diff --git a/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.cc b/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.cc
index 3a3f4bb8b..5deaf5869 100644
--- a/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.cc
+++ b/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <time.h>
 
 #ifndef _MSC_VER // not available on MS VC++
 #  include <unistd.h>
@@ -67,7 +66,7 @@ void
 Timer::start ()
 {
 #ifdef _WIN32
-  long clks_ms = (long) ((double) clock () * (1000.0 / CLOCKS_PER_SEC) + 0.5);
+  timer_t clks_ms = (timer_t) ((double) clock () * (1000.0 / CLOCKS_PER_SEC) + 0.5);
   m_user_ms += clks_ms;
   //  no system time available ..
 #else
@@ -75,8 +74,8 @@ Timer::start ()
   times (&clks);
   const double clk2msec = 1000.0 / sysconf (_SC_CLK_TCK);
 
-  m_user_ms += (long) ((clks.tms_utime + clks.tms_cutime) * clk2msec + 0.5);
-  m_sys_ms += (long) ((clks.tms_stime + clks.tms_cstime) * clk2msec + 0.5);
+  m_user_ms += (timer_t) ((clks.tms_utime + clks.tms_cutime) * clk2msec + 0.5);
+  m_sys_ms += (timer_t) ((clks.tms_stime + clks.tms_cstime) * clk2msec + 0.5);
 #endif
   m_wall_ms += msecs_to (QDateTime::fromTime_t (0), QDateTime::currentDateTime ());
 }
@@ -97,6 +96,27 @@ Timer::stop ()
   m_wall_ms = 0;
 }
 
+void
+Timer::take ()
+{
+  timer_t user_ms = m_user_ms;
+  timer_t sys_ms = m_sys_ms;
+  timer_t wall_ms = m_wall_ms;
+
+  m_user_ms = -m_user_ms;
+  m_sys_ms = -m_sys_ms;
+  m_wall_ms = -m_wall_ms;
+  start ();
+
+  m_user_ms_res = m_user_ms;
+  m_sys_ms_res = m_sys_ms;
+  m_wall_ms_res = m_wall_ms;
+
+  m_user_ms = user_ms;
+  m_sys_ms = sys_ms;
+  m_wall_ms = wall_ms;
+}
+
 void
 SelfTimer::report () const
 {
@@ -168,20 +188,20 @@ SelfTimer::report () const
 
 Clock::Clock (double s)
 {
-  m_clock = clock_value (s * double (CLOCKS_PER_SEC));
+  m_clock_ms = s * 1000.0;
 }
 
 double 
 Clock::seconds () const
 {
-  return double (m_clock) / double (CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
+  return double (m_clock_ms) * 0.001;
 }
 
 Clock
 Clock::current ()
 {
   Clock c;
-  c.m_clock = clock ();
+  c.m_clock_ms += msecs_to (QDateTime::fromTime_t (0), QDateTime::currentDateTime ());
   return c;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.h b/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.h
index c64ba4d72..5848c2f61 100644
--- a/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.h
+++ b/src/tl/tl/tlTimer.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 #include "tlCommon.h"
 
-#include <string> 
+#include <string>
 #include <stdint.h>
 
 class QDateTime;
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ TL_PUBLIC int64_t msecs_to (const QDateTime &from, const QDateTime &to);
 class TL_PUBLIC Timer
 {
 public:
+  typedef int64_t timer_t;
+
   Timer ();
   
   /** 
@@ -59,10 +61,16 @@ public:
 
   /** 
    *  @brief Stops the timer
+   *  Only after stop or take, the time can be read with sec_user etc.
    */
   void stop ();
 
-  /** 
+  /**
+   *  @brief Takes the time, but does not stop
+   */
+  void take ();
+
+  /**
    *  @brief Reports the time spent between start() and stop() in user space
    */
   double sec_user () const
@@ -87,8 +95,8 @@ public:
   }
 
 private:
-  long m_user_ms, m_sys_ms, m_wall_ms;
-  long m_user_ms_res, m_sys_ms_res, m_wall_ms_res;
+  timer_t m_user_ms, m_sys_ms, m_wall_ms;
+  timer_t m_user_ms_res, m_sys_ms_res, m_wall_ms_res;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -152,12 +160,14 @@ private:
 class TL_PUBLIC Clock 
 {
 public:
+  typedef int64_t timer_t;
+
   typedef unsigned long clock_value;
 
   /**
    *  @brief Default constructor: construct a clock object pointing to an arbitrary value
    */
-  Clock () : m_clock (0) 
+  Clock () : m_clock_ms (0)
   {
     // .. nothing yet ..
   }
@@ -171,7 +181,7 @@ public:
    *  @brief Copy constructor
    */
   Clock (const Clock &d)
-    : m_clock (d.m_clock)
+    : m_clock_ms (d.m_clock_ms)
   {
     //  .. nothing yet ..
   }
@@ -181,7 +191,7 @@ public:
    */
   Clock &operator= (Clock d)
   {
-    m_clock = d.m_clock;
+    m_clock_ms = d.m_clock_ms;
     return *this;
   }
 
@@ -190,7 +200,7 @@ public:
    */
   bool operator== (Clock d) const
   {
-    return m_clock == d.m_clock;
+    return m_clock_ms == d.m_clock_ms;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -206,8 +216,7 @@ public:
    */
   bool operator< (Clock d) const
   {
-    //  to account for wrap around, we do the comparison this way:
-    return long (m_clock) - long (d.m_clock) < 0;
+    return m_clock_ms < d.m_clock_ms;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -215,7 +224,7 @@ public:
    */
   Clock &operator-= (Clock d)
   {
-    m_clock -= d.m_clock;
+    m_clock_ms -= d.m_clock_ms;
     return *this;
   }
 
@@ -240,7 +249,7 @@ public:
   static Clock current ();
 
 private:
-  clock_value m_clock; 
+  timer_t m_clock_ms;
 };
 
 } // namespace tl