diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 97c8a1d..b066906 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -181,8 +181,10 @@ Every path below exists; keep this list in step with `src/` when adding modules.
   - `GuidancePanel.js` - The armed mode's guidance column, and the 40px rail it
     collapses to. Collapse is remembered per user; with no stored choice the
     column decides by the panel's own width
-  - `CursorReadout.js` - The instrument face: time, frequency and doppler speed.
-    Reads the pointer, or the selected feature when there is one
+  - `CursorReadout.js` - The instrument face: frequency as the one large, lit
+    reading, with time immediately beneath it and doppler speed at the foot,
+    both at half the size in the label grey. Reads the pointer, or the selected
+    feature when there is one
   - `AnnotationTables.js` - The three table columns, their headers, count chips
     and the "Clear all annotations" footer
   - `icons.js` - The button glyphs, drawn as inline SVG in `currentColor` so
diff --git a/docs/Control-Panel.md b/docs/Control-Panel.md
index 8bf704c..c2c1edb 100644
--- a/docs/Control-Panel.md
+++ b/docs/Control-Panel.md
@@ -88,9 +88,15 @@ The stored preference distinguishes all three (`true` / `false` / absent). Were
 ### 3. The cursor readouts
 
 The panel's anchor, and the only part styled as an instrument: recessed ground,
-large monospaced tabular numerals, and a faint bloom on the two readings the
-pointer produces. Doppler speed is fenced off at the foot between two rules at
-half the size, because it is a derived quantity rather than a coordinate.
+monospaced tabular numerals, and a faint bloom on the one reading that is lit.
+
+That reading is the **frequency**. In use it is by far the most important
+number in the panel, and the first pass set time at the same size directly
+above it, so the two competed for the eye and neither was the first read. Now
+frequency is the one large reading, and **time** sits immediately beneath it at
+half the size, captioned, in the same grey as the panel's labels rather than
+in ink. Doppler speed is fenced off at the foot between two rules at that same
+second rank, because it is a derived quantity rather than a coordinate.
 
 The column has two targets, named by its kicker:
 
diff --git a/src/components/CursorReadout.js b/src/components/CursorReadout.js
index 752eb03..4d19afb 100644
--- a/src/components/CursorReadout.js
+++ b/src/components/CursorReadout.js
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 /**
  * The instrument face: the numbers the panel is anchored on.
  *
- * Three readouts in a recessed column — time, frequency, and the doppler speed
- * pinned to the foot — set large, monospaced and tabular so a digit never
- * shifts sideways as it changes. Everything else in the control row is a
- * control; this is the measurement, and it is styled to look like one.
+ * Three readouts in a recessed column, in two ranks. Frequency is the one
+ * large, lit reading: in use it is by far the most important number in the
+ * panel, and giving time the same size made the two compete for the eye.
+ * Time sits immediately beneath it at half the size in the label grey, and
+ * the doppler speed is pinned to the foot at the same rank. All three are
+ * monospaced and tabular so a digit never shifts sideways as it changes.
+ * Everything else in the control row is a control; this is the measurement,
+ * and it is styled to look like one.
  *
  * The column has two targets, named by its kicker. With nothing selected it
  * follows the pointer over the gram ("CURSOR"). With a feature selected it
@@ -42,26 +46,25 @@ export function createCursorReadout() {
   kicker.textContent = 'Cursor'
   column.appendChild(kicker)
 
-  const timeLED = createLEDDisplay('Time (mm:ss)', formatTime(0), 'MM:SS')
-  column.appendChild(timeLED)
-
-  // A hairline fading out to the right, rather than a full rule: it separates
-  // the two readings without drawing a box around either.
-  const separator = document.createElement('div')
-  separator.className = 'gram-frame-readout-separator'
-  column.appendChild(separator)
-
   const freqLED = createLEDDisplay('Frequency (Hz)', '0.0', 'HZ')
   freqLED.classList.add('gram-frame-led-accent')
   column.appendChild(freqLED)
 
+  // Time is the second-rank reading: directly under the frequency, at half its
+  // size and in the label grey, with its own caption since it no longer has
+  // the size to name itself. It is not fenced like doppler — it belongs with
+  // the frequency, as the other half of the pointer's coordinate.
+  const timeLED = createLEDDisplay('Time (mm:ss)', formatTime(0), 'MM:SS', 'Time')
+  timeLED.classList.add('gram-frame-led-secondary')
+  column.appendChild(timeLED)
+
   const spacer = document.createElement('div')
   spacer.className = 'gram-frame-readout-spacer'
   column.appendChild(spacer)
 
   // Doppler is a derived quantity rather than a coordinate, so it is fenced off
-  // at the foot between two rules and set at half the size — present, but not
-  // competing with the two readings the pointer actually produces.
+  // at the foot between two rules, at the same second rank as time — present,
+  // but not competing with the reading the column exists for.
   //
   // Its accessible name stays the full "Doppler Speed (kts)" while the caption
   // beside the number is the one word there is room for. The gap in that name
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ export function createCursorReadout() {
   // the source; Playwright normalises it to a plain space, so the
   // `:text-is("Doppler Speed (kts)")` locators in tests/helpers still match.
   const speedLED = createLEDDisplay('Doppler\u00a0Speed (kts)', '0.0', 'KTS', 'Doppler')
-  speedLED.classList.add('gram-frame-led-inline')
+  speedLED.classList.add('gram-frame-led-secondary', 'gram-frame-led-inline')
   column.appendChild(speedLED)
 
   return { column, timeLED, freqLED, speedLED, kicker }
diff --git a/src/gramframe.css b/src/gramframe.css
index 5e2d405..51bb8b4 100644
--- a/src/gramframe.css
+++ b/src/gramframe.css
@@ -1168,12 +1168,6 @@ table.gram-config.gram-frame-config-error tr:first-child td::after {
   white-space: nowrap;
 }
 
-.gram-frame-readout-separator {
-  height: 1px;
-  margin: 9px 0;
-  background: linear-gradient(to right, var(--gf-divider), transparent);
-}
-
 .gram-frame-readout-spacer {
   flex: 1;
 }
@@ -1192,7 +1186,8 @@ table.gram-config.gram-frame-config-error tr:first-child td::after {
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
   letter-spacing: -0.01em;
   /* The faint bloom is what makes it read as a lit instrument rather than as
-     large text. It is the only glow in the panel, and only on these two. */
+     large text. It is the only glow in the panel, and only the frequency
+     keeps it: the two secondary readings switch it off below. */
   text-shadow: 0 0 18px rgba(247, 247, 250, 0.2);
 }
 
@@ -1214,22 +1209,36 @@ table.gram-config.gram-frame-config-error tr:first-child td::after {
   text-transform: uppercase;
 }
 
-/* The doppler speed: a derived quantity, so it is fenced off at the foot
-   between two rules and set at half the size of the two readings the pointer
-   itself produces. */
-.gram-frame-led-inline {
+/* The second rank: time and the doppler speed. Half the frequency's size, no
+   bloom, and set in the same grey as the panel's labels rather than in ink,
+   so the frequency is the one reading that is lit. The caption on the left
+   names the row, since at this size the number cannot name itself. */
+.gram-frame-led-secondary {
   flex: none;
-  padding: 9px 0;
-  border-top: 1px solid var(--gf-divider);
-  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--gf-divider);
 }
 
-.gram-frame-led-inline .gram-frame-led-value {
+.gram-frame-led-secondary .gram-frame-led-value {
   font-size: 19px;
+  color: var(--gf-muted);
   text-shadow: none;
   margin-left: auto;
 }
 
+/* Time sits directly under the frequency, as the other half of the pointer's
+   coordinate; a small gap rather than a rule, so they read as one reading and
+   its qualifier. */
+.gram-frame-led-secondary:not(.gram-frame-led-inline) {
+  margin-top: 6px;
+}
+
+/* The doppler speed is a derived quantity rather than a coordinate, so it is
+   also fenced off at the foot between two rules. */
+.gram-frame-led-inline {
+  padding: 9px 0;
+  border-top: 1px solid var(--gf-divider);
+  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--gf-divider);
+}
+
 /* --- Column 4: the style panel ------------------------------------------- */
 
 .gram-frame-color-picker {
diff --git a/tests/unit/multi-tab-merge.test.js b/tests/unit/multi-tab-merge.test.js
index 934d134..dfe4b49 100644
--- a/tests/unit/multi-tab-merge.test.js
+++ b/tests/unit/multi-tab-merge.test.js
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@ import { mergeStoredAnnotations } from '../../src/core/storage.js'
 /** No deletions. */
 const noTombstones = () => ({ markers: {}, harmonicSets: {}, sidebandSets: {}, doppler: null })
 
+/**
+ * The clock every case runs under unless it says otherwise: midday on the day
+ * the fixtures are dated. `mergeStoredAnnotations` defaults `now` to the wall
+ * clock, and a tombstone older than the TTL is forgotten -- so a case dated
+ * 2026-09-05 that left `now` to the wall clock passed until 2026-09-12 and
+ * failed every day after. Pinned here, once, so the fixtures never age.
+ */
+const NOW = Date.parse('2026-09-05T12:00:00.000Z')
+
 /**
  * The ids in a list of features, sorted -- what most of these cases assert.
  * @param {any[]} features - Markers or pin sets
@@ -38,13 +47,11 @@ const ids = features => features.map((/** @type {any} */ f) => f.id).sort()
  * guarded at each of the fifty-odd reads below (R9-10, issue #262).
  * @param {any} mine - What this tab would write
  * @param {any} theirs - What is already stored
- * @param {number} [now] - Current epoch milliseconds, for tombstone pruning
+ * @param {number} [now=NOW] - Current epoch milliseconds, for tombstone pruning
  * @returns {any} The merged record
  */
-function merge(mine, theirs, now = undefined) {
-  const merged = now === undefined
-    ? mergeStoredAnnotations(mine, theirs)
-    : mergeStoredAnnotations(mine, theirs, now)
+function merge(mine, theirs, now = NOW) {
+  const merged = mergeStoredAnnotations(mine, theirs, now)
   expect(merged).not.toBeNull()
   return merged
 }