diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b3c8a30..8944d44 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 cxx_feature_check(STD_REGEX)
 cxx_feature_check(GNU_POSIX_REGEX)
 cxx_feature_check(POSIX_REGEX)
+cxx_feature_check(STEADY_CLOCK)
 
 # Set up directories
 include_directories(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
diff --git a/cmake/steady_clock.cpp b/cmake/steady_clock.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4aa72a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/steady_clock.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#include <chrono>
+
+int main() {
+    typedef std::chrono::steady_clock Clock;
+    Clock::time_point tp = Clock::now();
+    ((void)tp);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/reporter.cc b/src/reporter.cc
index 96108da..1d168e0 100644
--- a/src/reporter.cc
+++ b/src/reporter.cc
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
 
   if (context.cpu_scaling_enabled) {
     fprintf(stdout, "***WARNING*** CPU scaling is enabled, the benchmark "
-                    "timings may be noisy\n");
+                    "timings may be noisy and will incure extra overhead.\n");
   }
 
 #ifndef NDEBUG
diff --git a/src/walltime.cc b/src/walltime.cc
index 3a47799..325040b 100644
--- a/src/walltime.cc
+++ b/src/walltime.cc
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include "arraysize.h"
 #include "check.h"
 #include "cycleclock.h"
+#include "log.h"
 #include "sysinfo.h"
 
 namespace benchmark {
@@ -36,6 +37,26 @@
 
 namespace {
 
+#if defined(HAVE_STEADY_CLOCK)
+template <bool HighResIsSteady = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::is_steady>
+struct ChooseSteadyClock {
+    typedef std::chrono::high_resolution_clock type;
+};
+
+template <>
+struct ChooseSteadyClock<false> {
+    typedef std::chrono::steady_clock type;
+};
+#endif
+
+struct ChooseClockType {
+#if defined(HAVE_STEADY_CLOCK)
+  typedef typename ChooseSteadyClock<>::type type;
+#else
+  typedef std::chrono::high_resolution_clock type;
+#endif
+};
+
 class WallTimeImp
 {
 public:
@@ -151,7 +172,7 @@
 }
 
 WallTime ChronoWalltimeNow() {
-  typedef std::chrono::system_clock Clock;
+  typedef ChooseClockType::type Clock;
   typedef std::chrono::duration<WallTime, std::chrono::seconds::period>
           FPSeconds;
   static_assert(std::chrono::treat_as_floating_point<WallTime>::value,
@@ -160,13 +181,23 @@
   return std::chrono::duration_cast<FPSeconds>(now).count();
 }
 
+bool UseCpuCycleClock() {
+    bool useWallTime = !CpuScalingEnabled();
+    if (useWallTime) {
+        VLOG(1) << "Using the CPU cycle clock to provide walltime::Now().\n";
+    } else {
+        VLOG(1) << "Using std::chrono to provide walltime::Now().\n";
+    }
+    return useWallTime;
+}
+
 // WallTimeImp doesn't work when CPU Scaling is enabled. If CPU Scaling is
 // enabled at the start of the program then std::chrono::system_clock is used
 // instead.
 WallTime Now()
 {
-  static bool useWallTime = !CpuScalingEnabled();
-  if (useWallTime) {
+  static bool useCPUClock = UseCpuCycleClock();
+  if (useCPUClock) {
     return CPUWalltimeNow();
   } else {
     return ChronoWalltimeNow();
@@ -182,14 +213,11 @@
   char storage[128];
 
   std::tm timeinfo;
+  std::memset(&timeinfo, 0, sizeof(std::tm));
   if (local) {
-    std::tm* ret = std::localtime(&now);
-    CHECK(ret != nullptr);
-    timeinfo = *ret;
+    ::localtime_r(&now, &timeinfo);
   } else {
-    std::tm* ret = std::gmtime(&now);
-    CHECK(ret != nullptr);
-    timeinfo = *ret;
+    ::gmtime_r(&now, &timeinfo);
   }
   std::size_t written = std::strftime(storage, sizeof(storage), "%F %T", &timeinfo);
   CHECK(written < arraysize(storage));