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Swatch has partnered with Visa on a watch capable of making payments with the swipe of your wrist. The Swatch Bellamy is scheduled to be launched in early 2016. It can be used where VISA payments are accepted. The Swatch Bellamy has an NFC (near-field communication) chip inside, giving it the capacity to do the payments. The Bellamy doesn't connect to the Internet and makes payments without using the watch's battery.

NFC technology uses high-frequency radio waves to enable electronic devices to communicate over short distances, usually less than 10 cm. Like a prepaid bankcard, a Swatch Bellamy watch allows customers to pay for items using merchants' contactless POS terminals. Swatch is the world's largest watchmaker by revenue. It's one of several traditional watchmakers collaborating with companies outside of their industry to make more tech-savvy timepieces.

Last month, Tag Heuer revealed a watch that runs Google's Android Wear software. Fossil, which makes watches for major fashion brands like DKNY and Armani, bought wearables company Misfit.

Rather than equipping the Bellamy with notification vibrations and fitness-tracking capability, Swatch focused on a single use: payments.

Swatch didn't offer much else in terms of specs on the Bellamy, other than promising payment transactions use no energy. Users can expect the same battery life they get from any other Swatch model.

Swatch hasn't disclosed yet the Bellamy's price. The company first revealed the Bellamy in October in China, where the watchmaker is partnering with China UnionPay and Bank of Communications.

The Bellamy is named after American writer Edward Bellamy, who in his 1888 novel "Looking Backward 2000-1887" predicted the rise of the credit and debit card. The phrase "bel ami" also means "good friend" in French. "The new Bellamy watch will doubtless become a good friend to its wearer," the company said in a press release.