd1348cdf257c67fb9ee5f84..b6421a64321168237443ecb7e56e6b0765256c8b 100644
--- a/revision.h
+++ b/revision.h
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ struct rev_info {
 			show_merge:1,
 			abbrev_commit:1,
 			use_terminator:1,
-			missing_newline:1;
+			missing_newline:1,
+			date_mode_explicit:1;
 	enum date_mode date_mode;
 
 	unsigned int	abbrev;