diff --git a/micrometer-core/src/main/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/AbstractTimeWindowHistogram.java b/micrometer-core/src/main/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/AbstractTimeWindowHistogram.java
index 40dd19561e..4e954dd99e 100644
--- a/micrometer-core/src/main/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/AbstractTimeWindowHistogram.java
+++ b/micrometer-core/src/main/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/AbstractTimeWindowHistogram.java
@@ -74,10 +74,10 @@ abstract class AbstractTimeWindowHistogram<T, U> implements Histogram {
 
         ringBuffer = (T[]) Array.newInstance(bucketType, ageBuckets);
 
-        durationBetweenRotatesMillis = distributionStatisticConfig.getExpiry().toMillis() / ageBuckets;
+        durationBetweenRotatesMillis = distributionStatisticConfig.getExpiry().toMillis();
         if (durationBetweenRotatesMillis <= 0) {
             rejectHistogramConfig("expiry (" + distributionStatisticConfig.getExpiry().toMillis()
-                    + "ms) / bufferLength (" + ageBuckets + ") must be greater than 0.");
+                    + "ms) must be greater than 0.");
         }
 
         currentBucket = 0;
diff --git a/micrometer-core/src/test/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/TimeWindowPercentileHistogramTest.java b/micrometer-core/src/test/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/TimeWindowPercentileHistogramTest.java
index 04764c32fd..f59fb7d0bb 100644
--- a/micrometer-core/src/test/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/TimeWindowPercentileHistogramTest.java
+++ b/micrometer-core/src/test/java/io/micrometer/core/instrument/distribution/TimeWindowPercentileHistogramTest.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ private boolean percentileValueIsApproximately(ValueAtPercentile vp, double perc
     void timeBasedSlidingWindow() {
         final DistributionStatisticConfig config = DistributionStatisticConfig.builder()
             .percentiles(0.0, 0.5, 0.75, 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, 1.0)
-            .expiry(Duration.ofSeconds(4))
+            .expiry(Duration.ofSeconds(1))
             .bufferLength(4)
             .build()
             .merge(DistributionStatisticConfig.DEFAULT);