diff --git a/cpu/native/include/hwtimer_cpu.h b/cpu/native/include/hwtimer_cpu.h
index d324b4ff9a615c19cd67929e44c7b8688b102584..2e4ba477c126556fd28247df1cda2bf318f661d5 100644
--- a/cpu/native/include/hwtimer_cpu.h
+++ b/cpu/native/include/hwtimer_cpu.h
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
  * @}
  */
 
+#include "periph_conf.h"
+
 #ifndef HWTIMER_CPU_H_
 #define HWTIMER_CPU_H_
 
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define HWTIMER_MAXTIMERS 1
 #define HWTIMER_SPEED 1000000
 #define HWTIMER_MAXTICKS (0xFFFFFFFF)
-#define HWTIMER_SPIN_BARRIER 20
+#define HWTIMER_SPIN_BARRIER NATIVE_TIMER_MIN_RES
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/cpu/native/include/periph_conf.h b/cpu/native/include/periph_conf.h
index 187de84d6e0a995cae0874376679e847de05be5a..7efe40b4887ab6cb53f019c5cee6f348fcb61fe3 100644
--- a/cpu/native/include/periph_conf.h
+++ b/cpu/native/include/periph_conf.h
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@
  extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+/**
+ * @name hardware timer clock skew avoidance
+ * @{
+ */
+#define NATIVE_TIMER_MIN_RES 200
+/** @} */
+
 /**
  * @name Random Number Generator configuration
  * @{
diff --git a/cpu/native/periph/timer.c b/cpu/native/periph/timer.c
index 9e467b79b8e0430cea1b86c386912675ab4e1fce..6c1fff901d303a62357c62c9c947441eabbfa37f 100644
--- a/cpu/native/periph/timer.c
+++ b/cpu/native/periph/timer.c
@@ -46,8 +46,6 @@
 
 #define NATIVE_TIMER_SPEED 1000000
 
-#define NATIVE_TIMER_MIN_RES 200
-
 static unsigned long time_null;
 
 static void (*_callback)(int);
diff --git a/tests/hwtimer_spin/main.c b/tests/hwtimer_spin/main.c
index 7a411d514d2fc9b00d44d8c55971812d07beb734..dc0842b4ec80a289eb2066153292a90f8dfa2cbc 100644
--- a/tests/hwtimer_spin/main.c
+++ b/tests/hwtimer_spin/main.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ int main(void)
             " this test was successful.");
     puts("If you do not see that message, something went wrong.\n");
 
-    for (unsigned long r = 10000; r > 0; r--) {
+    for (unsigned long r = 1000; r > 0; r--) {
         for (unsigned long i = HWTIMER_SPIN_BARRIER; i > 0; i--) {
             hwtimer_wait(i);
         }
diff --git a/tests/hwtimer_wait/main.c b/tests/hwtimer_wait/main.c
index 70c9f68ac861ef4b9d836deb950bfdea2cfd28da..b6aad533ebff2d7ca1b4fb0ab8b1caca4677680e 100644
--- a/tests/hwtimer_wait/main.c
+++ b/tests/hwtimer_wait/main.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ int main(void)
     puts("This is a regression test for a race condition in hwtimer_wait.");
     puts("When the race condition is hit, the timer will wait for a very very long time.");
 
-    long iterations = 10000;
+    long iterations = 1000;
     long start_duration = (HWTIMER_SPIN_BARRIER + 1) << 5;
     long duration = iterations * start_duration * 2L;