diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py b/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
index 0f86d0980..e712adcf8 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def qute_history(url):
             prev_date = curr_date - one_day
 
             # start_time is the last second of curr_date
-            start_time = time.mktime(next_date.timetuple()) - 1
+            start_time = next_date.timestamp() - 1
             history = [
                 (i["url"], i["title"],
                  datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(i["time"]),
diff --git a/qutebrowser/completion/models/histcategory.py b/qutebrowser/completion/models/histcategory.py
index 1899c2805..fa8443a60 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/completion/models/histcategory.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/completion/models/histcategory.py
@@ -38,9 +38,10 @@ class HistoryCategory(QSqlQueryModel):
         super().__init__(parent=parent)
         self.name = "History"
 
-        # replace ' to avoid breaking the query
-        timefmt = "strftime('{}', last_atime, 'unixepoch')".format(
-            config.get('completion', 'timestamp-format').replace("'", "`"))
+        # replace ' in timestamp-format to avoid breaking the query
+        timefmt = ("strftime('{}', last_atime, 'unixepoch', 'localtime')"
+                   .format(config.get('completion', 'timestamp-format')
+                           .replace("'", "`")))
 
         self._query = sql.Query(' '.join([
             "SELECT url, title, {}".format(timefmt),
diff --git a/tests/unit/completion/test_histcategory.py b/tests/unit/completion/test_histcategory.py
index f285c1dcc..0b5fcb915 100644
--- a/tests/unit/completion/test_histcategory.py
+++ b/tests/unit/completion/test_histcategory.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 """Test the web history completion category."""
 
 import unittest.mock
-import time
+import datetime
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def test_sorting(max_items, before, after, model_validator, hist, config_stub):
     """Validate the filtering and sorting results of set_pattern."""
     config_stub.data['completion']['web-history-max-items'] = max_items
     for url, title, atime in before:
-        timestamp = time.mktime(time.strptime(atime, '%Y-%m-%d'))
+        timestamp = datetime.datetime.strptime(atime, '%Y-%m-%d').timestamp()
         hist.insert({'url': url, 'title': title, 'last_atime': timestamp})
     cat = histcategory.HistoryCategory()
     model_validator.set_model(cat)