TIME TO PAY: Kairos to add NFC payments to its T-Band smart watch strap

Luxury watchmaker Kairos is to add NFC payments to its hybrid “mechanical smartwatches” and smart wristbands using a host card emulation-based wearable payments solution from German payments technology provider Wirecard.

Wirecard’s solution, launched earlier this year, can be used to make contactless payments via NFC after downloading payment tokens from the user’s smartphone. Tokens can be preloaded and held on another device, in this case a smartwatch, so that the phone can be offline and payments can still be made.

“The Kairos Hybrid Mechanical smartwatch features a Swiss or Japanese mechanical movement with an integrated transparent OLED screen in the glass for smartwatch functions,” Wirecard explains. The T-Band is a smart strap that allows the wearer to use any watch they want by integrating the smartwatch components into the band itself.

Kairos will be using the company’s Payment Software Development Kit to implement the solution on its devices.

“Kairos Watches believes that the future of payments is wearable,” says Sam Yang, managing director of Kairos Watches. “This partnership with Wirecard brings an unparalleled level of convenience and simplicity when it comes to payments.”

KAIROS HYBRID: Features mechanical movement with screen for smartwatch functions