diff --git a/docs/02-Scales.md b/docs/02-Scales.md
index 813b44c15..c776355eb 100644
--- a/docs/02-Scales.md
+++ b/docs/02-Scales.md
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ round | String | - | If defined, dates will be rounded to the start of this unit
 tooltipFormat | String | '' | The moment js format string to use for the tooltip.
 unit | String | - | If defined, will force the unit to be a certain type. See [Time Units](#scales-time-units) section below for details.
 unitStepSize | Number | 1 | The number of units between grid lines.
+minUnit | String | 'millisecond' | The minimum display format to be used for a time unit
 
 #### Date Formats
 
diff --git a/src/scales/scale.time.js b/src/scales/scale.time.js
index 50d3c3bec..1d6168710 100755
--- a/src/scales/scale.time.js
+++ b/src/scales/scale.time.js
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ module.exports = function(Chart) {
 			round: false, // none, or override with week, month, year, etc.
 			displayFormat: false, // DEPRECATED
 			isoWeekday: false, // override week start day - see http://momentjs.com/docs/#/get-set/iso-weekday/
+			minUnit: 'millisecond',
 
 			// defaults to unit's corresponding unitFormat below or override using pattern string from http://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/format/
 			displayFormats: {
@@ -195,7 +196,7 @@ module.exports = function(Chart) {
 				var labelCapacity = innerWidth / (tickLabelWidth);
 
 				// Start as small as possible
-				me.tickUnit = 'millisecond';
+				me.tickUnit = me.options.time.minUnit;
 				me.scaleSizeInUnits = me.lastTick.diff(me.firstTick, me.tickUnit, true);
 				me.displayFormat = me.options.time.displayFormats[me.tickUnit];
 
diff --git a/test/scale.time.tests.js b/test/scale.time.tests.js
index 8a3852a8c..930ef254c 100755
--- a/test/scale.time.tests.js
+++ b/test/scale.time.tests.js
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ describe('Time scale tests', function() {
 				round: false,
 				isoWeekday: false,
 				displayFormat: false,
+				minUnit: 'millisecond',
 				displayFormats: {
 					'millisecond': 'h:mm:ss.SSS a', // 11:20:01.123 AM
 					'second': 'h:mm:ss a', // 11:20:01 AM
@@ -279,6 +280,31 @@ describe('Time scale tests', function() {
 		expect(scale.ticks).toEqual(['Jan 1, 8PM', 'Jan 1, 9PM', 'Jan 1, 10PM', 'Jan 1, 11PM', 'Jan 2, 12AM', 'Jan 2, 1AM', 'Jan 2, 2AM', 'Jan 2, 3AM', 'Jan 2, 4AM', 'Jan 2, 5AM', 'Jan 2, 6AM', 'Jan 2, 7AM', 'Jan 2, 8AM', 'Jan 2, 9AM', 'Jan 2, 10AM', 'Jan 2, 11AM', 'Jan 2, 12PM', 'Jan 2, 1PM', 'Jan 2, 2PM', 'Jan 2, 3PM', 'Jan 2, 4PM', 'Jan 2, 5PM', 'Jan 2, 6PM', 'Jan 2, 7PM', 'Jan 2, 8PM', 'Jan 2, 9PM']);
 	});
 
+	it('build ticks honoring the minUnit', function() {
+		var scaleID = 'myScale';
+
+		var mockData = {
+			labels: ["2015-01-01T20:00:00", "2015-01-02T21:00:00"], // days
+		};
+
+		var mockContext = window.createMockContext();
+		var config = Chart.helpers.clone(Chart.scaleService.getScaleDefaults('time'));
+		config.time.minUnit = 'day';
+		var Constructor = Chart.scaleService.getScaleConstructor('time');
+		var scale = new Constructor({
+			ctx: mockContext,
+			options: config, // use default config for scale
+			chart: {
+				data: mockData
+			},
+			id: scaleID
+		});
+
+		//scale.buildTicks();
+		scale.update(400, 50);
+		expect(scale.ticks).toEqual(['Jan 1, 2015', 'Jan 2, 2015', 'Jan 3, 2015']);
+	});
+
 	it('should build ticks using the config diff', function() {
 		var scaleID = 'myScale';