ORIS Nurse's Watch cal. △742 / Inverted Dial, Red Cross

— How the nurse's watch came about —

In postwar medical settings, nurses needed a watch with a seconds hand to take a pulse and watch the timing of medication.

A wristwatch raised problems of hygiene and of legibility, and the answer was a nurse's watch with an inverted dial, worn on the chest.

An Oris nurse's watch, born to support postwar medical work. A distinctive inverted dial for instant reading at the chest. An emblematic red cross standing out on a clean white dial. Fitted with the manual calibre △742, balancing usefulness and reliability. A very scarce vintage piece carrying history and respect beyond the status of a tool.

— A watch that once supported medical work —

Oris has always held to making watches for people, and gave form to a model specifically for medical staff.

It uses the red cross, the symbol of medicine, on a white dial, and was designed so a nurse could read the time instantly.

A watch made to support the work of medical staff.

— The movement —

A watch that chased accuracy alone, without regard to cost, would never have spread through medical settings.

So Oris chose the △742 calibre made by Orly Watch Co., putting weight on the balance between reliability and cost.

— The passage of an era —

The manual-wind nurse's watch was born in the mid-1950s and went on quietly supporting people in medical work into the early 1970s.

With the arrival of the quartz era their role came to an end, and these watches now go on marking time as emblems of respect and of prayer for medical staff, beyond the status of tools.