diff --git a/tests/auto/corelib/tools/qdatetime/tst_qdatetime.cpp b/tests/auto/corelib/tools/qdatetime/tst_qdatetime.cpp
index 24453d35b6..4ab79909e3 100644
--- a/tests/auto/corelib/tools/qdatetime/tst_qdatetime.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/corelib/tools/qdatetime/tst_qdatetime.cpp
@@ -611,13 +611,11 @@ void tst_QDateTime::setMSecsSinceEpoch()
         dt2.setTimeZone(europe);
         dt2.setMSecsSinceEpoch(msecs);
         QCOMPARE(dt2.date(), european.date());
-#ifdef Q_OS_MAC
-        // NSTimeZone doesn't apply DST to high values
-        if (msecs < (Q_INT64_C(123456) << 32))
-#else
-        // Linux and Win are OK except when they overflow
-        if (msecs != std::numeric_limits<qint64>::max())
-#endif
+
+        // don't compare the time if the date is too early or too late: prior
+        // to 1916, timezones in Europe were not standardised and some OS APIs
+        // have hard limits. Let's restrict it to the 32-bit Unix range
+        if (dt2.date().year() >= 1970 && dt2.date().year() <= 2037)
             QCOMPARE(dt2.time(), european.time());
         QCOMPARE(dt2.timeSpec(), Qt::TimeZone);
         QCOMPARE(dt2.timeZone(), europe);