I'm surprised you can fry a 2N3904 with a current limited pwm signal at the base and 10mA max on the collector - how exactly are you wiring this ? ( please post a diagram)....
Some modern revcounters ( and other analog readouts) use quadrature meters - these have 2 coils at right angles. You need to drive them with sin and cos of the required angle of the meter.
Rather different....
I've done this for a revcounter on my daughter's boat using the ripple of the alternator as the input signal , and a pro-mini with a bit of signal conditioning. Works fine.
Another sort have a similar quadrature motor, but then a gear train to the needle spindle, such that so many pulses from the '0' position are required to get the needle to the required position - ie a little stepper motor. 1/4 turn per step.
This sort are driven negative for many pulses at start-up to get the meter to a known '0' position against a mechanical end stop, then up/down as required from there to get the wanted display position .
A bit like the ancient Smiths chronometric speedos from the 1950's.
Again, rather different....
regards
Allan