What are the signs of broken wrist (colles fracture)?

Many: Swelling, bruising, pain, deformity. The only way to know for sure is an x-ray.

Abraham Colles : Described a fracture his treatise on surgical anatomy paper on the fracture of the carpal extremity of the radius in 1814 before x-rays . He used terminogy such as a silver fork deformity to describe the dorsal displacement . Many fractures of the distal radius are called colles fractures but that is a misnomer as radius fractures have myriad patterns but usually...... Swelling deformity pain.

Colles fracture: Usually implies a fracture of the distal radius , this can be a misnomer as fracture pattern differs greatly from person to person and colles didn't have x-rays .So much of the decision is dependent upon the x-ray. Signs include deformity, ecchymoses or bruising, swelling, guarding or exhibiting signs of pain.