>>77714
What of the lack of ambiguity with a clock or countdown? You can't tell at a glance how long it will take a fuse to burn down, while a timer shows her exactly how long she has left to live, second by horrible second.
Plus there's the sound element. Every individual beep, tick, or clack means she's that much closer to death. I don't think you'd get that with the consistently fizzing fuse.

I do really like the ash trail you get from fuses, but that doesn't really add to the peril.