diff --git a/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric.go b/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric.go
index 49ff83b4..2fa29631 100644
--- a/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric.go
+++ b/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ const (
 type Metric struct {
 	Labels  map[string]string  `json:"labels"`
 	Metrics map[string]float64 `json:"metrics"`
+	Time    int64              `json:"time"`
 	name    string
 	machine string
 	seen    int
@@ -262,6 +263,8 @@ func (w *Watcher) handleCheck(ctx context.Context, output []byte, err error) err
 		return w.FailureTransition()
 	}
 
+	metric.Time = time.Now().Unix()
+
 	for k, v := range w.properties.Labels {
 		metric.Labels[k] = v
 	}
@@ -297,7 +300,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) storeMetricAsData(metric *Metric) error {
 
 	w.Debugf("Storing metrics to machine data")
 
-	return w.machine.DataPut("metric", metric)
+	return w.machine.DataPut("metric", map[string]any{w.name: metric})
 }
 
 func (w *Watcher) publishToGraphite(ctx context.Context, metric *Metric) error {
@@ -342,8 +345,6 @@ func (w *Watcher) publishToGraphite(ctx context.Context, metric *Metric) error {
 	}
 	defer conn.Close()
 
-	now := time.Now().Unix()
-
 	// copy it so we can add stuff to it without impacting other parts
 	// TODO: use maps.Copy() later
 	m := make(map[string]float64)
@@ -359,7 +360,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) publishToGraphite(ctx context.Context, metric *Metric) error {
 		}
 
 		name := fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", prefix, k)
-		_, err = conn.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("%s %f %d\n", name, v, now)))
+		_, err = conn.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("%s %f %d\n", name, v, metric.Time)))
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric_test.go b/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric_test.go
index e3207885..328325aa 100644
--- a/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric_test.go
+++ b/aagent/watchers/metricwatcher/metric_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2020-2022, R.I. Pienaar and the Choria Project contributors
+// Copyright (c) 2020-2024, R.I. Pienaar and the Choria Project contributors
 //
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@ var _ = Describe("MetricWatcher", func() {
 						"metrics": map[string]any{
 							"choria_runtime_seconds": 0.5,
 						},
+						"time": float64(0),
 					},
 				},
 			}))