diff --git a/public/channel-color-picker.js b/public/channel-color-picker.js
index cd7ddfff..997e778b 100644
--- a/public/channel-color-picker.js
+++ b/public/channel-color-picker.js
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
   // overwriting body.style.overflow directly. Without this, two cooperating
   // surfaces (this picker + SlideOver) corrupt overflow last-writer-wins.
   var scrollLockToken = null;
+  // #1943: handle for the deferred focus of the first swatch, so it can be
+  // cancelled. It used to be fire-and-forget.
+  var focusTimer = null;
 
   function createPopover() {
     if (popoverEl) return popoverEl;
@@ -143,7 +146,20 @@
 
     // Focus first swatch for keyboard accessibility
     var firstSwatch = el.querySelector('.cc-swatch');
-    if (firstSwatch) setTimeout(function() { firstSwatch.focus(); }, 0);
+    // #1943: this used to be an uncancellable setTimeout(0). It could land
+    // AFTER the user had already moved focus with an arrow key, snapping the
+    // selection back to the first swatch, and Enter then assigned the wrong
+    // colour. Cancel any pending one, and do not steal focus that already sits
+    // inside the popover or that belongs to a popover since hidden.
+    if (focusTimer) { clearTimeout(focusTimer); focusTimer = null; }
+    if (firstSwatch) {
+      focusTimer = setTimeout(function () {
+        focusTimer = null;
+        if (el.style.display === 'none') return;
+        if (el.contains(document.activeElement)) return;
+        firstSwatch.focus();
+      }, 0);
+    }
 
     // Listen for outside click / Escape
     setTimeout(function() {
@@ -153,6 +169,9 @@
   }
 
   function hidePopover() {
+    // #1943: a pending focus timer from this show() must not fire into the
+    // next one.
+    if (focusTimer) { clearTimeout(focusTimer); focusTimer = null; }
     if (popoverEl) popoverEl.style.display = 'none';
     currentChannel = null;
     if (window.__scrollLock && scrollLockToken != null) {
diff --git a/test-channel-color-picker-e2e.js b/test-channel-color-picker-e2e.js
index 5743610f..5395aa5c 100644
--- a/test-channel-color-picker-e2e.js
+++ b/test-channel-color-picker-e2e.js
@@ -146,15 +146,15 @@ function assert(c, m) { if (!c) throw new Error(m || 'assertion failed'); }
       document.activeElement.getAttribute('data-color'));
     await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
     // Wait for focus to actually move rather than reading activeElement on the
-    // next tick. The keydown handler moves focus, but under CI load that can
-    // land after Playwright's evaluate has already run, and the assertion then
-    // compares the swatch against itself: "was #ef4444, now #ef4444".
+    // next tick.
     //
-    // This is the same macrotask race the "outside click" step below documents
-    // at length for #1317; the fix there was to wait on the real condition
-    // instead of a proxy, and this step needs it too. Observed failing on the
-    // master pushes for 589fa987 (2026-08-31) and 859173f1 (2026-09-02), and
-    // on PR #1884, which passed unchanged on a re-run.
+    // #1939 added this wait believing the intermittent "was #ef4444, now
+    // #ef4444" failure was a macrotask race in which the handler had not yet
+    // run. That was wrong, and #1943 has the measurement: the failing step took
+    // 16 ms while this wait has a 3 s budget, so it was resolving, not timing
+    // out. Focus DID move and was then taken back by showPopover's deferred
+    // focus of the first swatch. The product side is fixed in this PR; the wait
+    // stays as ordinary defensiveness against a slow handler, not as a cure.
     try {
       await page.waitForFunction((prev) => {
         const el = document.activeElement;
@@ -179,6 +179,48 @@ function assert(c, m) { if (!c) throw new Error(m || 'assertion failed'); }
       'Enter should assign focused color (' + nextColor + '), got ' + stored);
   });
 
+  await step('a late focus timer does not snap the selection back (#1943)', async () => {
+    // Deterministic reproduction of #1943. showPopover() defers focusing the
+    // first swatch with setTimeout(0). Reopening while a swatch still has focus
+    // means the test's usual "wait for a focused swatch" is satisfied by the
+    // OLD focus, so ArrowRight runs before the new timer lands. The timer then
+    // fired into the popover and pulled focus back to the first swatch, and
+    // Enter assigned that colour instead of the navigated-to one. Proven with a
+    // focus() stack trace: the second focus came from channel-color-picker.js:146.
+    await page.evaluate(() => window.ChannelColorPicker.show('#lateA', 100, 100));
+    await page.waitForFunction(() => {
+      const el = document.activeElement;
+      return el && el.classList && el.classList.contains('cc-swatch');
+    }, { timeout: 2000 });
+    await page.keyboard.press('Escape');
+    // Reopen and move immediately, without waiting for the new focus timer.
+    await page.evaluate(() => window.ChannelColorPicker.show('#lateB', 100, 100));
+    const before = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      document.activeElement && document.activeElement.getAttribute
+        ? document.activeElement.getAttribute('data-color') : null);
+    await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
+    const moved = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      document.activeElement.getAttribute('data-color'));
+    // Give any pending setTimeout(0) more than enough time to land.
+    await page.waitForTimeout(150);
+    const settled = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      document.activeElement.getAttribute('data-color'));
+    assert(settled === moved,
+      'a late focus timer must not move focus after the user did (was ' + before
+      + ', moved to ' + moved + ', settled on ' + settled + ')');
+    await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
+    await page.waitForFunction(() => {
+      const el = document.querySelector('.cc-picker-popover');
+      return el && el.style.display === 'none';
+    }, { timeout: 3000 });
+    const stored = await page.evaluate(() =>
+      window.ChannelColors && window.ChannelColors.get('#lateB'));
+    assert(stored === moved,
+      'Enter must assign the swatch the user navigated to (expected ' + moved
+      + ', got ' + stored + ')');
+    await page.evaluate(() => window.ChannelColors.remove('#lateB'));
+  });
+
   await step('outside click closes popover', async () => {
     // De-flake history: #1317 (62a81776) tried `mouse.click(700,500)` + a
     // `rect.width > 0` "listener installed" proxy. That proxy is FALSE — it