What is a nurse watch?

A nurse watch is a type of watch designed for medical professionals (particularly nurses). Originally, the watches were designed to hang upside down from a lapel or via a fob from a nurses uniform. The face was also designed to be read upside down.  Nurse watches were expected to be easy to read, easy to clean, accurate and made of hygienic materials like stainless steel.  The one pictured (below) is from a Swedish company named Tärnan. The watch has some extra markings to help a nurse measure a patient's pulse.

Tärnan Nurses Watch (Public Domain)

Many people collect vintage nurse watches. They are an interesting subset of the watch community. Today, the legacy of nurse watches lives on in more modern offerings like the Spiedel Original Scrub watch (below).

Speidel 38mm Scrub watch (Amazon photo)

It's a 38mm quartz watch that comes in a wide variety of colors to match medical scrubs.  You can see the 38mm Speidel Original Scrub watch here on Amazon.com. 

Since today's nursing professionals still have to watch their hands many times per day, Speidel also makes a fob-style watch (below) that can be clipped onto clothing and is connected to the fob by a 25-inch retractable rope. You can also see the Speidel Nurse Fob Watch here on Amazon.com.

Speidel Nurse Fob Watch (Amazon photo)