Swiss watch maker Swatch has teamed up with Visa to launch contactless payment service to its latest creation, ‘Swatch Bellamy’ in Switzerland, US, and Brazil.
The company unveiled the watch in China in October and it is expected to introduce the device in the US in early 2016, followed by Switzerland and Brazil.
The watch maker said that it will use NFC technology with high-frequency radio waves which will allow the device to communicate with the reader over a distance of less than 10cm.
Swatch said that the NFC chip will be placed under the dial and like most other NFC systems customers will be able pay for items using merchants’ contactless POS terminals.
Swatch said: "Fully consistent with the DNA of the pioneering Swiss watchmaker, Swatch Bellamy combines exciting yet functional Swatch design with state-of-the- art payment technology from Visa.
The company previously struck a deal with China’s only domestic bank card company UnionPay to bring contactless payment service to its devices.
With the announcement Swatch has joined the ranks of Apple which allows customers to make payment using Apple Pay through its Smart Watch, and Samsung which has launched a similar service Samsung Pay which will bring contactless payment to its next generation smart watches.
