Doctors have removed this wristwatch from the stomach of a three-year-old boy in a timely procedure that took them just three minutes – with the device still working afterwards.

The young boy was taken to the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital by his parents after he inadvertently swallowed the watch, a family heirloom which reportedly did not have a strap, while watching cartoons on television in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

An image shows the wristwatch, which appears to be either golden or silver, inside the young boy’s stomach shortly before it was retrieved by the team of doctors.

A team of endoscopists led by Dr Daria Voronyak then proceeded to remove the watch from the tot’s stomach in an operation that did not require surgery and lasted only three minutes, the hospital said in a statement obtained by Newsflash.

Dr Voronyak said: “The watch was obtained endoscopically, without incisions, thanks to the teamwork of the anaesthesiology and endoscopy teams.

“The boy was under general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation.

“The watch was still working, it showed the right time, even when it was in the stomach.”

The watch is reportedly a family heirloom and the parents, who have not been named, took it home with them after the procedure.

The child, who has not been named either, is reportedly doing well and is currently under medical supervision. Details pertaining to the watch, including its year of manufacture and its make and model, are unknown.