diff --git a/cmd/ingestor/rxtime_test.go b/cmd/ingestor/rxtime_test.go
index 58bf6860..2a29baa7 100644
--- a/cmd/ingestor/rxtime_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ingestor/rxtime_test.go
@@ -78,3 +78,75 @@ func TestResolveRxTime(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("recent timestamp <30d: got %q want %q", got, recent)
 	}
 }
+
+// Regression: issue #1463 — naive (zone-less) ISO timestamps from observers
+// in negative-UTC-offset zones (e.g. California PDT, UTC−7) were interpreted
+// as UTC, producing rxTime values 7h in the past that poisoned `last_seen`
+// and rendered the observer perpetually "Stale" in the UI. The symmetric
+// clamp now collapses any naive timestamp more than 15 min off server-now to
+// `now()`, while zone-aware timestamps (RFC3339 with Z or offset) are still
+// honored verbatim regardless of skew (those are well-behaved observers).
+func TestResolveRxTimeNaiveTimestampClamp(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Now().UTC()
+
+	mustParse := func(s string) time.Time {
+		t.Helper()
+		parsed, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, s)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("result %q is not RFC3339: %v", s, err)
+		}
+		return parsed
+	}
+	nearNow := func(s string) bool {
+		d := mustParse(s).Sub(now)
+		if d < 0 {
+			d = -d
+		}
+		return d <= time.Minute
+	}
+
+	// California observer (UTC-7) emitting a naive local-clock timestamp:
+	// must NOT be stored verbatim 7h in the past — clamp to ~now.
+	naivePast := now.Add(-7 * time.Hour).Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05")
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": naivePast}, "test"); !nearNow(got) {
+		t.Errorf("naive past timestamp (UTC-7 observer): got %q, expected ~now (clamped)", got)
+	}
+
+	// Naive future just minutes ahead (UTC+N observer, existing soft-clamp
+	// behavior): still clamped to now.
+	naiveFuture := now.Add(5 * time.Minute).Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05")
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": naiveFuture}, "test"); !nearNow(got) {
+		t.Errorf("naive future timestamp: got %q, expected ~now (clamped)", got)
+	}
+
+	// Naive microsecond layout (python isoformat without tz) — same clamp.
+	naivePastMicros := now.Add(-7 * time.Hour).Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05.000000")
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": naivePastMicros}, "test"); !nearNow(got) {
+		t.Errorf("naive past timestamp w/ micros: got %q, expected ~now (clamped)", got)
+	}
+
+	// Well-behaved observer: Z-suffixed past timestamp passes through verbatim
+	// even if it's hours old (legitimate buffered uploads must be preserved).
+	zPast := now.Add(-7 * time.Hour).Format(time.RFC3339)
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": zPast}, "test"); got != zPast {
+		t.Errorf("Z-suffixed past timestamp must pass through: got %q want %q", got, zPast)
+	}
+
+	// Well-behaved observer with explicit offset (UTC-7) — canonicalize to UTC
+	// but preserve the moment in time. Must equal the same moment in UTC.
+	offsetLoc := time.FixedZone("PDT", -7*3600)
+	offsetMoment := now.Add(-7 * time.Hour).In(offsetLoc)
+	offsetStr := offsetMoment.Format(time.RFC3339)
+	wantUTC := offsetMoment.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339)
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": offsetStr}, "test"); got != wantUTC {
+		t.Errorf("offset-suffixed timestamp: got %q want %q", got, wantUTC)
+	}
+
+	// Naive timestamp within tolerance window (2 min in past, observer that
+	// happens to be in UTC) — within tolerance, passes through verbatim.
+	naiveCloseStr := now.Add(-2 * time.Minute).Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05")
+	naiveCloseWant := now.Add(-2 * time.Minute).Format(time.RFC3339)
+	if got := resolveRxTime(map[string]interface{}{"timestamp": naiveCloseStr}, "test"); got != naiveCloseWant {
+		t.Errorf("naive timestamp within tolerance: got %q, expected %q (verbatim)", got, naiveCloseWant)
+	}
+}