Timex's new analog watch hides a contactless payment chip in its strap

Watch maker Timex has announced it's teaming up with Barclaycard in the UK for a new collection of watches with contactless payments.

The Fairfield Contactless is a twist on Timex's existing Fairfield Chronograph series, which adds a Barclaycard bPay chip inside the strap. bPay, you may recall, is a small chip for contactless payments, which Barclaycard has been experimenting with, sticking it in key fobs and even a jacket.

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For its next trick, it's putting the tech into an unassuming, analog Timex watch, and if you already have a compatible Timex you can just buy one of the straps, yours to own in either black or brown.

The new Timex watches will cost £159 and go on sale in November, but this is only for the UK. Wearable payments have gained ground over the past couple of years, with Google, Apple, Samsung and now Fitbit offering tap-and-pay in their devices. However in most of these cases you're coughing up a lot of money for the device itself, while the bPay route offers a cheaper way to embed payment tech.

Barclaycard also has the Loop, a £20 add-on that can be affixed to 22mm watch straps. As for the new Fairfield Contactless, Timex says we can expect more watches to support bPay down the line.