9 Hard-Working Watches for Nurses — Find Your Best Watch for 2024

This one tops our list because it checks all the boxes: comfort, readability, water resistance, and military time markers.

Silicone band

The watchband is made from comfortable, buttery silicone and surrounds the watch case in one continuous piece. This helps your watch stay cleaner since there are fewer places for dirt and germs to get trapped. The silicone is also easy to wipe down with an alcohol wipe to keep everything nice and hygienic.

Large face

The watch itself is a good, large size (1 ½”) so you’ll be able to read the time even in low light conditions. Twenty-four hour time is marked near the standard, 12-hour time numerals so you’ll quickly be able to calculate military time.

Style

The Nurse Mate Uni comes in white or black. Both feature pink accents. On the white watch, you get a metallic pink band around the face. On the black option, the numbers are hot pink. And just so everybody knows this is a watch made for nurses, an electrocardiograph with a heart design shows on the bottom half of the watch face.

Here’s our first leather watch on the list. It has a couple of unique features that are specifically intended to help out nurses.

Quadrant ring

Around the outer edge of the watch face, colored bands split the dial into four sections. Each section is 15 seconds, which for many will be helpful when measuring respiration and heart rates.

Military time and contrasting second hand

This is another watch with 24-hour time markers to help you convert to military time for charting and documentation. The second hand matches the watch band color, which on the pink and purple options are quite easy to see. On the blue and green options, however, the color doesn’t stand out as much against the watch face.

Attractive leather

The watch comes in four different colors, which are all pretty stylish (just remember what we said about the second hands on the blue and green).

While a leather watch band may not be the easiest to keep clean and dry, the feel of leather is important to many people. If that’s you, this watch is a good choice. You may just need to take a little extra care during hand washing.

Cyber Gel? Are you asking yourself what that is? Turns out it’s just a fancy way to say silicone. As we’ve learned, silicone is a great material when it comes to watch bands for nurses.

Value

At the time of publication, this was the least expensive watch on our list. While the color choices (black, pink, or purple) change the price a bit, it’s still the most affordable.

Standard features

Like the previous watches we’ve gone over, this one offers water resistance and military time markers. It also features a prominent, red second hand — but only on the black version.

Lower readability score

One disadvantage of the Prestige Medical is a smaller clock face. A thick, decorative metal band surrounds the outer clock face so the watch looks like it’s a good size, but the actual clock face is pretty small.

We also noticed the black option has good contrast between the numbers and the background, but the numbers on the pink, and purple options are much harder to see. Similarly, the second hand for the black watch is a bright red color, but on the other two colors, the second hand is harder to pick out.

Why is this one called a “scrub watch”? Because it was designed to match your scrubs! While not every possible scrubs color could be represented, Speidel does a good job of covering a few common shades: blue, pink, teal, and white. If none of those work for you, it also comes in a metal band.

But that’s not all this watch has going for it.

Great face design

Our favorite feature of this watch is how clear it is to read. The second hand is bright red. Since that’s the hand you’re looking for when taking vitals, it’s a real plus that it’s so easy to see.

The numbers on the face are large, black, and clear. In addition to the military hours (13 through 24), this watch also shows the numbers for minutes and seconds (five through 60 in increments of five).

Silicone Band

This is another watch that sports a silicone band. Wiping this down with alcohol at the end of your shift will keep it clean and won’t damage the strap. The strap adjusts to fit a range of wrists from 6.7” to 8.3”.

Expert Tip: A good and snug — but not tight — fit is important to keeping your watch comfortable and from snagging on equipment.

Overall the Speidel is a great choice. While it boasts the necessary water resistance, it is a little bit pricier than other watches on our list, but well worth the investment.

For some, wearing a watch just doesn't work out. Whether you’re working in a setting that prohibits them or just don't feel comfortable with one on, you’ll need an alternative to a wristwatch. That’s where the fob watch comes in.

Pin it on your lapel

Fob watches are also known as lapel pin watches. You pin them to the chest of your shirt and when you need to check the time, it’s just a matter of looking down. Conveniently, they hang upside down, so when you glance down at them, you see the time with the 12 at the top of your vision.

A classic look

While there are many fob watches out there, this one has a timeless, almost vintage look to it. Though due to its low price, the quality is not the best. But for that money, it is definitely a good choice.

Most of the watches on our list are practical choices, intent on helping you do your job as a nurse. This is the indulgence/luxury choice. The Fitbit will do far more than just tell time--and has a price-point to prove it.

Songs, apps, fitness tracker

The Ionic can hold 300 songs and give you information such as how long and how well you’re sleeping at night. The built-in GPS will show you in real-time how far you walked in a day (an interesting piece of information, especially for nurses). On your days off, you can use Fitbit fitness coaching at the gym, for jogging, and more.

Water resistant with a long battery

You may wonder how a smartwatch will hold up to a 12 hour shift. Fortunately, the Ionic has four days of battery life on a single charge. It can also handle being fully submerged up to 50 meters. So, yes, you can definitely wash your hands with this on.

A different way to monitor vitals

Here’s where using the Ionic as a nurse will vary a little bit. When you lift your wrist, the clock face shows up, but it turns off after a short while. This is fine for checking the time, but a watch face that disappears won’t work when you’re taking your patient’s vitals.

To do vitals, you’ll have to use the stopwatch function. While it’s something that will take a little getting used to, we’re betting the many benefits of the Fitbit will make up for that adjustment.

Fun Fact

While you monitor vitals for your patients all shift long, the Fitbit is doing the same for you. The heart rate tracker will give you insight into your well being as you work.

Another pick from Nurse Mates, this one combines function with a little bit of playfulness. Cute, nurse-themed symbols adorn the watch face, symbols like bandage scissors, a stethoscope, a red cross, and a blue heart.

Simple and stylish

The white leather-like band, along with the large white watch face gives the watch a clean look. That combined with the symbols makes it a good choice for a stylish addition to your uniform.

Functional

In addition to being attractive, you also get some important functionality. The second hand is red and there are military time markers around the outer edge of the watch face. We did notice, however that only even numbers on the 12-hour clock are printed. That could prove confusing on the eleventh hour of your shift.

Forté makes the only watch on our list that offers true military time movement. A 360º movement of the hour hand around the watch is a complete 24 hour period. While all the other watches have the military time next to the 12-hour number, this one actually has 24 hours going around the dial.

While it’s great for those who already tend to think in military time, it may be a bit of an adjustment for those who are used to clock hands being in the standard 12-hour set up.

Superior water resistance

Other than the Fitbit, this watch can handle the most water exposure, up to 165 feet. That’s great if you find yourself administering baths or otherwise getting your hands and wrists wet.

Expert Tip:

The water resistance of this watch is listed as 5 ATM. In this case, ATM means “atmospheres.” Five ATMs means the watch casing can keep water out until the water pressure reaches five times that of the atmospheric pressure (which is called 1 ATM). That translates to about 50 meters or 165 feet.

Quality details

The leather strap is padded and stitched, that along with the rugged look of the watch case make the watch an attractive timepiece. You also get luminous (glow in the dark) hands and hour markers. Perfect for low-light conditions.

Get what you pay for

Aside from the Fitbit (which is a smartwatch) this is the most expensive item on our list. It’s got great features that make is as useful as it is good-looking, but expect to pay for those qualities.

Fun is the name of the game with this watch. It looks like a tiny diorama filled with miniature medical equipment and supplies. A miniscule stethoscope, prescription bottle, and aspirin vial are affixed to the background inside a water resistant case.

Conversation starter

This is a way to wear a nurse-themed fashion statement on your wrist. It’s the kind of watch that will probably bring a smile to anyone who notices it. Smiles, in any profession, but especially in nursing, are always a good thing.

No extras

A few things you won’t get with this watch are: military time markers, contrasting second hand, and large clock face. You might go for this one if taking vitals manually doesn’t factor into your daily routine quite as much. Wear it and get ready for the compliments.