We show that chainlike transients in head-on collisions of radially excited boson stars are controlled by the binary collision time, not by radial excitation alone. For selected configurations with radial excitation number $n=2$ and repulsive quartic self-interaction coupling $\lambda =400$, isolated evolutions define transient breathing windows that serve as reference clocks. Numerical-relativity simulations show that visible chains form only when the collision time is compatible with the isolated breathing clock. A separation scan shifts the collision time relative to the same clock, providing direct evidence for the timing-window mechanism. An additional fixed-separation check at $\lambda =500$ shows the same event ordering, indicating that the observed pattern is not unique to the fiducial self-interaction strength.

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• Numerical relativity