Paying the bill has never been so easy – or so fun, thanks to Swatch, which has launched SwatchPay! in the UK. The handy new function is hidden inside the watch and is impossible to detect, ensuring no distraction from Swatch’s playful classic watch designs.
A Near Field Communication (NFC) chip provides the functionality, using the same process as a contactless payment on a bank card – all without draining the watch battery. The payment process is activated by simply holding your watch close to the payment terminal, ensuring paying is a simple matter of a flick of the wrist.
SwatchPay! offers Swatch watch style plus payment technology
For Swatch head of trend scouting Bernardo Tribolet, the functionality adds a layer to the design. ‘SwatchPay! perfectly reflects the unconventional and provocative spirit of our brand, combining an innovative feature with a storytelling design on your wrist,’ he says. ‘The watch design is complemented by a convenient function: whether you’re in a rush to pay for something, don’t have your wallet or phone on you, or you’ve run out of phone battery, it’s got you covered.’
It is easy to suspend payment too, if necessary, with the pay function easily switched on and off on the app, a handy feature that plays into the changing functions and considerations of watch design now. ‘Personally, I believe that watches are an amazing feature to tell you “who I am today”,’ adds Tribolet. ‘The daily watch choice is something that I consider as important as the choice of my perfume or my sneakers – the combination will steer my day through, and reveal to the world around me how I feel and who I am today. [The watch] is one of the most present items that I carry – while I am working, driving and even having a good cocktail on a Friday night. When paying – bam – there it is again. And yes, I am the dude with that crazy watch, because I choose to be.’ §
