diff --git a/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher.go b/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher.go
index 9ad3d306f..e75a7022e 100644
--- a/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher.go
+++ b/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher.go
@@ -62,15 +62,25 @@ var (
 )
 
 // StatusRecorder is the side-effect surface the watcher drives on every
-// state transition. Production wires this to peer.Status (NotifyStateChange
+// state transition. Production wires this to peer.Status (SetSessionExpiresAt
 // for deadline change/clear, PublishEvent for the two warnings); tests pass
 // a fake recorder so the same surface is observable without an engine.
 //
+// The watcher is the single owner of the deadline propagated to the
+// recorder: every set, clear, sanity-check rejection and Close routes the
+// value through SetSessionExpiresAt, so the SubscribeStatus snapshot the UI
+// reads can never drift from the watcher's timer state. (SetSessionExpiresAt
+// fans out its own state-change notification, so no separate notify is
+// needed.) The recorder is server-scoped and outlives this engine-scoped
+// watcher — without the Close-time clear a teardown (Down, or the Down+Up of
+// a profile switch) would leave the next session showing the previous one's
+// stale "expires in" value.
+//
 // PublishEvent's signature mirrors peer.Status.PublishEvent: the watcher
 // composes the metadata internally so the wire format (MetaSession*) is
 // owned by sessionwatch, not the caller.
 type StatusRecorder interface {
-	NotifyStateChange()
+	SetSessionExpiresAt(deadline time.Time)
 	PublishEvent(
 		severity cProto.SystemEvent_Severity,
 		category cProto.SystemEvent_Category,
@@ -177,7 +187,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) Update(deadline time.Time) error {
 	recorder := w.recorder
 	w.mu.Unlock()
 	if recorder != nil {
-		recorder.NotifyStateChange()
+		recorder.SetSessionExpiresAt(deadline)
 	}
 	log.Infof("auth session deadline set to: %s (in %s)", deadline.Format(time.RFC3339), time.Until(deadline).Round(time.Second))
 	return nil
@@ -217,15 +227,30 @@ func (w *Watcher) Dismiss() {
 	log.Infof("auth session final-warning dismissed for deadline %s", w.current.Format(time.RFC3339))
 }
 
-// Close stops any pending timer. Update calls after Close are ignored.
+// Close stops any pending timer and drops the deadline on the status
+// recorder. Update calls after Close are ignored. Clearing the recorder
+// here is what keeps a teardown (Down, or the Down+Up of a profile switch)
+// from leaving the next session showing this one's stale "expires in"
+// value — the recorder is server-scoped and outlives this engine-scoped
+// watcher, so nothing else drops the anchor on teardown.
 func (w *Watcher) Close() {
 	w.mu.Lock()
-	defer w.mu.Unlock()
 	if w.closed {
+		w.mu.Unlock()
 		return
 	}
 	w.closed = true
 	w.stopTimerLocked()
+	hadDeadline := !w.current.IsZero()
+	w.current = time.Time{}
+	w.firedAt = time.Time{}
+	w.finalFiredAt = time.Time{}
+	w.dismissedAt = time.Time{}
+	recorder := w.recorder
+	w.mu.Unlock()
+	if recorder != nil && hadDeadline {
+		recorder.SetSessionExpiresAt(time.Time{})
+	}
 }
 
 // clearLocked drops the tracked deadline and notifies the recorder so
@@ -245,7 +270,7 @@ func (w *Watcher) clearLocked() {
 	recorder := w.recorder
 	w.mu.Unlock()
 	if recorder != nil {
-		recorder.NotifyStateChange()
+		recorder.SetSessionExpiresAt(time.Time{})
 	}
 	log.Infof("auth session deadline cleared")
 }
diff --git a/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher_test.go b/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher_test.go
index 2d6297064..da2b6add6 100644
--- a/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher_test.go
+++ b/client/internal/auth/sessionwatch/watcher_test.go
@@ -10,12 +10,15 @@ import (
 )
 
 // fakeRecorder satisfies StatusRecorder and records every call so tests
-// can observe what the watcher emits. NotifyStateChange and PublishEvent
+// can observe what the watcher emits. SetSessionExpiresAt and PublishEvent
 // land in the same ordered events slice (with the Kind distinguishing
-// them) so tests that care about ordering still work.
+// them) so tests that care about ordering still work. lastDeadline holds
+// the most recent value passed to SetSessionExpiresAt so tests can assert
+// the recorder ended up cleared/set as expected.
 type fakeRecorder struct {
-	mu     sync.Mutex
-	events []event
+	mu           sync.Mutex
+	events       []event
+	lastDeadline time.Time
 }
 
 type eventKind int
@@ -34,12 +37,27 @@ type event struct {
 	meta     map[string]string
 }
 
-func (r *fakeRecorder) NotifyStateChange() {
+// SetSessionExpiresAt mirrors peer.Status: a same-value write is a no-op,
+// a real change records the new value and fans out a state-change (the
+// production recorder calls notifyStateChange internally). The baseline
+// is the zero time, so an initial clear before any deadline is set emits
+// nothing — matching the real recorder.
+func (r *fakeRecorder) SetSessionExpiresAt(deadline time.Time) {
 	r.mu.Lock()
 	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	if r.lastDeadline.Equal(deadline) {
+		return
+	}
+	r.lastDeadline = deadline
 	r.events = append(r.events, event{kind: stateChange})
 }
 
+func (r *fakeRecorder) deadline() time.Time {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	return r.lastDeadline
+}
+
 func (r *fakeRecorder) PublishEvent(
 	severity cProto.SystemEvent_Severity,
 	category cProto.SystemEvent_Category,
@@ -341,6 +359,44 @@ func TestCloseSilencesUpdates(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestCloseClearsRecorderDeadline pins the profile-switch fix: a watcher
+// holding a live deadline must zero the recorder on Close so the next
+// engine's watcher (and the UI reading the shared server-scoped recorder)
+// doesn't start out showing the previous session's stale "expires in".
+func TestCloseClearsRecorderDeadline(t *testing.T) {
+	r := &fakeRecorder{}
+	w := newWatcher(time.Hour, r)
+
+	d := time.Now().Add(2 * time.Hour)
+	if err := w.Update(d); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("seed Update: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got := r.deadline(); !got.Equal(d) {
+		t.Fatalf("recorder deadline after Update = %v, want %v", got, d)
+	}
+
+	w.Close()
+
+	if got := r.deadline(); !got.IsZero() {
+		t.Fatalf("recorder deadline after Close = %v, want zero", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCloseWithoutDeadlineLeavesRecorderUntouched guards the symmetric
+// case: closing a watcher that never held a deadline must not emit a
+// redundant clear (the recorder may legitimately hold a value written by
+// some other path; the watcher only owns what it set).
+func TestCloseWithoutDeadlineLeavesRecorderUntouched(t *testing.T) {
+	r := &fakeRecorder{}
+	w := newWatcher(time.Hour, r)
+
+	w.Close()
+
+	if got := r.snapshot(); len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected no events from Close on an empty watcher, got %+v", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestFinalWarningFiresAfterRegularWarning(t *testing.T) {
 	r := &fakeRecorder{}
 	// Warning fires at deadline-80ms, final at deadline-30ms.
diff --git a/client/internal/engine_authsession.go b/client/internal/engine_authsession.go
index 9f2ef467a..49e276b77 100644
--- a/client/internal/engine_authsession.go
+++ b/client/internal/engine_authsession.go
@@ -36,19 +36,21 @@ func (e *Engine) ApplySessionDeadline(ts *timestamppb.Timestamp) {
 	var deadline time.Time
 	// Explicit zero (seconds=0 AND nanos=0) is the sentinel for "disabled".
 	// Everything else flows through Watcher.Update, whose sanity-checks
-	// reject out-of-range / pre-epoch / far-future / too-stale values; the
-	// catch-block below converts any rejection into a clear.
+	// reject out-of-range / pre-epoch / far-future / too-stale values and
+	// clear on rejection.
 	if ts.GetSeconds() != 0 || ts.GetNanos() != 0 {
 		deadline = ts.AsTime().UTC()
 	}
-	if e.sessionWatcher != nil {
-		if err := e.sessionWatcher.Update(deadline); err != nil {
-			log.Errorf("auth session deadline rejected: %v, clearing", err)
-			deadline = time.Time{}
-		}
+	if e.sessionWatcher == nil {
+		return
 	}
-	if e.statusRecorder != nil {
-		e.statusRecorder.SetSessionExpiresAt(deadline)
+	// Watcher.Update owns the propagation to the status recorder (the
+	// SubscribeStatus / Status snapshot the UI reads): a set writes the
+	// deadline, a clear or a sanity-check rejection writes the zero value.
+	// Keeping a single writer is what stops the recorder from drifting out
+	// of sync with the warning timers.
+	if err := e.sessionWatcher.Update(deadline); err != nil {
+		log.Errorf("auth session deadline rejected: %v, clearing", err)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/client/internal/peer/status.go b/client/internal/peer/status.go
index 010d09846..4dced640c 100644
--- a/client/internal/peer/status.go
+++ b/client/internal/peer/status.go
@@ -763,10 +763,19 @@ func (d *Status) SetSessionExpiresAt(deadline time.Time) {
 }
 
 // GetSessionExpiresAt returns the most recently recorded SSO session deadline,
-// or the zero value when no deadline is tracked.
+// or the zero value when no deadline is tracked. A deadline that has already
+// slipped into the past reports as "none": once the session has expired it is
+// no longer a meaningful countdown, and the sessionwatch.Watcher does not
+// arm a timer at the deadline itself to clear it (only the two pre-expiry
+// warnings). Without this guard the UI would keep painting a stale
+// "expires in …" against a moment that has passed until the next login,
+// extend, or teardown rewrote the value.
 func (d *Status) GetSessionExpiresAt() time.Time {
 	d.mux.Lock()
 	defer d.mux.Unlock()
+	if !d.sessionExpiresAt.IsZero() && d.sessionExpiresAt.Before(time.Now()) {
+		return time.Time{}
+	}
 	return d.sessionExpiresAt
 }