I think there should be other timed events options for the timer like:

Wipe next minus X  (we know the wipe time as the first thursday of every month)
Wipe last wipe plus X (we know when the server wiped)
{event} plus or minus X (pivoting a timer on known events like heli in air, etc)
(trigger) plus or minus X (pivoting on triggers caused by players) an example might setting a permission when a raid starts.
optional start date time / date stop time of real time or in game time for all timers.  For in game dates you can use days sine server wiped.

Also allow the timer counter to be seconds, minutes, hours or even days.