diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3074f13cd..0346fa0f7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -121,15 +121,22 @@ if(NOT Boost_SERIALIZATION_LIBRARY OR NOT Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY OR NOT Boost_FILE
   message(FATAL_ERROR "Missing required Boost components >= v1.43, please install/upgrade Boost or configure your search paths.")
 endif()
 
+option(GTSAM_DISABLE_NEW_TIMERS "Disables using Boost.chrono for timing" OFF)
 # Allow for not using the timer libraries on boost < 1.48 (GTSAM timing code falls back to old timer library)
 set(GTSAM_BOOST_LIBRARIES ${Boost_SERIALIZATION_LIBRARY} ${Boost_SYSTEM_LIBRARY} ${Boost_FILESYSTEM_LIBRARY})
-if(Boost_TIMER_LIBRARY)
-  list(APPEND GTSAM_BOOST_LIBRARIES ${GTSAM_BOOST_LIBRARIES} ${Boost_TIMER_LIBRARY} ${Boost_CHRONO_LIBRARY})
+if (GTSAM_DISABLE_NEW_TIMERS)
+    message("WARNING:  GTSAM timing instrumentation manually disabled")
+    add_definitions(-DGTSAM_DISABLE_NEW_TIMERS)
 else()
-  message("WARNING:  Boost older than 1.48 was found, GTSAM timing instrumentation will use the older, less accurate, Boost timer library.")
+    if(Boost_TIMER_LIBRARY)
+      list(APPEND GTSAM_BOOST_LIBRARIES ${GTSAM_BOOST_LIBRARIES} ${Boost_TIMER_LIBRARY} ${Boost_CHRONO_LIBRARY})
+    else()
+      message("WARNING:  Boost older than 1.48 was found, GTSAM timing instrumentation will use the older, less accurate, Boost timer library.")
+    endif()
 endif()
 
 
+
 ###############################################################################
 # Global compile options
 
diff --git a/gtsam/base/timing.h b/gtsam/base/timing.h
index 7bd030ed0..ecec413b1 100644
--- a/gtsam/base/timing.h
+++ b/gtsam/base/timing.h
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@
 
 // Automatically use the new Boost timers if version is recent enough.
 #if BOOST_VERSION >= 104800
+#if not GTSAM_DISABLE_NEW_TIMERS
 #define GTSAM_USING_NEW_BOOST_TIMERS
 #endif
+#endif
 
 #ifdef GTSAM_USING_NEW_BOOST_TIMERS
 #include <boost/timer/timer.hpp>
@@ -137,4 +139,4 @@ inline void tictoc_finishedIteration() {}
 inline void tictoc_print() {}
 #endif
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}