diff --git a/crates/engine/tests/panic_hunt.rs b/crates/engine/tests/panic_hunt.rs
index 893ba5c23d..91f42be306 100644
--- a/crates/engine/tests/panic_hunt.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/tests/panic_hunt.rs
@@ -30,9 +30,14 @@ static PANICS: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
 /// One run at a time, so a panic is charged to the run that caused it.
 static RUN: Mutex<()> = Mutex::new(());
 
-/// Run `f` on a worker thread. `None` if it timed out, else whether it finished without
-/// panicking, contained or not (returning Ok or a graceful Err both count).
-fn run_watched(f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> Option<bool> {
+/// Budget for the self-test below, which checks how panics are counted, not hangs. The panic hook
+/// prints a backtrace under `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` (as in CI), and on a loaded Windows runner the
+/// first symbol lookup alone can take 15–20 s.
+const SELF_TEST_DEADLINE: Duration = Duration::from_secs(120);
+
+/// Run `f` on a worker thread. `None` if it took longer than `deadline`, else whether it
+/// finished without panicking, contained or not (returning Ok or a graceful Err both count).
+fn run_watched(deadline: Duration, f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> Option<bool> {
     static HOOK: Once = Once::new();
     HOOK.call_once(|| {
         let default = std::panic::take_hook();
@@ -48,13 +53,13 @@ fn run_watched(f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> Option<bool> {
         let r = catch_unwind(AssertUnwindSafe(f));
         let _ = tx.send(r.is_ok());
     });
-    rx.recv_timeout(DEADLINE).ok().map(|ok| ok && PANICS.load(Ordering::SeqCst) == before)
+    rx.recv_timeout(deadline).ok().map(|ok| ok && PANICS.load(Ordering::SeqCst) == before)
 }
 
 /// Run `id` with `p` on a fresh session; see [`run_watched`].
 fn run_once(id: &str, p: &Value) -> Option<bool> {
     let (id, p) = (id.to_string(), p.clone());
-    run_watched(move || {
+    run_watched(DEADLINE, move || {
         let mut s = fresh();
         let _ = s.execute(&id, p);
     })
@@ -107,11 +112,11 @@ fn no_command_panics_or_hangs_on_adversarial_params() {
 /// #4982: a panic the code under test contains still fails the run; a graceful `Err` does not.
 #[test]
 fn contained_panics_count_and_graceful_errors_do_not() {
-    let contained = run_watched(|| {
+    let contained = run_watched(SELF_TEST_DEADLINE, || {
         let _ = catch_unwind(|| panic!("contained, as Session::execute does"));
     });
     assert_eq!(contained, Some(false));
-    let graceful = run_watched(|| {
+    let graceful = run_watched(SELF_TEST_DEADLINE, || {
         let mut s = fresh();
         assert!(s.execute("layer.delete", json!({"layer": 999999})).is_err());
     });