diff --git a/axis.go b/axis.go
index 4eacdd78..3c329e7b 100644
--- a/axis.go
+++ b/axis.go
@@ -497,6 +497,129 @@ func (utt UnixTimeTicks) Ticks(min, max float64) []Tick {
 	return ticks
 }
 
+// TimeTicks is suitable for axes representing time values.
+// TimeTicks expects values in Unix time seconds.  It will
+// adjust the number of ticks according to the specified Width.  If
+// not specified, Width defaults to 10 centimeters.
+type TimeTicks struct {
+	// Width is the width of the underlying graph, used to calculate
+	// the number of ticks that can fit properly with their time
+	// shown.
+	Width vg.Length
+}
+
+var _ Ticker = TimeTicks{}
+
+// Inspired by https://github.com/d3/d3-scale/blob/master/src/time.js
+var tickRules = []tickRule{
+	{time.Millisecond, "15:04:05.000", "15:04:05", ".000"},
+	{200 * time.Millisecond, "15:04:05.000", "15:04:05", ".000"},
+	{500 * time.Millisecond, "15:04:05.000", "15:04:05", ".000"},
+	{time.Second, "15:04:05", "15:04", ":05"},
+	{2 * time.Second, "15:04:05", "15:04", ":05"},
+	{5 * time.Second, "15:04:05", "15:04", ":05"},
+	{15 * time.Second, "Jan 02, 15:04", "Jan 02", "15:04"},
+	{30 * time.Second, "15:04:05", "15:04", ":05"},
+	{time.Minute, "15:04:05", "15:04", ":05"},
+	{2 * time.Minute, "Jan 02, 3:04pm", "Jan 02", "3:04pm"},
+	{5 * time.Minute, "Jan 02, 3:04pm", "Jan 02", "3:04pm"},
+	{15 * time.Minute, "Jan 02, 3:04pm", "Jan 02", "3:04pm"},
+	{30 * time.Minute, "Jan 02, 3:04pm", "Jan 02", "3:04pm"},
+	{time.Hour, "Jan 2, 3pm", "Jan 2", "3pm"},
+	{3 * time.Hour, "Jan 2, 3pm", "Jan 2", "3pm"},
+	{6 * time.Hour, "Jan 2, 3pm", "Jan 2", "3pm"},
+	{12 * time.Hour, "Jan 2", "Jan 2", "3pm"},
+	{24 * time.Hour, "Jan 2", "Jan", "2"},
+	{48 * time.Hour, "Jan 2", "Jan", "2"},
+	{7 * 24 * time.Hour, "Jan 2", "Jan", "2"},
+	{month, "Jan 2006", "2006", "Jan"},
+	{3 * month, "Jan 2006", "2006", "Jan"},
+	{6 * month, "Jan 2006", "2006", "Jan"},
+	{12 * month, "2006", "", "2006"},
+	{2 * year, "2006", "", "2006"},
+	{5 * year, "2006", "", "2006"},
+	{10 * year, "2006", "", "2006"},
+}
+
+const month = 31 * 24 * time.Hour
+const year = 12 * month
+
+// tickRule defines a time display format for a given time window (per
+// inch).
+//
+// This assumes a tick about each `durationPerInch`.  The long format is
+// shown each time the timestamp goes over a certain boundary
+// (verified through `watchFormat`).  This way you can show `Sep 2,
+// 12pm` when you pass midnight after `11pm` on `Sep 1`.
+type tickRule struct {
+	durationPerInch time.Duration // use this rule for a maximum Duration per inch, it is also used as an interval per ticks.
+	longFormat      string        // longer format
+	watchFormat     string        // show long format when watchFormat changes between ticks
+	shortFormat     string        // incremental format, shorter
+}
+
+// Ticks implements plot.Ticker and displays appropriately spaced and
+// formatted time labels.
+func (t TimeTicks) Ticks(min, max float64) []Tick {
+	width := t.Width
+	if width == 0 {
+		width = 10 * vg.Centimeter
+	}
+
+	minT := time.Unix(int64(min), 0).UTC()
+	maxT := time.Unix(int64(max), 0).UTC()
+	durationPerInch := maxT.Sub(minT) / time.Duration(width/vg.Inch)
+
+	lastElement := len(tickRules) - 1
+	rule := tickRules[lastElement]
+	for idx, tickRule := range tickRules[:lastElement] {
+		if durationPerInch < tickRules[idx+1].durationPerInch {
+			rule = tickRule
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	timeWindow := rule.durationPerInch
+	delta := time.Month(timeWindow / month) // in months
+	start := minT.Truncate(timeWindow)
+	var lastWatch string
+	var ticks []Tick
+	for {
+		if delta > 0 {
+			// Count in Months now
+			start = time.Date(start.Year(), start.Month()+delta, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+		} else {
+			start = start.Add(timeWindow)
+		}
+
+		if start.Before(minT) {
+			continue
+		}
+		if start.After(maxT) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		var label string
+		newWatch := start.Format(rule.watchFormat)
+		if lastWatch == newWatch {
+			label = start.Format(rule.shortFormat)
+		} else {
+			//TODO: overwrite the first tick with the long form if we
+			// haven't shown a lonform at all.. instead of always
+			// showing the longform first.
+			label = start.Format(rule.longFormat)
+		}
+		lastWatch = newWatch
+
+		ticks = append(ticks, Tick{
+			Value: float64(start.UnixNano()) / float64(time.Second),
+			Label: label,
+		})
+	}
+
+	return ticks
+}
+
 // A Tick is a single tick mark on an axis.
 type Tick struct {
 	// Value is the data value marked by this Tick.
diff --git a/axis_test.go b/axis_test.go
index 32f49b2f..970a4f9f 100644
--- a/axis_test.go
+++ b/axis_test.go
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ import (
 	"math"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/gonum/plot/vg"
 )
 
 func TestAxisSmallTick(t *testing.T) {
@@ -59,3 +62,176 @@ func labelsOf(ticks []Tick) []string {
 	}
 	return labels
 }
+
+func allLabelsOf(ticks []Tick) []string {
+	var labels []string
+	for _, t := range ticks {
+		labels = append(labels, t.Label)
+	}
+	return labels
+}
+
+func TestTimeTicks(t *testing.T) {
+	d := TimeTicks{Width: 4 * vg.Inch}
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		min, max string
+		want     []string
+	}{
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:56:30",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:56:31",
+			want: []string{"12:56:30.200", ".400", ".600", ".800", "12:56:31.000"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:56:01",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:56:59",
+			want: []string{"12:56:05", ":10", ":15", ":20", ":25", ":30", ":35", ":40", ":45", ":50", ":55"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:56:30",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:57:29",
+			want: []string{"12:56:35", ":40", ":45", ":50", ":55", "12:57:00", ":05", ":10", ":15", ":20", ":25"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:07:00",
+			want: []string{"12:02:00", "12:03:00", "12:04:00", "12:05:00", "12:06:00", "12:07:00"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:17:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:02pm", "12:04pm", "12:06pm", "12:08pm", "12:10pm", "12:12pm", "12:14pm", "12:16pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:28:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:05pm", "12:10pm", "12:15pm", "12:20pm", "12:25pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:35:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:05pm", "12:10pm", "12:15pm", "12:20pm", "12:25pm", "12:30pm", "12:35pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:40:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:05pm", "12:10pm", "12:15pm", "12:20pm", "12:25pm", "12:30pm", "12:35pm", "12:40pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 12:45:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:05pm", "12:10pm", "12:15pm", "12:20pm", "12:25pm", "12:30pm", "12:35pm", "12:40pm", "12:45pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 13:05:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:15pm", "12:30pm", "12:45pm", "1:00pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 13:05:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 01, 12:15pm", "12:30pm", "12:45pm", "1:00pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-01 16:05:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 1, 1pm", "2pm", "3pm", "4pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 20:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-02 07:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 1, 9pm", "10pm", "11pm", "Jan 2, 12am", "1am", "2am", "3am", "4am", "5am", "6am", "7am"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-02 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 1, 6pm", "Jan 2, 12am", "6am", "12pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-04 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 2", "12pm", "Jan 3", "12pm", "Jan 4", "12pm"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-06 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 2", "3", "4", "5", "6"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-09 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 2", "4", "6", "8"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-01-25 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 2", "4", "6", "8", "10", "12", "14", "16", "18", "20", "22", "24"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-02-06 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 4", "11", "18", "25", "Feb 1"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-02-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 4", "11", "18", "25", "Feb 1", "8", "15", "22"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-04-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Jan 4", "11", "18", "25", "Feb 1", "8", "15", "22", "29", "Mar 7", "14", "21", "28", "Apr 4", "11", "18", "25"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-09-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Feb 2016", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2016-12-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Feb 2016", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2017-02-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Feb 2016", "May", "Aug", "Nov", "Feb 2017"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2017-08-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Feb 2016", "May", "Aug", "Nov", "Feb 2017", "May", "Aug"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2018-08-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"Feb 2016", "Aug", "Feb 2017", "Aug", "Feb 2018", "Aug"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2020-08-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"2016", "2017", "2018", "2019", "2020"},
+		},
+		{
+			min:  "2016-01-01 12:01:05",
+			max:  "2048-08-28 13:59:00",
+			want: []string{"2017", "2022", "2027", "2032", "2037", "2042", "2047"},
+		},
+	} {
+		//fmt.Println("For dates", test.min, test.max)
+		ticks := d.Ticks(dateToFloat64(test.min), dateToFloat64(test.max))
+		got := allLabelsOf(ticks)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, test.want) {
+			t.Errorf("tick labels mismatch:\ndate1: %s\ndate2: %s\ngot: %#v\nwant:%q", test.min, test.max, got, test.want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func dateToFloat64(date string) float64 {
+	t, err := time.Parse("2006-01-02 15:04:05", date)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	return float64(t.UTC().UnixNano()) / float64(time.Second)
+}