diff --git a/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx b/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
index 2690bda6d..af67ae368 100644
--- a/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
+++ b/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
@@ -476,10 +476,9 @@ static naRef f_systime(naContext c, naRef me, int argc, naRef* args)
     // Converts from 100ns units in 1601 epoch to unix epoch in sec
     return naNum((t * 1e-7) - 11644473600.0);
 #else
-    time_t t;
     struct timeval td;
-    do { t = time(0); gettimeofday(&td, 0); } while(t != time(0));
-    return naNum(t + 1e-6 * td.tv_usec);
+    gettimeofday(&td, 0);
+    return naNum(td.tv_sec + 1e-6 * td.tv_usec);
 #endif
 }