Swiss watch maker Swatch Group Ltd. has announced that it plans to take on Apple in the smart watch space with its own smart watch.

The details of the offering are vague at best, with the company telling Bloomberg that the device will offer Near Field Communications (NFC) support, will allow users to make mobile payments, and will work with both Windows Mobile and Android phones.

But then it gets interesting, with Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek saying that the watch will not have to be charged.

The question then arises: how smart will the watch be if it doesn’t have to be charged?

Kinetic energy charging technology in watches is old school tech, with the likes of Seiko selling watches that never need a new battery for decades, but that existing technology doesn’t come anywhere close to powering a color smartwatch screen. Although there are smart watches on the market that don’t require twice daily charging like the Apple Smartwatch does, with some offering E-Ink screens instead that are often good for days of use, ultimately they still need to be charged.

Unless Swatch has come up with some new, magical forever after battery, it’s pure conjecture to work out exactly what it’s going to be offering for sale.

At a simple guess potentially it’s just another standard watch with NFC support built in; although slightly different technologies RFID chips don’t require power, perhaps Swatch has come up with a NFC chip that offers something similar?

The Swatch smart watch will go on-sale to the public in April.

photo credit: Swatch Color Codes Watch Collection via photopin (license)