Swatch to Launch First Smartwatch in the Next 2 to 3 Months

A spokesman for Swatch confirmed Chief Executive Nick Hayek made the remarks to Bloomberg earlier on Thursday.

Asked how much of a concern the smartwatch from Apple was to the Swiss company, Hayek also told CNBC that Swatch had already been in the smartwatch market for a long time but did not give detail on its plans for a new product.

Back in September, the Swatch Group said it is happy to go it alone with a launch next year of watches with "smart" features to compete with so-called wearable gadgets from the big tech companies, a market potentially worth $93 billion (roughly Rs. 5,75,625 crores) - the company was denying rumours at the time it was collaborating with Apple on its smartwatch.

Swatch had said it sees the advent of smartwatches as an opportunity rather than a threat, and that it would unveil its new Swatch Touch next summer. Hayek's recent remarks however peg the launch to be slightly earlier than that date.

In September, Hayek said Swatch's new watches might allow the wearer to count the number of steps they take and calories they burn. And there will be a few other cool 'Swatchy' things on offer via latest Bluetooth technology.

"All the big technology firms want to work with us and I don't rule out that we are or could be collaborating in some areas. But we can also do many things on our own."

In July, Swatch had said its Swatch Touch lineup of watches would get fitness tracking features in 2015.

Written with inputs from Reuters