diff --git a/setup/build.py b/setup/build.py
index 369c6f4c54..80f2629f93 100644
--- a/setup/build.py
+++ b/setup/build.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ class Extension(object):
         self.name = d['name'] = name
         self.sources = d['sources'] = absolutize(sources)
         self.needs_cxx = d['needs_cxx'] = bool([1 for x in self.sources if os.path.splitext(x)[1] in ('.cpp', '.c++', '.cxx')])
+        self.needs_py2 = d['needs_py2'] = kwargs.get('needs_py2', False)
         self.headers = d['headers'] = absolutize(kwargs.get('headers', []))
         self.sip_files = d['sip_files'] = absolutize(kwargs.get('sip_files', []))
         self.inc_dirs = d['inc_dirs'] = absolutize(kwargs.get('inc_dirs', []))
@@ -262,6 +263,8 @@ class Build(Command):
         for ext in extensions:
             if opts.only != 'all' and opts.only != ext.name:
                 continue
+            if ext.needs_py2 and sys.version_info >= (3,):
+                continue
             if ext.error:
                 if ext.optional:
                     self.warn(ext.error)
diff --git a/setup/extensions.json b/setup/extensions.json
index 95d136361e..a22f98df65 100644
--- a/setup/extensions.json
+++ b/setup/extensions.json
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
     {
         "name": "monotonic",
         "sources": "calibre/utils/monotonic.c",
-        "linux_libraries": "rt"
+        "linux_libraries": "rt",
+        "needs_py2": true
     },
     {
         "name": "unicode_names",
diff --git a/src/calibre/constants.py b/src/calibre/constants.py
index 06705b71ad..4f9b6f9aa6 100644
--- a/src/calibre/constants.py
+++ b/src/calibre/constants.py
@@ -168,7 +168,6 @@ class Plugins(collections.Mapping):
                 'chm_extra',
                 'icu',
                 'speedup',
-                'monotonic',
                 'unicode_names',
                 'zlib2',
                 'html',
@@ -183,6 +182,10 @@ class Plugins(collections.Mapping):
                 'certgen',
                 'lzma_binding',
             ]
+        if not ispy3:
+            plugins.extend([
+                'monotonic',
+            ])
         if iswindows:
             plugins.extend(['winutil', 'wpd', 'winfonts'])
         if isosx:
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/monotonic.py b/src/calibre/utils/monotonic.py
index da6c88249e..6bf33e46d8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/monotonic.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/monotonic.py
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 # vim:fileencoding=utf-8
 
-from calibre.constants import plugins
+try:
+    from time import monotonic
+except ImportError:
+    from calibre.constants import plugins
 
-monotonicp, err = plugins['monotonic']
-if err:
-    raise RuntimeError('Failed to load the monotonic module with error: ' + err)
-monotonic = monotonicp.monotonic
-del monotonicp, err
+    monotonicp, err = plugins['monotonic']
+    if err:
+        raise RuntimeError('Failed to load the monotonic module with error: ' + err)
+    monotonic = monotonicp.monotonic
+    del monotonicp, err