diff --git a/drivers/rtc/interface.c b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
index 794a4f036b99834c8fa15bcc834dddcfaa1090ba..146056858135e304fce9d0a173d8d667427b5394 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/interface.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/interface.c
@@ -807,9 +807,13 @@ static int rtc_timer_enqueue(struct rtc_device *rtc, struct rtc_timer *timer)
 	struct timerqueue_node *next = timerqueue_getnext(&rtc->timerqueue);
 	struct rtc_time tm;
 	ktime_t now;
+	int err;
+
+	err = __rtc_read_time(rtc, &tm);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
 
 	timer->enabled = 1;
-	__rtc_read_time(rtc, &tm);
 	now = rtc_tm_to_ktime(tm);
 
 	/* Skip over expired timers */
@@ -823,7 +827,6 @@ static int rtc_timer_enqueue(struct rtc_device *rtc, struct rtc_timer *timer)
 	trace_rtc_timer_enqueue(timer);
 	if (!next || ktime_before(timer->node.expires, next->expires)) {
 		struct rtc_wkalrm alarm;
-		int err;
 
 		alarm.time = rtc_ktime_to_tm(timer->node.expires);
 		alarm.enabled = 1;