diff --git a/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1686.v2.yml b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1686.v2.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe12cc461
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1686.v2.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+type: improvement
+improvement:
+  description: Reduce executor allocation overhead from Timer.Context
+  links:
+  - https://github.com/palantir/tritium/pull/1686
diff --git a/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsExecutorService.java b/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsExecutorService.java
index 3b2132193..732fad70d 100644
--- a/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsExecutorService.java
+++ b/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsExecutorService.java
@@ -136,9 +136,11 @@ private final class TaggedMetricsRunnable implements Runnable {
         public void run() {
             stopQueueTimer();
             running.inc();
-            try (Timer.Context ignored = duration.time()) {
+            long startNanos = System.nanoTime();
+            try {
                 task.run();
             } finally {
+                duration.update(System.nanoTime() - startNanos, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
                 running.dec();
             }
         }
@@ -169,9 +171,11 @@ private final class TaggedMetricsCallable<T> implements Callable<T> {
         public T call() throws Exception {
             stopQueueTimer();
             running.inc();
-            try (Timer.Context ignored = duration.time()) {
+            long startNanos = System.nanoTime();
+            try {
                 return task.call();
             } finally {
+                duration.update(System.nanoTime() - startNanos, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
                 running.dec();
             }
         }
diff --git a/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsScheduledExecutorService.java b/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsScheduledExecutorService.java
index b87082fe6..5f500635c 100644
--- a/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsScheduledExecutorService.java
+++ b/tritium-metrics/src/main/java/com/palantir/tritium/metrics/TaggedMetricsScheduledExecutorService.java
@@ -132,9 +132,11 @@ private final class TaggedMetricsRunnable implements Runnable {
         @Override
         public void run() {
             running.inc();
-            try (Timer.Context ignored = duration.time()) {
+            long startNanos = System.nanoTime();
+            try {
                 task.run();
             } finally {
+                duration.update(System.nanoTime() - startNanos, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
                 running.dec();
             }
         }
@@ -153,11 +155,12 @@ private final class TaggedMetricsScheduledRunnable implements Runnable {
         @Override
         public void run() {
             running.inc();
-            Timer.Context context = duration.time();
+            long startNanos = System.nanoTime();
             try {
                 task.run();
             } finally {
-                long elapsed = context.stop();
+                long elapsed = System.nanoTime() - startNanos;
+                duration.update(elapsed, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
                 running.dec();
                 if (elapsed > periodInNanos) {
                     scheduledOverrun.inc();
@@ -177,9 +180,11 @@ private final class TaggedMetricsCallable<T> implements Callable<T> {
         @Override
         public T call() throws Exception {
             running.inc();
-            try (Timer.Context ignored = duration.time()) {
+            long startNanos = System.nanoTime();
+            try {
                 return task.call();
             } finally {
+                duration.update(System.nanoTime() - startNanos, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
                 running.dec();
             }
         }