diff --git a/Doc/library/time.rst b/Doc/library/time.rst
--- a/Doc/library/time.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/time.rst
@@ -225,6 +225,14 @@ The module defines the following functio
    The earliest date for which it can generate a time is platform-dependent.
 
 
+.. function:: monotonic()
+
+   Monotonic clock.  The reference point of the returned value is undefined so
+   only the difference of consecutive calls is valid.
+
+   .. versionadded: 3.3
+
+
 .. function:: sleep(secs)
 
    Suspend execution for the given number of seconds.  The argument may be a
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_time.py b/Lib/test/test_time.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_time.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_time.py
@@ -331,16 +331,32 @@ class TimeTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             pass
         self.assertEqual(time.strftime('%Z', tt), tzname)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(time, 'monotonic'),
+                         'need time.monotonic()')
+    def test_monotonic(self):
+        t1 = time.monotonic()
+        t2 = time.monotonic()
+        self.assertGreaterEqual(t2, t1)
+
+        t1 = time.monotonic()
+        time.sleep(0.1)
+        t2 = time.monotonic()
+        dt = t2 - t1
+        self.assertGreater(t2, t1)
+        self.assertAlmostEqual(dt, 0.1, delta=0.2)
+
     def test_wallclock(self):
         t1 = time.wallclock()
         t2 = time.wallclock()
+        # may fail if the system clock is changed
         self.assertGreaterEqual(t2, t1)
 
         t1 = time.wallclock()
         time.sleep(0.1)
         t2 = time.wallclock()
+        dt = t2 - t1
+        # may fail if the system clock is changed
         self.assertGreater(t2, t1)
-        dt = t2 - t1
         self.assertAlmostEqual(dt, 0.1, delta=0.2)
 
 
diff --git a/Modules/timemodule.c b/Modules/timemodule.c
--- a/Modules/timemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/timemodule.c
@@ -66,21 +66,28 @@ Fractions of a second may be present if 
 /* Win32 has better clock replacement; we have our own version, due to Mark
    Hammond and Tim Peters */
 static PyObject *
-time_clock(PyObject *self, PyObject *unused)
+win32_clock(int fallback)
 {
     static LARGE_INTEGER ctrStart;
     static double divisor = 0.0;
     LARGE_INTEGER now;
     double diff;
 
-    if (divisor == 0.0) {
+    if (divisor == 0.0)
+    {
         LARGE_INTEGER freq;
+
         QueryPerformanceCounter(&ctrStart);
-        if (!QueryPerformanceFrequency(&freq) || freq.QuadPart == 0) {
-            /* Unlikely to happen - this works on all intel
-               machines at least!  Revert to clock() */
-            return PyFloat_FromDouble(((double)clock()) /
-                                      CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
+        if (!QueryPerformanceFrequency(&freq) || freq.QuadPart == 0)
+        {
+            /* Unlikely to happen - this works on all intel machines
+               at least! */
+            if (fallback)
+                /* Revert to clock() */
+                return PyFloat_FromDouble(((double)clock()) /
+                                          CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
+            else
+                return PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(0);
         }
         divisor = (double)freq.QuadPart;
     }
@@ -89,6 +96,12 @@ time_clock(PyObject *self, PyObject *unu
     return PyFloat_FromDouble(diff / divisor);
 }
 
+static PyObject *
+time_clock(PyObject *self, PyObject *unused)
+{
+    return win32_clock(1);
+}
+
 #elif defined(HAVE_CLOCK)
 
 #ifndef CLOCKS_PER_SEC
@@ -741,7 +754,7 @@ static PyObject *
 time_wallclock(PyObject *self, PyObject *unused)
 {
 #if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && !defined(__BORLANDC__)
-    return time_clock(self, NULL);
+    return win32_clock(1);
 #elif defined(HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME) && defined(CLOCK_MONOTONIC)
     static int clk_index = 0;
     clockid_t clk_ids[] = {
@@ -783,6 +796,50 @@ required, i.e. when \"processor time\" i
 of the returned value is undefined so only the difference of consecutive\n\
 calls is valid.");
 
+#if (defined(MS_WINDOWS) && !defined(__BORLANDC__)) \
+    || (defined(HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME) && defined(CLOCK_MONOTONIC))
+#  define HAVE_PYTIME_MONOTONIC
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_PYTIME_MONOTONIC
+static PyObject *
+time_monotonic(PyObject *self, PyObject *unused)
+{
+#if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && !defined(__BORLANDC__)
+    return win32_clock(0);
+#else
+    static int clk_index = 0;
+    clockid_t clk_ids[] = {
+#ifdef CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW
+        CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW,
+#endif
+        CLOCK_MONOTONIC
+    };
+    int ret;
+    struct timespec tp;
+
+    while (0 <= clk_index) {
+        clockid_t clk_id = clk_ids[clk_index];
+        ret = clock_gettime(clk_id, &tp);
+        if (ret == 0)
+            return PyFloat_FromDouble(tp.tv_sec + tp.tv_nsec * 1e-9);
+
+        clk_index++;
+        if (Py_ARRAY_LENGTH(clk_ids) <= clk_index)
+            clk_index = -1;
+    }
+    PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_IOError);
+    return NULL;
+#endif
+}
+
+PyDoc_STRVAR(monotonic_doc,
+"monotonic() -> float\n\
+\n\
+Monotonic clock. The reference point of the returned value is undefined so\n\
+only the difference of consecutive calls is valid.");
+#endif
+
 static void
 PyInit_timezone(PyObject *m) {
     /* This code moved from PyInit_time wholesale to allow calling it from
@@ -911,6 +968,9 @@ static PyMethodDef time_methods[] = {
 #ifdef HAVE_MKTIME
     {"mktime",          time_mktime, METH_O, mktime_doc},
 #endif
+#ifdef HAVE_PYTIME_MONOTONIC
+    {"monotonic",       time_monotonic, METH_NOARGS, monotonic_doc},
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_STRFTIME
     {"strftime",        time_strftime, METH_VARARGS, strftime_doc},
 #endif