MySQL Types to Java Types for ResultSet.getObject(). MySQL Type Name Return value of GetColumnClassName Retur TIME TIME java.sql.Time http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/connector-j-reference-type-conversions.html ResultSet.getTime() will fail with an SQLException: "Bad format for Time 'hhh:mm:ss' in column x" http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=11154 Surprisingly (Shockingly) ResultSet.getString() was also throwing the same exception "Bad format for Time". http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5149261