diff --git a/api/src/__test__/core/log.test.ts b/api/src/__test__/core/log.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8bc696aa0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/__test__/core/log.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import pretty from 'pino-pretty';
+import { expect, test } from 'vitest';
+
+import { PRETTY_LOG_TIME_FORMAT } from '@app/core/log.constants.js';
+
+const padTime = (value: number) => value.toString().padStart(2, '0');
+
+test('pretty log timestamps keep local minutes instead of using the month token', () => {
+    const timestamp = '2026-03-15T20:21:34.611Z';
+    const date = new Date(timestamp);
+    const expectedTime = `${padTime(date.getHours())}:${padTime(date.getMinutes())}:${padTime(date.getSeconds())}`;
+
+    const prettify = pretty.prettyFactory({
+        colorize: false,
+        translateTime: PRETTY_LOG_TIME_FORMAT,
+    });
+
+    const output = prettify({
+        level: 30,
+        time: timestamp,
+        pid: 123,
+        hostname: 'tower',
+        msg: 'test message',
+    });
+
+    expect(output).toContain(`[${expectedTime}]`);
+    expect(output).toContain('INFO');
+    expect(output).toContain('test message');
+    expect(output).not.toContain('[16:03:34');
+});
diff --git a/api/src/core/log.constants.ts b/api/src/core/log.constants.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..930449dc3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/core/log.constants.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export const PRETTY_LOG_TIME_FORMAT = 'SYS:HH:MM:ss';
diff --git a/api/src/core/log.ts b/api/src/core/log.ts
index eb859399e2..22433ff5b7 100644
--- a/api/src/core/log.ts
+++ b/api/src/core/log.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import pino from 'pino';
 import pretty from 'pino-pretty';
 
+import { PRETTY_LOG_TIME_FORMAT } from '@app/core/log.constants.js';
 import { API_VERSION, LOG_LEVEL, LOG_TYPE, PATHS_LOGS_FILE, SUPPRESS_LOGS } from '@app/environment.js';
 
 export const levels = ['trace', 'debug', 'info', 'warn', 'error', 'fatal'] as const;
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ const stream = SUPPRESS_LOGS
             levelFirst: false,
             ignore: 'hostname,pid',
             destination: logDestination,
-            translateTime: 'SYS:HH:mm:ss',
+            translateTime: PRETTY_LOG_TIME_FORMAT,
             customPrettifiers: {
                 time: (timestamp: string | object) => `[${timestamp}`,
                 level: (_logLevel: string | object, _key: string, log: any, extras: any) => {