diff --git a/src/cw/timer.h b/src/cw/timer.h
index 5a8470aa..833e1504 100644
--- a/src/cw/timer.h
+++ b/src/cw/timer.h
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ typedef time_t cw_timer_t;
  */
 #define cw_timer_timeout(t) (time(NULL)>(t) ? 1 : 0)
 
+/**
+ * Get the number of seconds left in a timer
+ * @param t timer
+ * @return number of seconds
+ */
+#define cw_timer_timeleft(t) ((t)-time(NULL))
+
 /**
  * Get the number of nano seconds from a timeval.
  */