Cannot Get External Time Sync To Work With PDC - No Matter What

We have a really strange issue here with our setup on our new 2012 R2 DC with the PDC role. We cannot get it to synchronise with an external time source and it always reverts to Local CMOS Clock.

Firstly it's important to mention that this machine is running as a VM under ESXi 6.0 which has "Synchronize guest time with host" switchedoff under the VM properties.

These are the steps I have run through and where I am with it.

C:\Windows\system32>net stop w32time
The Windows Time service is stopping.
The Windows Time service was stopped successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /unregister
W32Time successfully unregistered.

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /register
W32Time successfully registered.

C:\Windows\system32>net start w32time
The Windows Time service is starting..
The Windows Time service was started successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm.exe /config /manualpeerlist:"1.uk.pool.ntp.org" /syncf
romflags:manual /reliable:YES /update
The command completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /config /update
The command completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /query /peers
#Peers: 4

Peer: 1.uk.pool.ntp.org
State: Active
Time Remaining: 44.6093371s
Mode: 1 (Symmetric Active)
Stratum: 0 (unspecified)
PeerPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified)
HostPoll Interval: 6 (64s)

Peer: 1.uk.pool.ntp.org
State: Active
Time Remaining: 44.7187111s
Mode: 1 (Symmetric Active)
Stratum: 0 (unspecified)
PeerPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified)
HostPoll Interval: 6 (64s)

Peer: 1.uk.pool.ntp.org
State: Active
Time Remaining: 44.8280879s
Mode: 1 (Symmetric Active)
Stratum: 0 (unspecified)
PeerPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified)
HostPoll Interval: 6 (64s)

Peer: 1.uk.pool.ntp.org
State: Active
Time Remaining: 44.9374612s
Mode: 1 (Symmetric Active)
Stratum: 0 (unspecified)
PeerPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified)
HostPoll Interval: 6 (64s)

C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /query /configuration
[Configuration]

EventLogFlags: 2 (Local)
AnnounceFlags: 5 (Local)
TimeJumpAuditOffset: 28800 (Local)
MinPollInterval: 6 (Local)
MaxPollInterval: 10 (Local)
MaxNegPhaseCorrection: 172800 (Local)
MaxPosPhaseCorrection: 172800 (Local)
MaxAllowedPhaseOffset: 300 (Local)

FrequencyCorrectRate: 4 (Local)
PollAdjustFactor: 5 (Local)
LargePhaseOffset: 50000000 (Local)
SpikeWatchPeriod: 900 (Local)
LocalClockDispersion: 10 (Local)
HoldPeriod: 5 (Local)
PhaseCorrectRate: 7 (Local)
UpdateInterval: 100 (Local)


[TimeProviders]

NtpClient (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\system32\w32time.DLL (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 1 (Local)
CrossSiteSyncFlags: 2 (Local)
AllowNonstandardModeCombinations: 1 (Local)
ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes: 15 (Local)
ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes: 7 (Local)
CompatibilityFlags: 2147483648 (Local)
EventLogFlags: 1 (Local)
LargeSampleSkew: 3 (Local)
SpecialPollInterval: 3600 (Local)
Type: NTP (Local)
NtpServer: 1.uk.pool.ntp.org (Local)

NtpServer (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\system32\w32time.DLL (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 0 (Local)
AllowNonstandardModeCombinations: 1 (Local)

VMICTimeProvider (Local)
DllName: C:\Windows\System32\vmictimeprovider.dll (Local)
Enabled: 1 (Local)
InputProvider: 1 (Local)


C:\Windows\system32>w32tm /resync /force
Sending resync command to local computer
The computer did not resync because no time data was available.

I am under the impression that everything is set correctly so I cannot understand why it refuses to synchronise each time. I have tried different time servers such as time.windows.com and another local one which all achieve the same results.

Once again, time synchronisation within VMware tools is definitely off.