Swatch unveils low cost smartwatch-cum-credit card

Swatch, the world's largest watchmaker has unveiled its answer to Apple's smartwatch.

The company plans to use programmable chips in watches that would allow wearers from China to Chicago make payments with a swipe of the wrist.

Swatch Group would start offering watches with near field communication (NFC) chips within two months, the company said at a news conference on its annual results which were released last month.

According to Swatch chief executive, Nick Hayek, Apple's move into watches would open up a market where Swatch was already well positioned to compete.

The Swiss company's strategy appeared to be built around including individual tech features in different models rather competing with Apple, the world's most valuable firm, to create all-in-one smartwatches combining many functions.

"We are the world champions of integrating smart functions into a watch," Hayek said.

"We don't want to produce a mini mobile phone on your wrist. Others can do that."

Apple's watch would be up on sale across nine countries starting in April. It would be priced $349 for the smaller model and $549 for the standard version, although a high-end 'Edition' watch would sell for at least $10,000.

Swatch Group, makes timepieces under its own brand name plus those for Rado, Calvin Klein, Greguet and Omega, and has a share of 18 per cent of all watch sales at the moment.

Its market share had grown consistently over the last half a decade; with its last financial year recording 3 per cent growth to a new total of $9.2 billion.

According to some industry experts the advent of smartwatches might see Swatch and other traditional timepiece manufacturers fall by the wayside as full-featured wearables took over.

However, Swatch says it is committed to evolving with the times without competing directly with smartwatch manufacturers.

The company will integrate two types of wireless communication technologies into its timepieces, including near-field communication – the same technology that powered the Apple Pay contactless payment system - and Bluetooth, which would allow watch owners to connect to their smartphones to communicate text messages, news updates and other types of notifications.

Hayek said that users could configure their own watches how they liked.

He also added that Swatch's expertise in constructing watches that ran on almost no power whatsoever would give the company a leg up when it came to tech companies that built products that required daily charging.