mysql> set @t='2007-01-01 00:00:00'; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) mysql> select addtime('0000-00-00 00:00:00',timediff(now(),@t)); +---------------------------------------------------+ | addtime('0000-00-00 00:00:00',timediff(now(),@t)) | +---------------------------------------------------+ | 0001-03-16 19:31:07 | +---------------------------------------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)