diff --git a/tests/snippets/builtin_thread.py b/tests/snippets/builtin_thread.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e9696cce6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/snippets/builtin_thread.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import _thread
+
+assert _thread.TIMEOUT_MAX in [9223372036.0, 4294967.0]
diff --git a/vm/src/stdlib/thread.rs b/vm/src/stdlib/thread.rs
index 225001c4dc..6cec8bd315 100644
--- a/vm/src/stdlib/thread.rs
+++ b/vm/src/stdlib/thread.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ use crate::function::PyFuncArgs;
 use crate::pyobject::PyResult;
 use crate::vm::VirtualMachine;
 
+#[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
+const PY_TIMEOUT_MAX: isize = std::isize::MAX;
+
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+const PY_TIMEOUT_MAX: isize = 0xffffffff * 1_000_000;
+
+const TIMEOUT_MAX: f64 = (PY_TIMEOUT_MAX / 1_000_000_000) as f64;
+
 fn rlock_acquire(vm: &VirtualMachine, _args: PyFuncArgs) -> PyResult {
     Ok(vm.get_none())
 }
@@ -54,5 +62,6 @@ pub fn make_module(vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyObjectRef {
         "RLock" => rlock_type,
         "get_ident" => ctx.new_rustfunc(get_ident),
         "allocate_lock" => ctx.new_rustfunc(allocate_lock),
+        "TIMEOUT_MAX" => ctx.new_float(TIMEOUT_MAX),
     })
 }