Retorquing head bolts has been a procedure for many decades with standard bolts. The reasoning behind it is that sometimes there might be a rough spot on the threads of the bolt or in the block that will allow you to reach the predetermined torque value however the head of the bolt isn't set to that torque against the top of the hole. With the engine going through a couple of heat and cooling cycles the normal stretching of the steel will even out the torque. Occasionally you will find one or two fasteners that will need that extra torquing. Today newer engines don't have this requirement since the head bolts are only torqued once and they are designed to stretch at maximum torque and the stretch resembles a spring-like elasticity of the fastener. . For this reason, those bolts are never reused, and new bolts are needed every time a head is removed.
In the old days, we would use a beam torque wrench and had to watch the pointer to know when the torque value was achieved. Today more modern torque wrenches are click type and will give a click when they reach the set value. The most modern torque wrenches that have come out in the last couple of years are electronic and will give an audible warning when the torque value is reached. I have seen some that will record the values attained and display them on an electronic display on the wrench.