Swatch Joins Forces With Visa For ‘Pay-By-Wrist’ Watch

Swiss watchmaker Swatch has teamed up with Visa to produce a smartwatch that enables wearers to ‘pay-by-wrist’.

The Swatch Bellamy can be used anywhere that contactless Visa payments are accepted.

The watch is named after a science fiction novel by American author Edward Bellamy entitled ‘Looking Backward 2000-1887’ which was published in 1888 and featured a Utopian future in which physical cash had been entirely replaced.

First teased in China back in October, the watch has been given a release date of early 2016.

Available in several different designs, the watch features a built-in NFC chip hidden under the dial.

NFC stands for Near Field Communications and is the technology used by some smartwatches and smartphones for contactless payments.

According to Swatch, the transactions don’t take any power from the watch so wearers will have the usual battery life that they would expect from a watch.

Swatch is the latest traditional watch manufacturer to launch a techie timepiece, with luxury brand Tag Heuer recently unveiling its Android Wear-powred ‘Connected’ watch.

Image credit: Swatch