diff --git a/date_api/date_api.module b/date_api/date_api.module
index ae6952f..92d3237 100644
--- a/date_api/date_api.module
+++ b/date_api/date_api.module
@@ -1845,12 +1845,10 @@ function date_format_interval($date, $granularity = 2, $display_ago = TRUE) {
  *   The current time as a date object.
  */
 function date_now($timezone = NULL, $reset = FALSE) {
+  $static_var = __FUNCTION__ . $timezone;
   if ($timezone instanceof DateTimeZone) {
     $static_var = __FUNCTION__ . $timezone->getName();
   }
-  else {
-    $static_var = __FUNCTION__ . $timezone;
-  }
 
   if ($reset) {
     drupal_static_reset($static_var);