diff --git a/src/store/gmail-watch-state.test.ts b/src/store/gmail-watch-state.test.ts
index b7b4c52..cd297db 100644
--- a/src/store/gmail-watch-state.test.ts
+++ b/src/store/gmail-watch-state.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 import { createPgliteDb, type Db } from '../db/client.js'
 import { migrate } from '../db/migrate.js'
 import { createGmailWatchStateStore } from './gmail-watch-state.js'
@@ -349,15 +349,55 @@ describe('createGmailWatchStateStore', () => {
 
   // --- claimReconcileLease / releaseReconcileLease (HT-48, gmail-push.md §6) ---
 
-  /** Directly rewinds a mailbox's claimed_until into the past — mirrors conversations.test.ts's expireLease for the outbound lease, exercising expiry without a real sleep. */
-  async function expireReconcileLease(db: Db, mailboxId: string) {
-    await db.query(
-      "UPDATE gmail_watch_state SET claimed_until = now() - interval '1 second' WHERE mailbox_id = $1",
-      [mailboxId],
-    )
-  }
-
   describe('claimReconcileLease / releaseReconcileLease', () => {
+    /**
+     * These tests run on a FROZEN, fixed clock. Only `Date` is faked — PGlite
+     * reads the system clock for `now()`, so faking it moves the database's
+     * clock too, while leaving `setTimeout` real so nothing PGlite relies on
+     * stalls. The clock is pinned to a constant instant rather than whatever
+     * `useFakeTimers` inherited from the wall clock, so no assertion in this
+     * block can depend on when it happened to run; time moves only when
+     * {@link expireReconcileLease} moves it.
+     */
+    const FROZEN_NOW = new Date('2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z')
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      vi.useFakeTimers({ toFake: ['Date'] })
+      vi.setSystemTime(FROZEN_NOW)
+    })
+    afterEach(() => {
+      vi.useRealTimers()
+    })
+
+    /**
+     * Expire a lease the way production does — by moving the clock past it,
+     * not by rewinding `claimed_until` with SQL. Advances to ONE MILLISECOND
+     * past expiry (the smallest step PGlite's `now()` can resolve), so the
+     * claim guard's strict `claimed_until < now()` boundary stays under test
+     * rather than being cleared by a wide margin.
+     *
+     * ## Why not the SQL rewind these tests used to do
+     *
+     * The lease token IS `claimed_until` (`now() + leaseMs`), so two claims
+     * whose `now()` lands on the same instant with the same `leaseMs` render
+     * the IDENTICAL token — and PGlite's `now()` only advances in whole
+     * MILLISECONDS, so back-to-back claims collide routinely. Rewinding
+     * `claimed_until` in SQL faked the expiry WITHOUT the elapsed time it
+     * implies, so the successor's claim ran in the same millisecond as its
+     * predecessor's and the two tokens came back equal — a real-clock race
+     * that failed roughly half of all runs.
+     *
+     * In production the successor can only claim once the prior lease has
+     * actually expired, i.e. at least `leaseMs` later, so its `claimed_until`
+     * is necessarily later too and the tokens necessarily differ. Jumping the
+     * clock past the lease reproduces that ORDERING guarantee deterministically
+     * — it models the expiry, not the passage of time itself: the clock stays
+     * frozen at its new instant until moved again.
+     */
+    function expireReconcileLease(leaseMs: number) {
+      vi.setSystemTime(Date.now() + leaseMs + 1)
+    }
+
     it('claims an unclaimed mailbox, setting claimed_until in the future and returning it as the lease token', async () => {
       const { db, store } = await freshStore()
       const mailboxId = await insertMailbox(db)
@@ -403,7 +443,7 @@ describe('createGmailWatchStateStore', () => {
 
       const first = await store.claimReconcileLease(mailboxId, 30_000)
       expect(first).not.toBeNull()
-      await expireReconcileLease(db, mailboxId)
+      expireReconcileLease(30_000)
 
       const second = await store.claimReconcileLease(mailboxId, 30_000)
       expect(second).not.toBeNull()
@@ -469,7 +509,7 @@ describe('createGmailWatchStateStore', () => {
       // its lease before ever calling release.
       const tokenA = await store.claimReconcileLease(mailboxId, 30_000)
       expect(tokenA).not.toBeNull()
-      await expireReconcileLease(db, mailboxId)
+      expireReconcileLease(30_000)
 
       // Holder B — a legitimate successor — claims the now-expired lease and
       // is actively working.