diff --git a/storage/gcp/gcp.go b/storage/gcp/gcp.go
index cc1405e8..fdf90ad7 100644
--- a/storage/gcp/gcp.go
+++ b/storage/gcp/gcp.go
@@ -472,7 +472,7 @@ func (a *Appender) updateCheckpoint(ctx context.Context, size uint64, root []byt
 
 // objStore describes a type which can store and retrieve objects.
 type objStore interface {
-	getObject(ctx context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, int64, error)
+	getObject(ctx context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, *gcs.ReaderObjectAttrs, error)
 	setObject(ctx context.Context, obj string, data []byte, cond *gcs.Conditions, contType string, cacheCtl string) error
 	deleteObjectsWithPrefix(ctx context.Context, prefix string) error
 }
@@ -488,7 +488,12 @@ func (lrs *logResourceStore) setCheckpoint(ctx context.Context, cpRaw []byte) er
 }
 
 func (lrs *logResourceStore) getCheckpoint(ctx context.Context) ([]byte, error) {
-	r, _, err := lrs.objStore.getObject(ctx, layout.CheckpointPath)
+	r, attr, err := lrs.objStore.getObject(ctx, layout.CheckpointPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	checkpointAgeHistogram.Record(ctx, time.Since(attr.LastModified).Milliseconds())
 	return r, err
 }
 
@@ -1260,8 +1265,8 @@ type gcsStorage struct {
 }
 
 // getObject returns the data and generation of the specified object, or an error.
-func (s *gcsStorage) getObject(ctx context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, int64, error) {
-	return otel.Trace2(ctx, "tessera.storage.gcp.getObject", tracer, func(ctx context.Context, span trace.Span) ([]byte, int64, error) {
+func (s *gcsStorage) getObject(ctx context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, *gcs.ReaderObjectAttrs, error) {
+	return otel.Trace2(ctx, "tessera.storage.gcp.getObject", tracer, func(ctx context.Context, span trace.Span) ([]byte, *gcs.ReaderObjectAttrs, error) {
 		if s.bucketPrefix != "" {
 			obj = filepath.Join(s.bucketPrefix, obj)
 		}
@@ -1270,14 +1275,14 @@ func (s *gcsStorage) getObject(ctx context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, int64,
 
 		r, err := s.gcsClient.Bucket(s.bucket).Object(obj).NewReader(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, -1, fmt.Errorf("getObject: failed to create reader for object %q in bucket %q: %w", obj, s.bucket, err)
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("getObject: failed to create reader for object %q in bucket %q: %w", obj, s.bucket, err)
 		}
 
 		d, err := io.ReadAll(r)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, -1, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q: %v", obj, err)
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %q: %v", obj, err)
 		}
-		return d, r.Attrs.Generation, r.Close()
+		return d, &r.Attrs, r.Close()
 	})
 }
 
@@ -1329,9 +1334,9 @@ func (s *gcsStorage) setObject(ctx context.Context, objName string, data []byte,
 				preconditionFailed = true
 			}
 			if preconditionFailed {
-				existing, existingGen, err := s.getObject(ctx, objName)
+				existing, existingAttr, err := s.getObject(ctx, objName)
 				if err != nil {
-					return fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch existing content for %q (@%d): %v", objName, existingGen, err)
+					return fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch existing content for %q (@%d): %v", objName, existingAttr.Generation, err)
 				}
 				if !bytes.Equal(existing, data) {
 					span.AddEvent("Non-idempotent write")
diff --git a/storage/gcp/gcp_test.go b/storage/gcp/gcp_test.go
index a3b15fd2..b0e0aaf7 100644
--- a/storage/gcp/gcp_test.go
+++ b/storage/gcp/gcp_test.go
@@ -792,15 +792,15 @@ func newMemObjStore() *memObjStore {
 	}
 }
 
-func (m *memObjStore) getObject(_ context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, int64, error) {
+func (m *memObjStore) getObject(_ context.Context, obj string) ([]byte, *gcs.ReaderObjectAttrs, error) {
 	m.RLock()
 	defer m.RUnlock()
 
 	d, ok := m.mem[obj]
 	if !ok {
-		return nil, -1, fmt.Errorf("obj %q not found: %w", obj, gcs.ErrObjectNotExist)
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("obj %q not found: %w", obj, gcs.ErrObjectNotExist)
 	}
-	return d, 1, nil
+	return d, &gcs.ReaderObjectAttrs{Generation: 1}, nil
 }
 
 // TODO(phboneff): add content type tests
diff --git a/storage/gcp/otel.go b/storage/gcp/otel.go
index 6759bcbe..8902df7e 100644
--- a/storage/gcp/otel.go
+++ b/storage/gcp/otel.go
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ var (
 	objectPathKey = attribute.Key("tessera.objectPath")
 	opNameKey     = attribute.Key("op_name")
 
-	publishCount metric.Int64Counter
-	opsHistogram metric.Int64Histogram
+	publishCount           metric.Int64Counter
+	opsHistogram           metric.Int64Histogram
+	checkpointAgeHistogram metric.Int64Histogram
 
 	// Custom histogram buckets as we're interested in low-millis upto low-seconds.
 	histogramBuckets = []float64{0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 8000, 10000}
@@ -55,6 +56,15 @@ func init() {
 		klog.Exitf("Failed to create opsHistogram metric: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	checkpointAgeHistogram, err = meter.Int64Histogram(
+		"tessera.reader.checkpoint.age",
+		metric.WithDescription("Age of checkpoints at the point of reading from GCP"),
+		metric.WithUnit("ms"),
+		metric.WithExplicitBucketBoundaries(histogramBuckets...))
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.Exitf("Failed to create checkpointAgeHistogram metric: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	publishCount, err = meter.Int64Counter(
 		"tessera.appender.checkpoint.publication.counter",
 		metric.WithDescription("Number of checkpoint publication attempts by result"),