diff --git a/api/client/events.go b/api/client/events.go
index 75144b09c7..d3e235093e 100644
--- a/api/client/events.go
+++ b/api/client/events.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package client
 
 import (
 	"net/url"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/opts"
 	flag "github.com/docker/docker/pkg/mflag"
@@ -36,11 +37,12 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdEvents(args ...string) error {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
+	ref := time.Now()
 	if *since != "" {
-		v.Set("since", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*since))
+		v.Set("since", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*since, ref))
 	}
 	if *until != "" {
-		v.Set("until", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*until))
+		v.Set("until", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*until, ref))
 	}
 	if len(eventFilterArgs) > 0 {
 		filterJSON, err := filters.ToParam(eventFilterArgs)
diff --git a/api/client/logs.go b/api/client/logs.go
index 00369dbd86..c7e48bb5a9 100644
--- a/api/client/logs.go
+++ b/api/client/logs.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
 	flag "github.com/docker/docker/pkg/mflag"
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdLogs(args ...string) error {
 	v.Set("stderr", "1")
 
 	if *since != "" {
-		v.Set("since", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*since))
+		v.Set("since", timeutils.GetTimestamp(*since, time.Now()))
 	}
 
 	if *times {
diff --git a/docs/man/docker-events.1.md b/docs/man/docker-events.1.md
index bff04a6d15..5e7f6e25fa 100644
--- a/docs/man/docker-events.1.md
+++ b/docs/man/docker-events.1.md
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ and Docker images will report:
 **--until**=""
    Stream events until this timestamp
 
+You can specify `--since` and `--until` parameters as an RFC 3339 date,
+a UNIX timestamp, or a Go duration string (e.g. `1m30s`, `3h`). Docker computes
+the date relative to the client machine’s time.
+
 # EXAMPLES
 
 ## Listening for Docker events
@@ -63,6 +67,15 @@ Again the output container IDs have been shortened for the purposes of this docu
     2015-01-28T20:25:45.000000000-08:00 c21f6c22ba27: (from whenry/testimage:latest) die
     2015-01-28T20:25:46.000000000-08:00 c21f6c22ba27: (from whenry/testimage:latest) stop
 
+The following example outputs all events that were generated in the last 3 minutes,
+relative to the current time on the client machine:
+
+    # docker events --since '3m'
+    2015-05-12T11:51:30.999999999Z07:00 4386fb97867d: (from ubuntu-1:14.04) die
+    2015-05-12T15:52:12.999999999Z07:00 4 4386fb97867d: (from ubuntu-1:14.04) stop
+    2015-05-12T15:53:45.999999999Z07:00  7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) die
+    2015-05-12T15:54:03.999999999Z07:00  7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) stop
+
 # HISTORY
 April 2014, Originally compiled by William Henry (whenry at redhat dot com)
 based on docker.com source material and internal work.
diff --git a/docs/man/docker-logs.1.md b/docs/man/docker-logs.1.md
index e2cacea223..8ecc20df24 100644
--- a/docs/man/docker-logs.1.md
+++ b/docs/man/docker-logs.1.md
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ then continue streaming new output from the container’s stdout and stderr.
 **--tail**="all"
    Output the specified number of lines at the end of logs (defaults to all logs)
 
+The `--since` option shows only the container logs generated after
+a given date. You can specify the date as an RFC 3339 date, a UNIX
+timestamp, or a Go duration string (e.g. `1m30s`, `3h`). Docker computes
+the date relative to the client machine’s time. You can combine
+the `--since` option with either or both of the `--follow` or `--tail` options.
+
 # HISTORY
 April 2014, Originally compiled by William Henry (whenry at redhat dot com)
 based on docker.com source material and internal work.
diff --git a/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.md b/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.md
index 940f0f0abd..76d06c9643 100644
--- a/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.md
+++ b/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.md
@@ -1100,6 +1100,10 @@ and Docker images will report:
 
     untag, delete
 
+The `--since` and `--until` parameters can be Unix timestamps, RFC3339
+dates or Go duration strings (e.g. `10m`, `1h30m`) computed relative to
+client machine’s time.
+
 #### Filtering
 
 The filtering flag (`-f` or `--filter`) format is of "key=value". If you would like to use
@@ -1162,6 +1166,15 @@ You'll need two shells for this example.
     2014-05-10T17:42:14.999999999Z07:00 7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) die
     2014-09-03T15:49:29.999999999Z07:00 7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) stop
 
+This example outputs all events that were generated in the last 3 minutes,
+relative to the current time on the client machine:
+
+    $ docker events --since '3m'
+    2015-05-12T11:51:30.999999999Z07:00 4386fb97867d: (from ubuntu-1:14.04) die
+    2015-05-12T15:52:12.999999999Z07:00 4 4386fb97867d: (from ubuntu-1:14.04) stop
+    2015-05-12T15:53:45.999999999Z07:00  7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) die
+    2015-05-12T15:54:03.999999999Z07:00  7805c1d35632: (from redis:2.8) stop
+
 **Filter events:**
 
     $ docker events --filter 'event=stop'
@@ -1655,9 +1668,11 @@ timestamp, for example `2014-09-16T06:17:46.000000000Z`, to each
 log entry. To ensure that the timestamps for are aligned the
 nano-second part of the timestamp will be padded with zero when necessary.
 
-The `--since` option shows logs of a container generated only after
-the given date, specified as RFC 3339 or UNIX timestamp. The `--since` option
-can be combined with the `--follow` and `--tail` options.
+The `--since` option shows only the container logs generated after
+a given date. You can specify the date as an RFC 3339 date, a UNIX
+timestamp, or a Go duration string (e.g. `1m30s`, `3h`). Docker computes
+the date relative to the client machine’s time. You can combine
+the `--since` option with either or both of the `--follow` or `--tail` options.
 
 ## pause
 
diff --git a/integration-cli/docker_cli_events_test.go b/integration-cli/docker_cli_events_test.go
index 8bd007d41a..f17cb832ea 100644
--- a/integration-cli/docker_cli_events_test.go
+++ b/integration-cli/docker_cli_events_test.go
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@ func (s *DockerSuite) TestEventsTimestampFormats(c *check.C) {
 	// List of available time formats to --since
 	unixTs := func(t time.Time) string { return fmt.Sprintf("%v", t.Unix()) }
 	rfc3339 := func(t time.Time) string { return t.Format(time.RFC3339) }
+	duration := func(t time.Time) string { return time.Now().Sub(t).String() }
 
 	// --since=$start must contain only the 'untag' event
-	for _, f := range []func(time.Time) string{unixTs, rfc3339} {
+	for _, f := range []func(time.Time) string{unixTs, rfc3339, duration} {
 		since, until := f(start), f(end)
 		cmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "events", "--since="+since, "--until="+until)
 		out, _, err := runCommandWithOutput(cmd)
diff --git a/pkg/timeutils/utils.go b/pkg/timeutils/utils.go
index 6af16a1d7f..8437f12472 100644
--- a/pkg/timeutils/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/timeutils/utils.go
@@ -6,10 +6,17 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-// GetTimestamp tries to parse given string as RFC3339 time
-// or Unix timestamp (with seconds precision), if successful
-//returns a Unix timestamp as string otherwise returns value back.
-func GetTimestamp(value string) string {
+// GetTimestamp tries to parse given string as golang duration,
+// then RFC3339 time and finally as a Unix timestamp. If
+// any of these were successful, it returns a Unix timestamp
+// as string otherwise returns the given value back.
+// In case of duration input, the returned timestamp is computed
+// as the given reference time minus the amount of the duration.
+func GetTimestamp(value string, reference time.Time) string {
+	if d, err := time.ParseDuration(value); value != "0" && err == nil {
+		return strconv.FormatInt(reference.Add(-d).Unix(), 10)
+	}
+
 	var format string
 	if strings.Contains(value, ".") {
 		format = time.RFC3339Nano
diff --git a/pkg/timeutils/utils_test.go b/pkg/timeutils/utils_test.go
index 1d724fb2ac..f71dcb5310 100644
--- a/pkg/timeutils/utils_test.go
+++ b/pkg/timeutils/utils_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 package timeutils
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 )
 
 func TestGetTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Now()
 	cases := []struct{ in, expected string }{
 		{"0", "-62167305600"}, // 0 gets parsed year 0
 
@@ -23,12 +26,17 @@ func TestGetTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
 		// unix timestamps returned as is
 		{"1136073600", "1136073600"},
 
+		// Durations
+		{"1m", fmt.Sprintf("%d", now.Add(-1*time.Minute).Unix())},
+		{"1.5h", fmt.Sprintf("%d", now.Add(-90*time.Minute).Unix())},
+		{"1h30m", fmt.Sprintf("%d", now.Add(-90*time.Minute).Unix())},
+
 		// String fallback
 		{"invalid", "invalid"},
 	}
 
 	for _, c := range cases {
-		o := GetTimestamp(c.in)
+		o := GetTimestamp(c.in, now)
 		if o != c.expected {
 			t.Fatalf("wrong value for '%s'. expected:'%s' got:'%s'", c.in, c.expected, o)
 		}