diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 9b509513..db61bb2d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ axum = { version = "0.8", features = ["ws"] }
 base64 = "0.22"
 bcrypt = "0.19"
 chrono = { version = "0.4", default-features = false, features = [
+  "clock",
   "serde",
   "std",
 ] }
diff --git a/hive-sh4re/src/wire_time.rs b/hive-sh4re/src/wire_time.rs
index 2d952901..50850747 100644
--- a/hive-sh4re/src/wire_time.rs
+++ b/hive-sh4re/src/wire_time.rs
@@ -18,14 +18,13 @@ pub fn from_secs(secs: i64) -> DateTime<Utc> {
 /// Current unix timestamp in seconds — the single definition behind
 /// every store's `created_at` / `sent_at` / … stamp (this module owns
 /// the epoch-seconds convention; a dozen local copies of this fn used
-/// to float around both binaries). Clamps to 0 on a pre-epoch clock.
+/// to float around both binaries). Uses chrono's `clock` feature
+/// (already pulled in workspace-wide) instead of hand-rolled
+/// `SystemTime` math, consistent with every other timestamp in this
+/// module being a `chrono` type.
 #[must_use]
 pub fn now_unix() -> i64 {
-    std::time::SystemTime::now()
-        .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
-        .ok()
-        .and_then(|d| i64::try_from(d.as_secs()).ok())
-        .unwrap_or(0)
+    Utc::now().timestamp()
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]