diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5474568..08fe091 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ bench-emergent-pending: bootstrap ## print log entries awaiting teacher review
 # options" pattern that uncloseai-cli's tool_arborist supports.
 BENCH_CM_QUESTIONS ?= bench/qa_questions_smoke.txt
 BENCH_CM_OUT       ?= bench/cross_model_results
-BENCH_CM_TIMEOUT   ?= 180
+BENCH_CM_TIMEOUT   ?= 600
 BENCH_CM_LIMIT     ?= 0
 bench-cross-model: bootstrap ## cross-model self-play (Hermes + Qwen on smoke fixture) [BENCH_CM_QUESTIONS=... LIMIT=N BURN=1]
 	PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 $(PY) bench/cross_model_selfplay.py \