diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
index b2d58203954..707bf8de57f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
@@ -60,8 +60,11 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -73,27 +76,41 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
     private final ClusterService clusterService;
     private final TransportShardBulkAction shardBulkAction;
     private final TransportCreateIndexAction createIndexAction;
+    private final LongSupplier relativeTimeProvider;
 
     @Inject
     public TransportBulkAction(Settings settings, ThreadPool threadPool, TransportService transportService, ClusterService clusterService,
                                TransportShardBulkAction shardBulkAction, TransportCreateIndexAction createIndexAction,
                                ActionFilters actionFilters, IndexNameExpressionResolver indexNameExpressionResolver,
                                AutoCreateIndex autoCreateIndex) {
+        this(settings, threadPool, transportService, clusterService,
+                shardBulkAction, createIndexAction,
+                actionFilters, indexNameExpressionResolver,
+                autoCreateIndex,
+                System::nanoTime);
+    }
+
+    public TransportBulkAction(Settings settings, ThreadPool threadPool, TransportService transportService, ClusterService clusterService,
+                               TransportShardBulkAction shardBulkAction, TransportCreateIndexAction createIndexAction,
+                               ActionFilters actionFilters, IndexNameExpressionResolver indexNameExpressionResolver,
+                               AutoCreateIndex autoCreateIndex, LongSupplier relativeTimeProvider) {
         super(settings, BulkAction.NAME, threadPool, transportService, actionFilters, indexNameExpressionResolver, BulkRequest::new);
+        Objects.requireNonNull(relativeTimeProvider);
         this.clusterService = clusterService;
         this.shardBulkAction = shardBulkAction;
         this.createIndexAction = createIndexAction;
 
         this.autoCreateIndex = autoCreateIndex;
         this.allowIdGeneration = this.settings.getAsBoolean("action.bulk.action.allow_id_generation", true);
+        this.relativeTimeProvider = relativeTimeProvider;
     }
 
     @Override
     protected void doExecute(final BulkRequest bulkRequest, final ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
-        final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        final long startTime = relativeTime();
         final AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses = new AtomicArray<>(bulkRequest.requests.size());
 
-        if (autoCreateIndex.needToCheck()) {
+        if (needToCheck()) {
             // Keep track of all unique indices and all unique types per index for the create index requests:
             final Map<String, Set<String>> indicesAndTypes = new HashMap<>();
             for (ActionRequest request : bulkRequest.requests) {
@@ -112,7 +129,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
             ClusterState state = clusterService.state();
             for (Map.Entry<String, Set<String>> entry : indicesAndTypes.entrySet()) {
                 final String index = entry.getKey();
-                if (autoCreateIndex.shouldAutoCreate(index, state)) {
+                if (shouldAutoCreate(index, state)) {
                     CreateIndexRequest createIndexRequest = new CreateIndexRequest();
                     createIndexRequest.index(index);
                     for (String type : entry.getValue()) {
@@ -163,6 +180,14 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         }
     }
 
+    boolean needToCheck() {
+        return autoCreateIndex.needToCheck();
+    }
+
+    boolean shouldAutoCreate(String index, ClusterState state) {
+        return autoCreateIndex.shouldAutoCreate(index, state);
+    }
+
     private boolean setResponseFailureIfIndexMatches(AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses, int idx, ActionRequest request, String index, Throwable e) {
         if (request instanceof IndexRequest) {
             IndexRequest indexRequest = (IndexRequest) request;
@@ -195,16 +220,15 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
      * @see #doExecute(BulkRequest, org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener)
      */
     public void executeBulk(final BulkRequest bulkRequest, final ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
-        final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-        executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTime, listener, new AtomicArray<>(bulkRequest.requests.size()));
+        final long startTimeNanos = relativeTime();
+        executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTimeNanos, listener, new AtomicArray<>(bulkRequest.requests.size()));
     }
 
-    private long buildTookInMillis(long startTime) {
-        // protect ourselves against time going backwards
-        return Math.max(1, System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime);
+    private long buildTookInMillis(long startTimeNanos) {
+        return TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toMillis(relativeTime() - startTimeNanos);
     }
 
-    private void executeBulk(final BulkRequest bulkRequest, final long startTime, final ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener, final AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses ) {
+    void executeBulk(final BulkRequest bulkRequest, final long startTimeNanos, final ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener, final AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses ) {
         final ClusterState clusterState = clusterService.state();
         // TODO use timeout to wait here if its blocked...
         clusterState.blocks().globalBlockedRaiseException(ClusterBlockLevel.WRITE);
@@ -302,7 +326,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         }
 
         if (requestsByShard.isEmpty()) {
-            listener.onResponse(new BulkResponse(responses.toArray(new BulkItemResponse[responses.length()]), buildTookInMillis(startTime)));
+            listener.onResponse(new BulkResponse(responses.toArray(new BulkItemResponse[responses.length()]), buildTookInMillis(startTimeNanos)));
             return;
         }
 
@@ -352,7 +376,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
                 }
 
                 private void finishHim() {
-                    listener.onResponse(new BulkResponse(responses.toArray(new BulkItemResponse[responses.length()]), buildTookInMillis(startTime)));
+                    listener.onResponse(new BulkResponse(responses.toArray(new BulkItemResponse[responses.length()]), buildTookInMillis(startTimeNanos)));
                 }
             });
         }
@@ -398,7 +422,6 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         return false;
     }
 
-
     private static class ConcreteIndices  {
         private final ClusterState state;
         private final IndexNameExpressionResolver indexNameExpressionResolver;
@@ -422,4 +445,9 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
             return concreteIndex;
         }
     }
+
+    private long relativeTime() {
+        return relativeTimeProvider.getAsLong();
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkActionTookTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkActionTookTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6cd877315cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkActionTookTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+
+package org.elasticsearch.action.bulk;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.util.Constants;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.IndicesRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.create.CreateIndexRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.create.CreateIndexResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.create.TransportCreateIndexAction;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.ActionFilters;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.AutoCreateIndex;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexNameExpressionResolver;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MetaDataCreateIndexService;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AtomicArray;
+import org.elasticsearch.tasks.Task;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.cluster.TestClusterService;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.transport.CapturingTransport;
+import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
+import org.junit.Before;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
+
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.StreamsUtils.copyToStringFromClasspath;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+
+public class TransportBulkActionTookTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    private ThreadPool threadPool;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        super.setUp();
+        threadPool = mock(ThreadPool.class);
+    }
+
+    private TransportBulkAction createAction(boolean controlled, AtomicLong expected) {
+        CapturingTransport capturingTransport = new CapturingTransport();
+        ClusterService clusterService = new TestClusterService(threadPool);
+        TransportService transportService = new TransportService(capturingTransport, threadPool);
+        transportService.start();
+        transportService.acceptIncomingRequests();
+        IndexNameExpressionResolver resolver = new Resolver(Settings.EMPTY);
+        ActionFilters actionFilters = new ActionFilters(new HashSet<>());
+
+        TransportCreateIndexAction createIndexAction = new TransportCreateIndexAction(
+                Settings.EMPTY,
+                transportService,
+                clusterService,
+                threadPool,
+                null,
+                actionFilters,
+                resolver);
+
+        if (controlled) {
+
+            return new TestTransportBulkAction(
+                    Settings.EMPTY,
+                    threadPool,
+                    transportService,
+                    clusterService,
+                    null,
+                    createIndexAction,
+                    actionFilters,
+                    resolver,
+                    null,
+                    expected::get) {
+                @Override
+                public void executeBulk(BulkRequest bulkRequest, ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
+                    expected.set(1000000);
+                    super.executeBulk(bulkRequest, listener);
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                void executeBulk(
+                        BulkRequest bulkRequest,
+                        long startTimeNanos,
+                        ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener,
+                        AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses) {
+                    expected.set(1000000);
+                    super.executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTimeNanos, listener, responses);
+                }
+            };
+        } else {
+            return new TestTransportBulkAction(
+                    Settings.EMPTY,
+                    threadPool,
+                    transportService,
+                    clusterService,
+                    null,
+                    createIndexAction,
+                    actionFilters,
+                    resolver,
+                    null,
+                    System::nanoTime) {
+                @Override
+                public void executeBulk(BulkRequest bulkRequest, ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
+                    long elapsed = spinForAtLeastOneMillisecond();
+                    expected.set(elapsed);
+                    super.executeBulk(bulkRequest, listener);
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                void executeBulk(
+                        BulkRequest bulkRequest,
+                        long startTimeNanos,
+                        ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener,
+                        AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses) {
+                    long elapsed = spinForAtLeastOneMillisecond();
+                    expected.set(elapsed);
+                    super.executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTimeNanos, listener, responses);
+                }
+            };
+        }
+    }
+
+    // test unit conversion with a controlled clock
+    public void testTookWithControlledClock() throws Exception {
+        runTestTook(true);
+    }
+
+    // test took advances with System#nanoTime
+    public void testTookWithRealClock() throws Exception {
+        runTestTook(false);
+    }
+
+    private void runTestTook(boolean controlled) throws Exception {
+        String bulkAction = copyToStringFromClasspath("/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/simple-bulk.json");
+        // translate Windows line endings (\r\n) to standard ones (\n)
+        if (Constants.WINDOWS) {
+            bulkAction = Strings.replace(bulkAction, "\r\n", "\n");
+        }
+        BulkRequest bulkRequest = new BulkRequest();
+        bulkRequest.add(bulkAction.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8), 0, bulkAction.length(), null, null);
+        AtomicLong expected = new AtomicLong();
+        TransportBulkAction action = createAction(controlled, expected);
+        action.doExecute(bulkRequest, new ActionListener<BulkResponse>() {
+            @Override
+            public void onResponse(BulkResponse bulkItemResponses) {
+                if (controlled) {
+                    assertThat(
+                            bulkItemResponses.getTook().getMillis(),
+                            equalTo(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(expected.get(), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)));
+                } else {
+                    assertThat(
+                            bulkItemResponses.getTook().getMillis(),
+                            greaterThanOrEqualTo(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(expected.get(), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)));
+                }
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void onFailure(Throwable e) {
+
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    static class Resolver extends IndexNameExpressionResolver {
+        public Resolver(Settings settings) {
+            super(settings);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String[] concreteIndices(ClusterState state, IndicesRequest request) {
+            return request.indices();
+        }
+    }
+
+    static class TestTransportBulkAction extends TransportBulkAction {
+
+        public TestTransportBulkAction(
+                Settings settings,
+                ThreadPool threadPool,
+                TransportService transportService,
+                ClusterService clusterService,
+                TransportShardBulkAction shardBulkAction,
+                TransportCreateIndexAction createIndexAction,
+                ActionFilters actionFilters,
+                IndexNameExpressionResolver indexNameExpressionResolver,
+                AutoCreateIndex autoCreateIndex,
+                LongSupplier relativeTimeProvider) {
+            super(
+                    settings,
+                    threadPool,
+                    transportService,
+                    clusterService,
+                    shardBulkAction,
+                    createIndexAction,
+                    actionFilters,
+                    indexNameExpressionResolver,
+                    autoCreateIndex,
+                    relativeTimeProvider);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        boolean needToCheck() {
+            return randomBoolean();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        boolean shouldAutoCreate(String index, ClusterState state) {
+            return randomBoolean();
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    static class TestTransportCreateIndexAction extends TransportCreateIndexAction {
+
+        public TestTransportCreateIndexAction(
+                Settings settings,
+                TransportService transportService,
+                ClusterService clusterService,
+                ThreadPool threadPool,
+                MetaDataCreateIndexService createIndexService,
+                ActionFilters actionFilters,
+                IndexNameExpressionResolver indexNameExpressionResolver) {
+            super(settings, transportService, clusterService, threadPool, createIndexService, actionFilters, indexNameExpressionResolver);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        protected void doExecute(Task task, CreateIndexRequest request, ActionListener<CreateIndexResponse> listener) {
+            listener.onResponse(newResponse());
+        }
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/PrioritizedRunnableTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/PrioritizedRunnableTests.java
index b0bbf0f47f2..c17429dccfb 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/PrioritizedRunnableTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/concurrent/PrioritizedRunnableTests.java
@@ -46,20 +46,13 @@ public class PrioritizedRunnableTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     // test age advances with System#nanoTime
     public void testGetAgeInMillisWithRealClock() throws InterruptedException {
-        long nanosecondsInMillisecond = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.convert(1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
         PrioritizedRunnable runnable = new PrioritizedRunnable(Priority.NORMAL) {
             @Override
             public void run() {
             }
         };
 
-        // force at least one millisecond to elapse, but ensure the
-        // clock has enough resolution to observe the passage of time
-        long start = System.nanoTime();
-        long elapsed;
-        while ((elapsed = (System.nanoTime() - start)) < nanosecondsInMillisecond) {
-            // busy spin
-        }
+        long elapsed = spinForAtLeastOneMillisecond();
 
         // creation happened before start, so age will be at least as
         // large as elapsed
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESTestCase.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESTestCase.java
index e80bb93aeb7..4a20d3c3fd6 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESTestCase.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESTestCase.java
@@ -651,4 +651,16 @@ public abstract class ESTestCase extends LuceneTestCase {
         }
         throw new AssertionFailedError("Expected exception " + expectedType.getSimpleName());
     }
+
+    protected static long spinForAtLeastOneMillisecond() {
+        long nanosecondsInMillisecond = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.convert(1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        // force at least one millisecond to elapse, but ensure the
+        // clock has enough resolution to observe the passage of time
+        long start = System.nanoTime();
+        long elapsed;
+        while ((elapsed = (System.nanoTime() - start)) < nanosecondsInMillisecond) {
+            // busy spin
+        }
+        return elapsed;
+    }
 }