I've inherited an older database that was setup with a "on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP" put on a field that should only describe an item's creation. With PHP I have been using "timestamp=timestamp" on UPDATE clauses, but in SQLAlchemy I can't seem to force the system to use the set timestamp. Do I have no choice and need to update the MySQL table (millions of rows)? foo = session.query(f).get(int(1)) ts = foo.timestamp setattr(foo, 'timestamp', ts) setattr(foo, 'bar', bar) www_model.www_Session.commit() I have also tried: foo = session.query(f).get(int(1)) setattr(foo, 'timestamp', foo.timestamp) setattr(foo, 'bar', bar) www_model.www_Session.commit()