diff --git a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_timesync.cpp b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_timesync.cpp
index 410dd84512..c9df0a4126 100644
--- a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_timesync.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_timesync.cpp
@@ -86,11 +86,14 @@ MavlinkTimesync::handle_message(const mavlink_message_t *msg)
 			timespec tv = {};
 			px4_clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &tv);
 
-			// date -d @1234567890: Sat Feb 14 02:31:30 MSK 2009
-			bool onb_unix_valid = (unsigned long long)tv.tv_sec > PX4_EPOCH_SECS;
-			bool ofb_unix_valid = time.time_unix_usec > PX4_EPOCH_SECS * 1000000ULL;
+			// Set the system time if we are lagging behind by more than a minute
+			time_t seconds_behind = 60;
+			time_t local_time = tv.tv_sec;
+			time_t remote_time = time.time_unix_usec / 1000000;
+			bool update = (remote_time > PX4_EPOCH_SECS) && (remote_time > local_time + seconds_behind);
 
-			if (!onb_unix_valid && ofb_unix_valid) {
+			if (update) {
+				PX4_INFO("Setting system clock from SYSTEM_TIME sent by %d/%d", msg->sysid, msg->compid);
 				tv.tv_sec = time.time_unix_usec / 1000000ULL;
 				tv.tv_nsec = (time.time_unix_usec % 1000000ULL) * 1000ULL;