I've recently discovered that watches delicately gracing the wrists of hundreds in our local hospital follow no real criteria. Does your hospital/dr's office/place of work have certain guidelines on what type of watch you wear? I am looking to buy a watch, but want to make sure I get one that's not too accepting of - shall we say - germy nastiness.

My hospital has no rules regarding watches that I have heard of, but I can't help thinking there should be rules everytime I see a nurse come out of a room with a cloth strapped watch dripping with some unknown substance. Gross.

Give me your input!

The watch that I use mainly for work & find the most anti-germy is an AVON breast cancer watch my boss gave me last holiday season. It was something like 15 bucks so is definitely cost efficient and something you could replace easily (she bought a bulk order of 300 &handed them out to the whole office plus has extra's in case someone needs a replacement) I love that it is black since other colors seem to fade or get grimy very fast, that it has a neoprene band and big hands and numbers, also because it is black the dials stand out very well and make taking accurate times easy.

Some girls I know love their MK or other pricey watches but this one is the best and my favorite for work.

I use a timex analog watch with a large face, second hand, indiglo, and military "cheat" times. I trashed the nasty fabric watch band and replaced it with a decent rubber one I found on amazon. It's done a great service through 2+ years of pretty icky clinicals. There are no links on the band so I can quickly disinfect it and/or wash it thoroughly with soap and water. If it breaks - no biggie. It wasn't expensive to begin with. The olive color watch case and orange band are also easy to locate in my bag first thing in the morning. That workhorse has actually earned me a few compliments from other nurses!

That is a great idea to replace the band with a rubber or plastic band. I had the hardest time finding the perfect watch and all the ones I liked had those braided straps which are very icky. Ill have to try that.

I am a horrible person and I don't wear a watch. When I did, I wore a waterproof one that I can wash with soap and water when I wash my hands. The idea of something like that sitting there with all the tiny gaps that could get bacteria in there grossed me out. Or I kept it in my pocket and wiped it down every time I touched it with the "cancer wipes." (The ones that supposedly cause cancer that we use to disinfect)

I cheat and when I triage, I use the nurse on a stick thing for my time. All the rooms including hallways have clocks. When I was an EMT, I kept my watch in my pocket.

Fob watch for me...means no bugs can get under the strap

In the ER I work there's always a clock within sight, so I don't wear a watch.

I've been thinking about buying one of the watches I linked to below the next time I order from Amazon--it's dirt-simple, has a second hand, is reasonably water-resistant, and is cheap enough that if it got way way contaminated and I had to toss it I wouldn't be too upset...

Casio Men's MDV106-1A Black Analog Anti Reverse Bezel Watch: Watches: Amazon.com