diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index e52780925..4e4e18975 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/config"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/labels"
+	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/timestamp"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/prompb"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/tsdb/record"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/util/testutil"
@@ -531,7 +532,7 @@ func BenchmarkStartup(b *testing.B) {
 		m := NewQueueManager(nil, logger, dir,
 			newEWMARate(ewmaWeight, shardUpdateDuration),
 			config.DefaultQueueConfig, nil, nil, c, 1*time.Minute)
-		m.watcher.StartTime = math.MaxInt64
+		m.watcher.SetStartTime(timestamp.Time(math.MaxInt64))
 		m.watcher.MaxSegment = segments[len(segments)-2]
 		err := m.watcher.Run()
 		testutil.Ok(b, err)
diff --git a/tsdb/wal/watcher.go b/tsdb/wal/watcher.go
index 11c9bfddc..f92386f0d 100644
--- a/tsdb/wal/watcher.go
+++ b/tsdb/wal/watcher.go
@@ -68,7 +68,9 @@ type Watcher struct {
 	metrics        *WatcherMetrics
 	readerMetrics  *liveReaderMetrics
 
-	StartTime int64
+	startTime      time.Time
+	startTimestamp int64 // the start time as a Prometheus timestamp
+	sendSamples    bool
 
 	recordsReadMetric       *prometheus.CounterVec
 	recordDecodeFailsMetric prometheus.Counter
@@ -191,7 +193,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) loop() {
 
 	// We may encounter failures processing the WAL; we should wait and retry.
 	for !isClosed(w.quit) {
-		w.StartTime = timestamp.FromTime(time.Now())
+		w.SetStartTime(time.Now())
 		if err := w.Run(); err != nil {
 			level.Error(w.logger).Log("msg", "error tailing WAL", "err", err)
 		}
@@ -212,6 +214,12 @@ func (w *Watcher) Run() error {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "wal.Segments")
 	}
 
+	// We want to ensure this is false across iterations since
+	// Run will be called again if there was a failure to read the WAL.
+	w.sendSamples = false
+
+	level.Info(w.logger).Log("msg", "replaying WAL", "queue", w.name)
+
 	// Backfill from the checkpoint first if it exists.
 	lastCheckpoint, checkpointIndex, err := LastCheckpoint(w.walDir)
 	if err != nil && err != record.ErrNotFound {
@@ -456,7 +464,6 @@ func (w *Watcher) readSegment(r *LiveReader, segmentNum int, tail bool) error {
 		samples []record.RefSample
 		send    []record.RefSample
 	)
-
 	for r.Next() && !isClosed(w.quit) {
 		rec := r.Record()
 		w.recordsReadMetric.WithLabelValues(recordType(dec.Type(rec))).Inc()
@@ -482,7 +489,12 @@ func (w *Watcher) readSegment(r *LiveReader, segmentNum int, tail bool) error {
 				return err
 			}
 			for _, s := range samples {
-				if s.T > w.StartTime {
+				if s.T > w.startTimestamp {
+					if !w.sendSamples {
+						w.sendSamples = true
+						duration := time.Since(w.startTime)
+						level.Info(w.logger).Log("msg", "done replaying WAL", "duration", duration)
+					}
 					send = append(send, s)
 				}
 			}
@@ -505,6 +517,11 @@ func (w *Watcher) readSegment(r *LiveReader, segmentNum int, tail bool) error {
 	return r.Err()
 }
 
+func (w *Watcher) SetStartTime(t time.Time) {
+	w.startTime = t
+	w.startTimestamp = timestamp.FromTime(t)
+}
+
 func recordType(rt record.Type) string {
 	switch rt {
 	case record.Invalid:
diff --git a/tsdb/wal/watcher_test.go b/tsdb/wal/watcher_test.go
index 9cd9286a2..8378e997d 100644
--- a/tsdb/wal/watcher_test.go
+++ b/tsdb/wal/watcher_test.go
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func TestTailSamples(t *testing.T) {
 
 			wt := newWriteToMock()
 			watcher := NewWatcher(nil, wMetrics, nil, "", wt, dir)
-			watcher.StartTime = now.UnixNano()
+			watcher.SetStartTime(now)
 
 			// Set the Watcher's metrics so they're not nil pointers.
 			watcher.setMetrics()