diff --git a/qemu-timer.c b/qemu-timer.c
index 7fa81e1d0100e8c73dba3767e2819e49311b3c31..58926dd61718a801c04b3fb30455548af270c3a1 100644
--- a/qemu-timer.c
+++ b/qemu-timer.c
@@ -266,11 +266,8 @@ static QEMUClock *qemu_new_clock(int type)
     clock = g_malloc0(sizeof(QEMUClock));
     clock->type = type;
     clock->enabled = 1;
+    clock->last = INT64_MIN;
     notifier_list_init(&clock->reset_notifiers);
-    /* required to detect & report backward jumps */
-    if (type == QEMU_CLOCK_HOST) {
-        clock->last = get_clock_realtime();
-    }
     return clock;
 }
 
@@ -344,7 +341,7 @@ void qemu_del_timer(QEMUTimer *ts)
 
 /* modify the current timer so that it will be fired when current_time
    >= expire_time. The corresponding callback will be called. */
-static void qemu_mod_timer_ns(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time)
+void qemu_mod_timer_ns(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time)
 {
     QEMUTimer **pt, *t;
 
@@ -378,8 +375,6 @@ static void qemu_mod_timer_ns(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time)
     }
 }
 
-/* modify the current timer so that it will be fired when current_time
-   >= expire_time. The corresponding callback will be called. */
 void qemu_mod_timer(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time)
 {
     qemu_mod_timer_ns(ts, expire_time * ts->scale);
@@ -464,33 +459,11 @@ void init_clocks(void)
     rt_clock = qemu_new_clock(QEMU_CLOCK_REALTIME);
     vm_clock = qemu_new_clock(QEMU_CLOCK_VIRTUAL);
     host_clock = qemu_new_clock(QEMU_CLOCK_HOST);
-
-    rtc_clock = host_clock;
 }
 
-/* save a timer */
-void qemu_put_timer(QEMUFile *f, QEMUTimer *ts)
+uint64_t qemu_timer_expire_time_ns(QEMUTimer *ts)
 {
-    uint64_t expire_time;
-
-    if (qemu_timer_pending(ts)) {
-        expire_time = ts->expire_time;
-    } else {
-        expire_time = -1;
-    }
-    qemu_put_be64(f, expire_time);
-}
-
-void qemu_get_timer(QEMUFile *f, QEMUTimer *ts)
-{
-    uint64_t expire_time;
-
-    expire_time = qemu_get_be64(f);
-    if (expire_time != -1) {
-        qemu_mod_timer_ns(ts, expire_time);
-    } else {
-        qemu_del_timer(ts);
-    }
+    return qemu_timer_pending(ts) ? ts->expire_time : -1;
 }
 
 void qemu_run_all_timers(void)
diff --git a/qemu-timer.h b/qemu-timer.h
index b4ea2015ea651f087977db2fdf0165364f4a2114..9f4ffed75cee7d6175d6cadadf68713b91e2824f 100644
--- a/qemu-timer.h
+++ b/qemu-timer.h
@@ -52,9 +52,11 @@ QEMUTimer *qemu_new_timer(QEMUClock *clock, int scale,
                           QEMUTimerCB *cb, void *opaque);
 void qemu_free_timer(QEMUTimer *ts);
 void qemu_del_timer(QEMUTimer *ts);
+void qemu_mod_timer_ns(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time);
 void qemu_mod_timer(QEMUTimer *ts, int64_t expire_time);
 int qemu_timer_pending(QEMUTimer *ts);
 int qemu_timer_expired(QEMUTimer *timer_head, int64_t current_time);
+uint64_t qemu_timer_expire_time_ns(QEMUTimer *ts);
 
 void qemu_run_all_timers(void);
 int qemu_alarm_pending(void);
diff --git a/savevm.c b/savevm.c
index cf79a5687185c4af94c0ddd3242ecd31ac6e51fd..f01838fb2dda0101fbd9169667253b9a057727e8 100644
--- a/savevm.c
+++ b/savevm.c
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 #include "migration.h"
 #include "qemu_socket.h"
 #include "qemu-queue.h"
+#include "qemu-timer.h"
 #include "cpus.h"
 
 #define SELF_ANNOUNCE_ROUNDS 5
@@ -712,6 +713,30 @@ uint64_t qemu_get_be64(QEMUFile *f)
     return v;
 }
 
+
+/* timer */
+
+void qemu_put_timer(QEMUFile *f, QEMUTimer *ts)
+{
+    uint64_t expire_time;
+
+    expire_time = qemu_timer_expire_time_ns(ts);
+    qemu_put_be64(f, expire_time);
+}
+
+void qemu_get_timer(QEMUFile *f, QEMUTimer *ts)
+{
+    uint64_t expire_time;
+
+    expire_time = qemu_get_be64(f);
+    if (expire_time != -1) {
+        qemu_mod_timer_ns(ts, expire_time);
+    } else {
+        qemu_del_timer(ts);
+    }
+}
+
+
 /* bool */
 
 static int get_bool(QEMUFile *f, void *pv, size_t size)
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 6bd7e7158a4262b486f54839b4e402eebdd4245a..cf25d650584c861fbbdc0f147acb974bf0daf7d0 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -2311,6 +2311,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     runstate_init();
 
     init_clocks();
+    rtc_clock = host_clock;
 
     qemu_cache_utils_init(envp);