diff --git a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStore.java b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStore.java
index 9327612..7342092 100755
--- a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStore.java
+++ b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStore.java
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ public class RDBDocumentStore implements DocumentStore {
         Connection connection = null;
         try {
             connection = this.ch.getROConnection();
-            long result = this.db.determineServerTimeDifferenceMillis(connection, getTable(Collection.NODES));
+            long result = this.db.determineServerTimeDifferenceMillis(connection);
             connection.commit();
             return result;
         } catch (SQLException ex) {
diff --git a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreDB.java b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreDB.java
index e578918..fc864a1 100755
--- a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreDB.java
+++ b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreDB.java
@@ -50,6 +50,16 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         public String checkVersion(DatabaseMetaData md) throws SQLException {
             return RDBJDBCTools.versionCheck(md, 1, 4, description);
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public String getInitializationStatement() {
+            return "create alias if not exists unix_timestamp as $$ long unix_timestamp() { return System.currentTimeMillis()/1000L; } $$;";
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select unix_timestamp();";
+        }
     },
 
     DERBY("Apache Derby") {
@@ -59,8 +69,8 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         }
 
         @Override
-        public String getCurrentTimeStampInMsSyntax() {
-            return "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP";
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "values {fn timestampdiff(SQL_TSI_SECOND,timestamp('1970-1-1-00.00.00.000000'), current_timestamp)};";
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -76,6 +86,11 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         }
 
         @Override
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select extract(epoch from now())::integer;";
+        }
+
+        @Override
         public String getTableCreationStatement(String tableName) {
             return ("create table " + tableName + " (ID varchar(512) not null primary key, MODIFIED bigint, HASBINARY smallint, DELETEDONCE smallint, MODCOUNT bigint, CMODCOUNT bigint, DSIZE bigint, DATA varchar(16384), BDATA bytea)");
         }
@@ -115,6 +130,11 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
             return RDBJDBCTools.versionCheck(md, 10, 1, description);
         }
 
+        @Override
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select cast (days(current_timestamp - current_timezone) - days('1970-01-01') as integer) * 86400 + midnight_seconds(current_timestamp - current_timezone) from sysibm.sysdummy1";
+        }
+
         public String getTableCreationStatement(String tableName) {
             return "create table " + tableName
                     + " (ID varchar(512) not null, MODIFIED bigint, HASBINARY smallint, DELETEDONCE smallint, MODCOUNT bigint, CMODCOUNT bigint, DSIZE bigint, DATA varchar(16384), BDATA blob("
@@ -182,6 +202,11 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         }
 
         @Override
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select (trunc(sys_extract_utc(systimestamp)) - to_date('01/01/1970', 'MM/DD/YYYY')) * 24 * 60 * 60 + to_number(to_char(sys_extract_utc(systimestamp), 'SSSSS')) from dual;";
+        }
+
+        @Override
         public String getInitializationStatement() {
             // see https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OAK-1914
             // for some reason, the default for NLS_SORT is incorrect
@@ -228,6 +253,11 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         }
 
         @Override
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select unix_timestamp();";
+        }
+
+        @Override
         public String getTableCreationStatement(String tableName) {
             // see https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OAK-1913
             return ("create table " + tableName + " (ID varbinary(512) not null primary key, MODIFIED bigint, HASBINARY smallint, DELETEDONCE smallint, MODCOUNT bigint, CMODCOUNT bigint, DSIZE bigint, DATA varchar(16000), BDATA longblob)");
@@ -328,8 +358,8 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
         }
 
         @Override
-        public String getCurrentTimeStampInMsSyntax() {
-            return "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP";
+        public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
+            return "select datediff(second, dateadd(second, datediff(second, getutcdate(), getdate()), '1970-01-01'), getdate());";
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -394,7 +424,7 @@ public enum RDBDocumentStoreDB {
     /**
      * Query syntax for current time in ms
      */
-    public String getCurrentTimeStampInMsSyntax() {
+    public String getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax() {
         return "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP(4)";
     }
 
diff --git a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreJDBC.java b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreJDBC.java
index ad9a1bf..1d43af9 100644
--- a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreJDBC.java
+++ b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/document/rdb/RDBDocumentStoreJDBC.java
@@ -222,33 +222,17 @@ public class RDBDocumentStoreJDBC {
         }
     }
 
-    public long determineServerTimeDifferenceMillis(Connection connection, RDBTableMetaData tmd) {
+    public long determineServerTimeDifferenceMillis(Connection connection) {
         PreparedStatement stmt = null;
         ResultSet rs = null;
         long result;
         try {
-            String t = "select ";
-            if (this.dbInfo.getFetchFirstSyntax() == FETCHFIRSTSYNTAX.TOP) {
-                t += "TOP 1 ";
-            }
-            t += this.dbInfo.getCurrentTimeStampInMsSyntax() + " from " + tmd.getName();
-            switch (this.dbInfo.getFetchFirstSyntax()) {
-                case LIMIT:
-                    t += " LIMIT 1";
-                    break;
-                case FETCHFIRST:
-                    t += " FETCH FIRST 1 ROWS ONLY";
-                    break;
-                default:
-                    break;
-            }
-
-            stmt = connection.prepareStatement(t);
+            stmt = connection.prepareStatement(this.dbInfo.getCurrentTimeStampInSecondsSyntax());
             long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
             rs = stmt.executeQuery();
             if (rs.next()) {
                 long roundtrip = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
-                long serverTime = rs.getTimestamp(1).getTime();
+                long serverTime = 1000l * rs.getInt(1);
                 long roundedTime = start + roundtrip / 2;
                 result = roundedTime - serverTime;
                 String msg = String.format("instance timestamp: %d, DB timestamp: %d, difference: %d", roundedTime, serverTime,