diff --git a/changelog/65752.fixed.md b/changelog/65752.fixed.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f611c5e65ec8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/65752.fixed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix nonsensical time in fileclient timeout error.
diff --git a/salt/fileclient.py b/salt/fileclient.py
index 443861cc03fd..321f41996ab8 100644
--- a/salt/fileclient.py
+++ b/salt/fileclient.py
@@ -1157,7 +1157,7 @@ def _channel_send(self, load, raw=False):
             )
         except salt.exceptions.SaltReqTimeoutError:
             raise SaltClientError(
-                f"File client timed out after {int(time.time() - start)}"
+                f"File client timed out after {int(time.monotonic() - start)}"
             )
 
     def destroy(self):
diff --git a/tests/pytests/unit/fileclient/test_fileclient.py b/tests/pytests/unit/fileclient/test_fileclient.py
index 0e072e5c36f4..f5cfce92eeca 100644
--- a/tests/pytests/unit/fileclient/test_fileclient.py
+++ b/tests/pytests/unit/fileclient/test_fileclient.py
@@ -126,7 +126,8 @@ def mock_dumps(*args):
             # Crypticle must return bytes to pass to transport.RequestClient.send
             client.auth._crypticle = Mock()
             client.auth._crypticle.dumps = mock_dumps
-            with pytest.raises(salt.exceptions.SaltClientError):
+            msg = r"^File client timed out after \d{1,4}$"
+            with pytest.raises(salt.exceptions.SaltClientError, match=msg):
                 client.file_list()