New pay-by-the wrist watch for Swatch

At a press conference held on 14 October at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, the Bienne based brand presented its latest innovation, the Swatch Bellamy.

This new watch allows contactless payment «by the wrist» in China.Produced in association with China UnionPay and Bank of Communications, the four models in the collection are equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) wireless technology. These timepieces therefore allow their wearers to pay for purchases in shops and department stores across the country.

NFC technology uses high-frequency radio waves to enable electronic devices to communicate over short distances. The new Swatch Bellamy watches have a built-in NFC chip hidden under the dial. Like a prepaid bankcard, they allow customers to pay for items using merchant’s contactless POS terminals. Pay-by-the wrist transactions require absolutely no energy at all from the watch.

Nick Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group, Chen Zhi, Vice-President of China UnionPay and Tao Wen, head of financial services to private customers at the Bank of Communications, outlined the project to guests and journalists. The partners then signed the agreement enabling the new payment option to be activated throughout China from January 2016. Swatch Bellamy will soon be launched in Switzerland with a local bank and secure transaction partner, as well as in the USA.

November 12, 2015