diff --git a/src/components/structures/MessagePanel.js b/src/components/structures/MessagePanel.js
index c681f5105d..affa33a3e8 100644
--- a/src/components/structures/MessagePanel.js
+++ b/src/components/structures/MessagePanel.js
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ var sdk = require('../../index');
 
 var MatrixClientPeg = require('../../MatrixClientPeg')
 
+const MILLIS_IN_DAY = 86400000;
+
 /* (almost) stateless UI component which builds the event tiles in the room timeline.
  */
 module.exports = React.createClass({
@@ -306,7 +308,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                 // membership event, which will not change during forward pagination.
                 const key = "membereventlistsummary-" + (prevEvent ? mxEv.getId() : "initial");
 
-                if (this._wantsDateSeparator(prevEvent, ts1)) {
+                if (this._wantsDateSeparator(prevEvent, mxEv.getDate())) {
                     let dateSeparator = <li key={ts1+'~'}><DateSeparator key={ts1+'~'} ts={ts1}/></li>;
                     ret.push(dateSeparator);
                 }
@@ -316,7 +318,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                     let collapsedMxEv = this.props.events[i + 1];
 
                     if (!isMembershipChange(collapsedMxEv) ||
-                        this._wantsDateSeparator(this.props.events[i], collapsedMxEv.getTs())) {
+                        this._wantsDateSeparator(this.props.events[i], collapsedMxEv.getDate())) {
                         break;
                     }
                     summarisedEvents.push(collapsedMxEv);
@@ -427,12 +429,14 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         // local echoes have a fake date, which could even be yesterday. Treat them
         // as 'today' for the date separators.
         var ts1 = mxEv.getTs();
+        var eventDate = mxEv.getDate();
         if (mxEv.status) {
-            ts1 = new Date();
+            eventDate = new Date();
+            ts1 = eventDate.getTime();
         }
 
         // do we need a date separator since the last event?
-        if (this._wantsDateSeparator(prevEvent, ts1)) {
+        if (this._wantsDateSeparator(prevEvent, eventDate)) {
             var dateSeparator = <li key={ts1}><DateSeparator key={ts1} ts={ts1}/></li>;
             ret.push(dateSeparator);
             continuation = false;
@@ -469,15 +473,19 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         return ret;
     },
 
-    _wantsDateSeparator: function(prevEvent, nextEventTs) {
+    _wantsDateSeparator: function(prevEvent, nextEventDate) {
         if (prevEvent == null) {
             // first event in the panel: depends if we could back-paginate from
             // here.
             return !this.props.suppressFirstDateSeparator;
         }
+        // Return early for events that are > 24h apart
+        if (Math.abs(prevEvent.getTs() - nextEventDate.getTime()) > MILLIS_IN_DAY) {
+            return true;
+        }
 
-        return (new Date(prevEvent.getTs()).toDateString()
-                !== new Date(nextEventTs).toDateString());
+        // Compare weekdays
+        return prevEvent.getDate().getDay() !== nextEventDate.getDay();
     },
 
     // get a list of read receipts that should be shown next to this event