Aspects of the disclosure provide an apparatus for enabling common time-stamping. The apparatus includes a first subsystem having a first timer and a second subsystem having a second timer of a same frequency as the first timer. The first subsystem is configured to time-stamp first events based on the first timer. The second subsystem is configured to time-stamp second events based on the second timer. The apparatus further includes a synchronization module configured to take a first snapshot of the first timer and take a second snapshot of the second timer. Then, based on a difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot, the first events and the second events are commonly time-stamped.