diff --git a/src/server/serverContext.cpp b/src/server/serverContext.cpp
index 177ddd8..5ef6884 100644
--- a/src/server/serverContext.cpp
+++ b/src/server/serverContext.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ ServerContextImpl::ServerContextImpl():
     _broadcastPort(PVA_BROADCAST_PORT),
     _serverPort(PVA_SERVER_PORT),
     _receiveBufferSize(MAX_TCP_RECV),
-    _timer(),
+    _timer(new Timer("pvAccess-server timer", lowerPriority)),
     _beaconEmitter(),
     _acceptor(),
     _transportRegistry(),
@@ -266,8 +266,6 @@ void ServerContextImpl::initialize()
     // already called in loadConfiguration
     //osiSockAttach();
 
-    _timer.reset(new Timer("pvAccess-server timer", lowerPriority));
-
     ServerContextImpl::shared_pointer thisServerContext = shared_from_this();
     // we create reference cycles here which are broken by our shutdown() method,
     _responseHandler.reset(new ServerResponseHandler(thisServerContext));