diff --git a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Customfields.php b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Customfields.php
index e551e52eb3..7f54978184 100644
--- a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Customfields.php
+++ b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Customfields.php
@@ -298,7 +298,14 @@ class Customfields extends Transformer
 		{
 			case 'date':
 			case 'date-time':
-				$widget->attrs['dataformat'] = $type == 'date' ? 'Y-m-d' : 'Y-m-d H:i:s';
+				if (!empty($field['values']['format']))
+				{
+					$widget->attrs['dataformat'] = $field['values']['format'];
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					$widget->attrs['dataformat'] = $type == 'date' ? 'Y-m-d' : 'Y-m-d H:i:s';
+				}
 				if($field['values']['min']) $widget->attrs['min'] = $field['values']['min'];
 				if($field['values']['max']) $widget->attrs['min'] = $field['values']['max'];
 				break;
diff --git a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Date.php b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Date.php
index 3e070dd230..9c0268c2b0 100644
--- a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Date.php
+++ b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Date.php
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class Date extends Transformer
 	{
 		if (!$value) return $value;	// otherwise we will get current date or 1970-01-01 instead of an empty value
 
-		if ($this->attrs['dataformat'] && !is_numeric($value))
+		if ($this->attrs['dataformat'])
 		{
 			$date = Api\DateTime::createFromFormat($this->attrs['dataformat'], $value, Api\DateTime::$user_timezone);
 		}
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ class Date extends Transformer
 				}
 				catch(\Exception $e)
 				{
+					unset($e);
 					$date = null;
 					$value = '';
 					// this is not really a user error, but one of the clientside engine
@@ -177,7 +178,7 @@ class Date extends Transformer
 			{
 				$valid = (string)$value === '' ? '' : (int)$value;
 			}
-			
+
 			if (!empty($this->attrs['min']))
 			{
 				if(is_numeric($this->attrs['min']))