Guy keels over in a crowd, say at work or in the grocery store or just walking down the street? Unless you are a wacker you won't have much with you. That's probably why she had the purse.

As for why to shuck your watch/bracelets: if you see them go down, you do that AS you are assessing, it only takes about 10 seconds. And guess what- unless you are doc, an ME, or in certain jurisdictions a PA or paramedic, you can't stop once you start. Otherwise, it's malfeasance of duty under the law. It is better to never, every start from a legal point of view than it is stop before you've handed them off. In the state of Vermont, I'm not sure if it criminal, but I know you've just waived your rights and privileges against civil action if you start then stop before being relived. So in a rural area that means you might be pumping and blowing for the next 20 minutes, half an hour, however long it takes to get a rig there. If you've been doing compressions with something like a watch around your wrist, odds are you've started to cut off the circulation to that hand.