diff --git a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
index 716c2d7..f33a055 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
@@ -305,29 +305,30 @@
 
 ;; --- timeline ruler -------------------------------------------------------
 
+(defn- format-time-hhmmss [seconds]
+  "Format seconds as HH:MM:SS or MM:SS if < 1 hour"
+  (let [h (int (/ seconds 3600))
+        m (int (mod (/ seconds 60) 60))
+        s (int (mod seconds 60))]
+    (if (> h 0)
+      (str h ":" (if (< m 10) "0" "") m ":" (if (< s 10) "0" "") s)
+      (str m ":" (if (< s 10) "0" "") s))))
+
 (defn- time-ruler [len fps zoom]
   "Generate tick marks and labels for the timeline ruler.
-   Returns a vector of {:frame :px :label} with major/minor ticks."
+   Scales tick intervals to maintain ~80px minimum spacing and uses HH:MM:SS format."
   (let [px-per-sec (* fps zoom)
-        ;; choose tick interval in frames based on zoom level
-        tick-frames (cond
-                      (< px-per-sec 10)   (* 30 fps)   ; 30 sec intervals
-                      (< px-per-sec 20)   (* 10 fps)   ; 10 sec intervals
-                      (< px-per-sec 40)   (* 5 fps)    ; 5 sec intervals
-                      (< px-per-sec 80)   fps          ; 1 sec intervals
-                      :else               (/ fps 2))   ; 0.5 sec intervals
-        sec-per-tick (/ tick-frames fps)]
+        ;; Ensure minimum ~80px between ticks for readability
+        min-px-spacing 80
+        ;; Calculate tick interval in seconds that gives good spacing
+        sec-per-tick (js/Math.max 0.5 (js/Math.ceil (/ min-px-spacing px-per-sec)))
+        tick-frames (* sec-per-tick fps)]
     (loop [frame 0 tick-num 0 ticks []]
       (if (>= frame len)
         ticks
         (let [px (* (/ frame fps) zoom)
               total-sec (* tick-num sec-per-tick)
-              label (cond
-                      (>= sec-per-tick 10)  (let [m (int (/ total-sec 60))
-                                                 s (int (mod total-sec 60))]
-                                              (if (> s 0) (str m ":" (if (< s 10) "0" "") s) (str m "m")))
-                      (>= sec-per-tick 1)   (str (int total-sec) "s")
-                      :else                 (str (js/Math.round (* total-sec 10)) "·"))]
+              label (format-time-hhmmss total-sec)]
           (recur (+ frame tick-frames) (inc tick-num)
                  (conj ticks {:frame frame :px px :label label})))))))