diff --git a/oslo_utils/timeutils.py b/oslo_utils/timeutils.py
index 17495e49..47859a75 100644
--- a/oslo_utils/timeutils.py
+++ b/oslo_utils/timeutils.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import time
 
 from debtcollector import removals
 import iso8601
+from monotonic import monotonic as now  # noqa
 from pytz import timezone
 import six
 
@@ -35,19 +36,6 @@ PERFECT_TIME_FORMAT = _ISO8601_TIME_FORMAT_SUBSECOND
 
 _MAX_DATETIME_SEC = 59
 
-# Use monotonic time in stopwatches if we can get at it...
-#
-# PEP @ https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0418/
-try:
-    now = time.monotonic
-except AttributeError:
-    try:
-        # Try to use the pypi module if it's available (optionally...)
-        from monotonic import monotonic as now
-    except (AttributeError, ImportError):
-        # Ok fallback to the non-monotonic one...
-        now = time.time
-
 
 @removals.remove(
     message="use datetime.datetime.isoformat()",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 98ddc940..e8de632c 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Babel>=1.3
 six>=1.9.0
 iso8601>=0.1.9
 oslo.i18n>=1.5.0 # Apache-2.0
+monotonic>=0.1 # Apache-2.0
 pytz>=2013.6
 netaddr>=0.7.12
 netifaces>=0.10.4