diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/alter_changefeed_test.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/alter_changefeed_test.go
index f3694122b228..0eb4c790cdeb 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/alter_changefeed_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/alter_changefeed_test.go
@@ -1441,7 +1441,7 @@ func TestAlterChangefeedAddTargetsDuringBackfill(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	cdcTestWithSystem(t, testFn, feedTestEnterpriseSinks, feedTestNoExternalConnection, feedTestNoForcedSyntheticTimestamps)
+	cdcTestWithSystem(t, testFn, feedTestEnterpriseSinks, feedTestNoExternalConnection)
 }
 
 func TestAlterChangefeedInitialScan(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/avro.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/avro.go
index 84f6a73635fa..9a5203c499a2 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/avro.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/avro.go
@@ -1028,7 +1028,7 @@ func (r *avroEnvelopeRecord) BinaryFromRow(
 				return nil, changefeedbase.WithTerminalError(
 					errors.Errorf(`unknown metadata timestamp type: %T`, u))
 			}
-			native[`updated`] = goavro.Union(avroUnionKey(avroSchemaString), timestampToString(ts))
+			native[`updated`] = goavro.Union(avroUnionKey(avroSchemaString), ts.AsOfSystemTime())
 		}
 	}
 	if r.opts.resolvedField {
@@ -1040,7 +1040,7 @@ func (r *avroEnvelopeRecord) BinaryFromRow(
 				return nil, changefeedbase.WithTerminalError(
 					errors.Errorf(`unknown metadata timestamp type: %T`, u))
 			}
-			native[`resolved`] = goavro.Union(avroUnionKey(avroSchemaString), timestampToString(ts))
+			native[`resolved`] = goavro.Union(avroUnionKey(avroSchemaString), ts.AsOfSystemTime())
 		}
 	}
 	for k := range meta {
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/changefeed_test.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/changefeed_test.go
index bbb146db773d..f71468fbc930 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/changefeed_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/changefeed_test.go
@@ -6894,7 +6894,7 @@ func TestChangefeedBackfillCheckpoint(t *testing.T) {
 	// TODO(ssd): Tenant testing disabled because of use of DB()
 	for _, sz := range []int64{100 << 20, 100} {
 		maxCheckpointSize = sz
-		cdcTestNamedWithSystem(t, fmt.Sprintf("limit=%s", humanize.Bytes(uint64(sz))), testFn, feedTestForceSink("webhook"), feedTestNoForcedSyntheticTimestamps)
+		cdcTestNamedWithSystem(t, fmt.Sprintf("limit=%s", humanize.Bytes(uint64(sz))), testFn, feedTestForceSink("webhook"))
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder.go
index 195cf289776d..00f474854733 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder.go
@@ -65,10 +65,3 @@ func getEncoder(
 		return nil, errors.AssertionFailedf(`unknown format: %s`, opts.Format)
 	}
 }
-
-// timestampToString converts an internal timestamp to the string form used in
-// all encoders. This could be made more efficient. And/or it could be configurable
-// to include the Synthetic flag when present, but that's unlikely to be needed.
-func timestampToString(t hlc.Timestamp) string {
-	return t.WithSynthetic(false).AsOfSystemTime()
-}
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder_json.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder_json.go
index 4e84cb1c6b9a..db2e30826c46 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder_json.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/encoder_json.go
@@ -261,13 +261,13 @@ func (e *jsonEncoder) initRawEnvelope() error {
 		}
 
 		if e.updatedField {
-			if err := metaBuilder.Set("updated", json.FromString(timestampToString(evCtx.updated))); err != nil {
+			if err := metaBuilder.Set("updated", json.FromString(evCtx.updated.AsOfSystemTime())); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
 
 		if e.mvccTimestampField {
-			if err := metaBuilder.Set("mvcc_timestamp", json.FromString(timestampToString(evCtx.mvcc))); err != nil {
+			if err := metaBuilder.Set("mvcc_timestamp", json.FromString(evCtx.mvcc.AsOfSystemTime())); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
@@ -355,13 +355,13 @@ func (e *jsonEncoder) initWrappedEnvelope() error {
 		}
 
 		if e.updatedField {
-			if err := b.Set("updated", json.FromString(timestampToString(evCtx.updated))); err != nil {
+			if err := b.Set("updated", json.FromString(evCtx.updated.AsOfSystemTime())); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
 
 		if e.mvccTimestampField {
-			if err := b.Set("mvcc_timestamp", json.FromString(timestampToString(evCtx.mvcc))); err != nil {
+			if err := b.Set("mvcc_timestamp", json.FromString(evCtx.mvcc.AsOfSystemTime())); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/helpers_test.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/helpers_test.go
index 75fc46f228b8..559302efd9cb 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/helpers_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/helpers_test.go
@@ -549,7 +549,6 @@ type feedTestOptions struct {
 	externalIODir                string
 	allowedSinkTypes             []string
 	disabledSinkTypes            []string
-	disableSyntheticTimestamps   bool
 	settings                     *cluster.Settings
 }
 
@@ -570,12 +569,6 @@ var feedTestNoExternalConnection = func(opts *feedTestOptions) { opts.forceNoExt
 // has privileges to create changefeeds on tables in the default database `d` only.
 var feedTestUseRootUserConnection = func(opts *feedTestOptions) { opts.forceRootUserConnection = true }
 
-// feedTestNoForcedSyntheticTimestamps is a feedTestOption that will prevent
-// the test from randomly forcing timestamps to be synthetic and offset five seconds into the future from
-// what they would otherwise be. It doesn't prevent synthetic timestamps but they're otherwise unlikely to
-// occur in tests.
-var feedTestNoForcedSyntheticTimestamps = func(opts *feedTestOptions) { opts.disableSyntheticTimestamps = true }
-
 var feedTestForceSink = func(sinkType string) feedTestOption {
 	return feedTestRestrictSinks(sinkType)
 }
@@ -631,30 +624,6 @@ func makeOptions(opts ...feedTestOption) feedTestOptions {
 	for _, o := range opts {
 		o(&options)
 	}
-	if !options.disableSyntheticTimestamps && rand.Intn(2) == 0 {
-		// Offset all timestamps a random (but consistent per test) amount into the
-		// future to ensure we can handle that. Always chooses an integer number of
-		// seconds for easier debugging and so that 0 is a possibility.
-		offset := int64(rand.Intn(6)) * time.Second.Nanoseconds()
-		// TODO(#105053): Remove this line
-		_ = offset
-		oldKnobsFn := options.knobsFn
-		options.knobsFn = func(knobs *base.TestingKnobs) {
-			if oldKnobsFn != nil {
-				oldKnobsFn(knobs)
-			}
-			knobs.DistSQL.(*execinfra.TestingKnobs).
-				Changefeed.(*TestingKnobs).FeedKnobs.ModifyTimestamps = func(t *hlc.Timestamp) {
-				// NOTE(ricky): This line of code should be uncommented.
-				// It used to be just t.Add(offset, 0), but t.Add() has no side
-				// effects so this was a no-op. *t = t.Add(offset, 0) is correct,
-				// but causes test failures.
-				// TODO(#105053): Uncomment and fix test failures
-				//*t = t.Add(offset, 0)
-				t.Synthetic = true
-			}
-		}
-	}
 	return options
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/physical_kv_feed.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/physical_kv_feed.go
index 7c5b23032055..be0c1b325cba 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/physical_kv_feed.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/physical_kv_feed.go
@@ -109,20 +109,12 @@ func (p *rangefeed) addEventsToBuffer(ctx context.Context) error {
 						return err
 					}
 				}
-				if p.knobs.ModifyTimestamps != nil {
-					e = kvcoord.RangeFeedMessage{RangeFeedEvent: e.ShallowCopy(), RegisteredSpan: e.RegisteredSpan}
-					p.knobs.ModifyTimestamps(&e.Val.Value.Timestamp)
-				}
 				if err := p.memBuf.Add(
 					ctx, kvevent.MakeKVEvent(e.RangeFeedEvent),
 				); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
 			case *kvpb.RangeFeedCheckpoint:
-				if p.knobs.ModifyTimestamps != nil {
-					e = kvcoord.RangeFeedMessage{RangeFeedEvent: e.ShallowCopy(), RegisteredSpan: e.RegisteredSpan}
-					p.knobs.ModifyTimestamps(&e.Checkpoint.ResolvedTS)
-				}
 				if !t.ResolvedTS.IsEmpty() && t.ResolvedTS.Less(p.cfg.Frontier) {
 					// RangeFeed happily forwards any closed timestamps it receives as
 					// soon as there are no outstanding intents under them.
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/testing_knobs.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/testing_knobs.go
index 541c3a34c23b..42a5cbc6592b 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/testing_knobs.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/kvfeed/testing_knobs.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvclient/kvcoord"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/kv/kvpb"
-	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/hlc"
 )
 
 // TestingKnobs are the testing knobs for kvfeed.
@@ -30,9 +29,6 @@ type TestingKnobs struct {
 	// EndTimeReached is a callback that may return true to indicate the
 	// feed should exit because its end time has been reached.
 	EndTimeReached func() bool
-	// ModifyTimestamps is called on the timestamp for each RangefeedMessage
-	// before converting it into a kv event.
-	ModifyTimestamps func(*hlc.Timestamp)
 	// RangefeedOptions lets the kvfeed override rangefeed settings.
 	RangefeedOptions []kvcoord.RangeFeedOption
 }
diff --git a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/parquet.go b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/parquet.go
index 87e41aad38f7..7f43df9e97f1 100644
--- a/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/parquet.go
+++ b/pkg/ccl/changefeedccl/parquet.go
@@ -172,10 +172,10 @@ func (w *parquetWriter) populateDatums(
 	datums = append(datums, getEventTypeDatum(updatedRow, prevRow).DString())
 
 	if w.encodingOpts.UpdatedTimestamps {
-		datums = append(datums, tree.NewDString(timestampToString(updated)))
+		datums = append(datums, tree.NewDString(updated.AsOfSystemTime()))
 	}
 	if w.encodingOpts.MVCCTimestamps {
-		datums = append(datums, tree.NewDString(timestampToString(mvcc)))
+		datums = append(datums, tree.NewDString(mvcc.AsOfSystemTime()))
 	}
 	if w.encodingOpts.Diff {
 		if prevRow.IsDeleted() {