diff --git a/package/base-files/files/etc/init.d/sysfixtime b/package/base-files/files/etc/init.d/sysfixtime
index ab946f6518..1354a586ce 100755
--- a/package/base-files/files/etc/init.d/sysfixtime
+++ b/package/base-files/files/etc/init.d/sysfixtime
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ HWCLOCK=/sbin/hwclock
 boot() {
 	start && exit 0
 
+	local maxtime="$(maxtime)"
 	local curtime="$(date +%s)"
-	local maxtime="$(find /etc -type f -exec date -r {} +%s \; | sort -nr | head -n1)"
 	[ $curtime -lt $maxtime ] && date -s @$maxtime
 }
 
@@ -23,3 +23,12 @@ stop() {
 	[ -e "$RTC_DEV" ] && [ -e "$HWCLOCK" ] && $HWCLOCK -w -f $RTC_DEV && \
 		logger -t sysfixtime "saved '$(date)' to $RTC_DEV"
 }
+
+maxtime() {
+	local file newest
+
+	for file in $( find /etc -type f ! -path /etc/dnsmasq.time ) ; do
+		[ -z "$newest" -o "$newest" -ot "$file"] && newest=$file
+	done
+	[ "$newest" ] && date -r "$newest" +%s
+}