These 1920s Watches Were Produced Especially for Doctors

Welcome to "Watches You Should Know," a new bi-weekly column highlighting little-known watches new and old that have interesting stories or have had a surprising impact on the industry The doctor's watches from Rolex and Gruen were among the first wristwatches sufficiently accurate to merit a large, usable seconds hand which, for some professions, can be quite vital Thus, watches were developed with prominent seconds dials, independent from the main hours and minutes dial, that would be easy for doctors to read.

At least, this is how the Rolex Prince and Gruen Techni-Quadron were marketed and earned their nicknames The doctor's watches stood out partly because many wristwatches of the time were not accurate enough for a seconds hand to be relevant, or had seconds hands of only a couple millimeters in length The larger seconds dials of the doctor's watches might not look very big or legible from a modern perspective, but we should remember that this was a very early and still-developing watch landscape.

Later watches meant for doctors, nurses, or medics offered features like a chronograph with a pulsometer scale The doctor's watches, it seems, were indeed used by and gifted to doctors. . Source