mtime not updating on remote directory

[tomr]

Hello,

I'm using rsync as part of a centralised config management for several servers.  I'm trying to monitor the mtime of a particular directory and confirm that the remote copies are approximately as new as the the local master.  However, mtime on that directory is not being synced.  Here's my rsync command:

cd $confdir && rsync -avpzR --checksum -I -e "ssh" --exclude='old/' ./* user at remotehost:/

My impression is that this should sync mtime to the remote dir, if that mtime has changed locally.  However that's not happening.  It doesn't seem to me that any of my options implies --omit-dir-times, but maybe I'm missing something - Any clues?

Thanks in advance!
tom