diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ada579fc3..dd944696f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4994,6 +4994,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "wordcraft-layout"
 version = "0.4.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "js-sys",
  "log",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
@@ -5026,6 +5027,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "hayro-interpret",
  "hayro-syntax",
  "image",
+ "js-sys",
  "krilla",
  "kurbo",
  "log",
@@ -5065,6 +5067,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "egui",
  "egui_kittest",
  "image",
+ "js-sys",
  "log",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
diff --git a/crates/engine/src/cmd/insert.rs b/crates/engine/src/cmd/insert.rs
index e99d75a8e..0be2dd516 100644
--- a/crates/engine/src/cmd/insert.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/src/cmd/insert.rs
@@ -449,20 +449,8 @@ pub fn format_date(fmt: &str) -> String {
     const MONTHS: [&str; 12] =
         ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"];
     const DAYS: [&str; 7] = ["Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday"];
-    let days_since = {
-        // Days since epoch for weekday.
-        let secs = {
-            #[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
-            {
-                std::time::SystemTime::now().duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH).map(|d| d.as_secs()).unwrap_or(0)
-            }
-            #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
-            {
-                0u64
-            }
-        };
-        (secs / 86_400) as usize
-    };
+    // Days since the epoch, for the weekday.
+    let days_since = (super::now_unix() / 86_400) as usize;
     let month = MONTHS.get(m.saturating_sub(1)).copied().unwrap_or("January");
     let day = DAYS.get(days_since % 7).copied().unwrap_or("Monday");
     let mut out = String::new();
diff --git a/crates/engine/src/cmd/mod.rs b/crates/engine/src/cmd/mod.rs
index d457db913..bd1962a55 100644
--- a/crates/engine/src/cmd/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/src/cmd/mod.rs
@@ -254,28 +254,32 @@ pub fn split_para(s: &mut Session, at: &Pos) -> Result<Pos, CmdError> {
 }
 
 /// ISO-8601 timestamp (UTC, seconds) for `secs` since the Unix epoch.
-fn iso_from_unix_secs(secs: u64) -> String {
+pub fn iso_from_unix_secs(secs: u64) -> String {
     let (y, m, d) = civil_from_days((secs / 86_400) as i64);
     let t = secs % 86_400;
     format!("{y:04}-{m:02}-{d:02}T{:02}:{:02}:{:02}Z", t / 3600, t / 60 % 60, t % 60)
 }
 
-/// ISO-8601 timestamp (UTC, seconds).
-pub fn now_iso() -> String {
+/// Seconds since the Unix epoch (UTC): the system clock, or the browser's on the web.
+pub fn now_unix() -> u64 {
     #[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
     {
-        let secs = std::time::SystemTime::now().duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH).map(|d| d.as_secs()).unwrap_or(0);
-        iso_from_unix_secs(secs)
+        std::time::SystemTime::now().duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH).map(|d| d.as_secs()).unwrap_or(0)
     }
     // `SystemTime::now()` panics on wasm32-unknown-unknown, so ask the browser's clock.
     #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
     {
         let ms = js_sys::Date::now();
         // Clamp a NaN or pre-epoch clock to 0 rather than fail.
-        iso_from_unix_secs(if ms.is_finite() && ms > 0.0 { (ms / 1000.0) as u64 } else { 0 })
+        if ms.is_finite() && ms > 0.0 { (ms / 1000.0) as u64 } else { 0 }
     }
 }
 
+/// ISO-8601 timestamp (UTC, seconds).
+pub fn now_iso() -> String {
+    iso_from_unix_secs(now_unix())
+}
+
 /// Days since 1970-01-01 → (year, month, day) (Howard Hinnant's algorithm).
 pub fn civil_from_days(z: i64) -> (i64, u32, u32) {
     let z = z + 719_468;
diff --git a/crates/engine/src/tests.rs b/crates/engine/src/tests.rs
index d19627da2..88b46f9bd 100644
--- a/crates/engine/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/src/tests.rs
@@ -1638,3 +1638,17 @@ fn styles_apply_rejected_on_protected_document() {
     assert_eq!(para_style(&s, 0), None);
     assert_eq!(s.undo_labels(), undo);
 }
+
+/// Comments, revisions and dates read the real clock (#188: the web stamped 2026-01-01).
+#[test]
+fn timestamps_come_from_the_clock() {
+    let before = cmd::now_unix();
+    assert!(before > 1_760_000_000, "{before}");
+    let mut s = s();
+    run(&mut s, "text.insert", json!({"text": "Dated"}));
+    run(&mut s, "select.text", json!({"text": "Dated"}));
+    run(&mut s, "review.newComment", json!({"text": "When?"}));
+    let date = run(&mut s, "review.comments", json!({}))[0]["date"].as_str().unwrap_or_default().to_string();
+    // Fixed-width ISO strings sort by time.
+    assert!(date >= cmd::iso_from_unix_secs(before) && date <= cmd::iso_from_unix_secs(cmd::now_unix()), "{date}");
+}
diff --git a/crates/layout/Cargo.toml b/crates/layout/Cargo.toml
index ac2401885..a97175fe9 100644
--- a/crates/layout/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/layout/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,3 +19,7 @@ unicode-segmentation = { workspace = true }
 serde = { workspace = true }
 serde_json = { workspace = true }
 log = { workspace = true }
+
+[target.'cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")'.dependencies]
+# The browser clock (`SystemTime::now()`/`Instant::now()` panic on wasm32).
+js-sys = "0.3"
diff --git a/crates/layout/src/lib.rs b/crates/layout/src/lib.rs
index 5e3984de1..944f06c1a 100644
--- a/crates/layout/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/layout/src/lib.rs
@@ -1617,16 +1617,18 @@ pub fn is_floating(o: &InlineObject) -> bool {
     }
 }
 
-/// Milliseconds since an arbitrary epoch (monotonic on native; 0 on wasm).
+/// Milliseconds since an arbitrary epoch (monotonic on native; the browser's clock on the web).
 pub fn now_ms() -> f64 {
     #[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
     {
         static T0: std::sync::OnceLock<std::time::Instant> = std::sync::OnceLock::new();
         T0.get_or_init(std::time::Instant::now).elapsed().as_secs_f64() * 1000.0
     }
+    // `Instant::now()` panics on wasm32-unknown-unknown, so ask the browser's clock.
     #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
     {
-        0.0
+        let ms = js_sys::Date::now();
+        if ms.is_finite() { ms } else { 0.0 }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/pdf/Cargo.toml b/crates/pdf/Cargo.toml
index b64c6c526..2126f28cf 100644
--- a/crates/pdf/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/pdf/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ image = { workspace = true }
 thiserror = { workspace = true }
 log = { workspace = true }
 
+[target.'cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")'.dependencies]
+# The browser clock (`SystemTime::now()` panics on wasm32).
+js-sys = "0.3"
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 hayro-syntax = "0.7.2"
 hayro-interpret = { version = "0.7.0", default-features = false, features = ["embed-fonts"] }
diff --git a/crates/pdf/src/lib.rs b/crates/pdf/src/lib.rs
index 23ea5c3e8..b348bfd7f 100644
--- a/crates/pdf/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/pdf/src/lib.rs
@@ -259,15 +259,20 @@ fn parse_iso(s: &str) -> Option<Civil> {
     Some((y, mo as u8, d as u8, h as u8, mi as u8, sec as u8))
 }
 
-#[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
+/// The system clock, or the browser's on the web.
 fn now_unix() -> Option<i64> {
-    use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
-    SystemTime::now().duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH).ok().map(|d| d.as_secs() as i64)
-}
-
-#[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
-fn now_unix() -> Option<i64> {
-    None
+    #[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
+    {
+        use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
+        let secs = SystemTime::now().duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH).ok()?.as_secs();
+        i64::try_from(secs).ok()
+    }
+    // `SystemTime::now()` panics on wasm32-unknown-unknown, so ask the browser's clock.
+    #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
+    {
+        let ms = js_sys::Date::now();
+        (ms.is_finite() && ms > 0.0).then(|| (ms / 1000.0) as i64)
+    }
 }
 
 /// Unix seconds (UTC) → civil time (proleptic Gregorian).
diff --git a/crates/ui-egui/Cargo.toml b/crates/ui-egui/Cargo.toml
index d06751531..b46af1ef2 100644
--- a/crates/ui-egui/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/ui-egui/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ log = { workspace = true }
 # The system's preferred interface languages (#8). Native: OS APIs; wasm: none (English).
 sys-locale = "0.3"
 
+[target.'cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")'.dependencies]
+# The browser clock (`SystemTime::now()`/`Instant::now()` panic on wasm32).
+js-sys = "0.3"
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 egui_kittest = { workspace = true, features = ["wgpu", "snapshot"] }
 image = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/crates/ui-egui/src/lib.rs b/crates/ui-egui/src/lib.rs
index d9a44fbff..449f5c3be 100644
--- a/crates/ui-egui/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/ui-egui/src/lib.rs
@@ -890,15 +890,18 @@ fn discards_document(id: &str, params: &Value) -> bool {
     }
 }
 
+/// Wall-clock milliseconds since the Unix epoch: the system clock, or the browser's on the web.
 pub fn now_ms() -> f64 {
     #[cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))]
     {
         use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
         SystemTime::now().duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH).map(|d| d.as_secs_f64() * 1000.0).unwrap_or(0.0)
     }
+    // `SystemTime::now()` panics on wasm32-unknown-unknown, so ask the browser's clock.
     #[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
     {
-        0.0
+        let ms = js_sys::Date::now();
+        if ms.is_finite() && ms > 0.0 { ms } else { 0.0 }
     }
 }