diff --git a/apps/pwa/e2e/global-setup.ts b/apps/pwa/e2e/global-setup.ts
index e1cc78d..1d64a08 100644
--- a/apps/pwa/e2e/global-setup.ts
+++ b/apps/pwa/e2e/global-setup.ts
@@ -109,6 +109,13 @@ export default async function globalSetup(): Promise<void> {
     await conn.execute('TRUNCATE TABLE calendar_events');
     await conn.execute('SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1');
 
+    // Phase 18: clear any stored household timezone so the timezone spec always
+    // starts from the first-run (isExplicitlySet:false) state. app_config is NOT
+    // truncated above (it can hold other non-test config), so delete only this key.
+    // Without this, a prior run's saved value leaks across runs and makes the
+    // first-run / persist-across-reload timezone assertions non-deterministic.
+    await conn.execute("DELETE FROM app_config WHERE `key` = 'household_timezone'");
+
     // Seed the dev-bypass admin user row for id=1 (D-01 dev note, Phase 10).
     // DEV_USER (id=1) is injected by devBypass.ts WITHOUT a DB upsert, so the users table
     // has no row for id=1 by default. requireAdmin (Plan 02) does a DB lookup and would 403
diff --git a/apps/pwa/e2e/timezone-verify.spec.ts b/apps/pwa/e2e/timezone-verify.spec.ts
index 1b4ac21..cbbfbe5 100644
--- a/apps/pwa/e2e/timezone-verify.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/pwa/e2e/timezone-verify.spec.ts
@@ -30,11 +30,19 @@ test.describe('Admin Timezone section — 18-04 round-trip', () => {
     expect(val.length, 'Input should have a non-empty timezone').toBeGreaterThan(0);
   });
 
-  test('Save button is disabled when timezone is unchanged', async ({ page }) => {
+  test('Save is enabled on first run when timezone is not yet explicit (WR-01)', async ({ page }) => {
+    // On first run the GET returns isExplicitlySet:false with the detected zone
+    // pre-filled. Saving that value to make the choice explicit is a meaningful
+    // action, so Save must be ENABLED even though the input matches the displayed
+    // default. (The disabled-when-unchanged behaviour for an already-explicit
+    // value is covered by the "Save persists" test below, which re-disables Save
+    // after a successful save.)
     const tzSection = page.getByRole('region', { name: 'Timezone' });
+    // Confirm we are in the first-run (system-default) state for this assertion.
+    await expect(tzSection.getByText('Using system default')).toBeVisible();
     const saveBtn = tzSection.getByRole('button', { name: /Save|Saving/ });
     await expect(saveBtn).toBeVisible();
-    await expect(saveBtn).toBeDisabled();
+    await expect(saveBtn).toBeEnabled();
   });
 
   test('Changing the input enables Save', async ({ page }) => {