Leading theories of consciousness presuppose temporal structure but do not fully specify the infrastructure that generates unified, flowing experience. The Temporal Offset Model proposes that conscious experience arises through a systematic 100–500 ms delay between initiating neural events and reportable awareness. This delay is not incidental processing latency but constitutive architecture. Neural activity is integrated and gated into awareness through oscillatory coordination, particularly within theta-frequency cycles (4–8 Hz). These rhythmic windows construct temporally buffered frames that become subjectively experienced as the "now." The cumulative effect of this gating produces temporal depth, stabilizing the observer reference frame. A key implication is that death is structurally unwitnessable at the reportable timescale: each conscious frame requires intact oscillatory coordination and metabolic infrastructure. The final reportable frame must therefore be generated before irreversible neural collapse. Once large-scale oscillatory dynamics fail, no further frames can be constructed. The model complements Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, and Predictive Processing by supplying the delayed temporal pipeline they presuppose. It generates falsifiable predictions, including (i) increased theta–gamma coupling during high-awareness states, (ii) a ~125–250 ms pre-collapse interval between the final organized theta peak and sustained EEG suppression in terminal recordings, and (iii) scale-free (1/f) organization of neural activity during high-awareness states.