diff --git a/rcl/test/CMakeLists.txt b/rcl/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 771ae26dfe..7d4eec5bcc 100644
--- a/rcl/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rcl/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -50,17 +50,20 @@ function(test_target_function)
     AMENT_DEPENDENCIES ${rmw_implementation}
   )
 
-  set(timer_test_timeout 60)
+  # TODO(hidmic): re-enable timer tests against RTI Connext once
+  #               https://github.com/ros2/rcl/issues/687 is resolved
+  set(extra_timer_test_args "")
   if(rmw_implementation STREQUAL "rmw_connext_cpp")
-    set(timer_test_timeout 90)  # Bump timeout for RTI Connext
+    set(extra_timer_test_args SKIP_TEST)
   endif()
+
   rcl_add_custom_gtest(test_timer${target_suffix}
     SRCS rcl/test_timer.cpp
     ENV ${rmw_implementation_env_var}
-    TIMEOUT ${timer_test_timeout}
     APPEND_LIBRARY_DIRS ${extra_lib_dirs}
     LIBRARIES ${PROJECT_NAME} osrf_testing_tools_cpp::memory_tools
     AMENT_DEPENDENCIES ${rmw_implementation}
+    ${extra_args}
   )
 
   rcl_add_custom_gtest(test_context${target_suffix}