diff --git a/src/kits/tracker/Thumbnails.cpp b/src/kits/tracker/Thumbnails.cpp
index bb997131a6..3e7d71724f 100644
--- a/src/kits/tracker/Thumbnails.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/tracker/Thumbnails.cpp
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ GenerateThumbnailJob::Execute()
 			thumbnailWritten = (status == B_OK);
 
 			// write thumbnail creation time into an attribute
-			bigtime_t created = system_time();
+			bigtime_t created = real_time_clock_usecs();
 			fFile->WriteAttr(kAttrThumbnailCreationTime, B_TIME_TYPE,
 				0, &created, sizeof(bigtime_t));
 		}