International reference frames play a pivotal role in metrological applications related to the Earth sciences, covering critical areas such as geodetic reference frames, global change research, deformation processes, and global mass transport. Despite substantial advancements in measurement precision over the past two decades, there are still discrepancies at the centimeter level presenting a persistent challenge. In this paper, we investigate a promising approach to address these subtle error sources, affecting critical parts of the measurement equipment despite the presence of calibration methods. We have built a novel measurement constraint, based on a precise clock and active time delay compensation. By comparing the timing signals in a geodetic measurement system constantly against a precisely controlled optical ruler, we can identify variable system delays that were previously inaccessible. In this way, we introduce a novel tie to the geodetic measurement techniques that can even capture instrumental delay variations over several months.