So when I had to install the X server packages on my Virtual Machines just to turn on time sync, I was understandably put out.  I could log into the host and modify the .vmx file for my virtual machine, sure.  But if there is a method to do it from the guest, why not do it that way?  It turns out that vmware-guestd is the key on Linux Virtual Machines.
[root@tardis ~]# /usr/sbin/vmware-guestd --cmd "vmx.set_option synctime 0 1"
This will allow you to turn on the time sync between the guest and host from the command line when you don’t have the X server components installed and don’t want to/are unable to log into your host directly to modify the .vmx file.