Written by Menswear Style in Business on the 6th July 2016

Iconic Swiss watch brand Mondaine has been named an official partner of pioneering contactless payment solution bPay loop, a small case containing a contactless chip that allows customers to transform their Mondaine watch strap into a fast and secure payment tool. Loop is easy to attach to an open buckled Mondaine watch strap to create a new way to pay. Mondaine will present this timesaving tech as an addition across its entire watch collection, starting with its key hero pieces Evo Big Date and Simply Elegant for men and women.

Loop users add funds to a digital wallet that is linked to the device and can then be used to pay for transactions of £30 and under, wherever contactless payments can be made – currently over 400,000 locations across the UK. As with the other devices in the bPay family, it is available to anyone with a UK-registered Visa or MasterCard debit or credit card. The iOS and Android compatible technology also offers multi-account management, an auto top-up trigger when pre-loaded funds runs low, and the ability to immediately block any device if it is lost or stolen.

“Mondaine dedicates itself to keeping things simple, genuine and in time with the modern world. By partnering with Barclaycard to offer bPay Loop, Mondaine continues to unite timeless Swiss design with form, function and invention,” said Colin Lee, Director of Sales, Timepieces at Burton McCall. “We already play an active role in promoting and creating smart, yet traditional looking wearables and with this new partnership Mondaine is now leading the charge for simple well-designed wearable payment devices both in the UK and international markets,” continued Colin.

Tami Hargreaves, Commercial Director, Digital Consumer Payments at Barclaycard, said “bPay is the UK’s leading range of wearable payment products and was designed to meet customer demand for a new way of paying. Following the success of the initial range, and in response to consumer demand, loop has been designed to allow payments functionality to be added to items that people already wear on their wrist. Thanks to the huge growth we are seeing in contactless payments, we are increasingly becoming accustomed to being able to make low-value payments throughout the day, in a quick, easy, convenient way. Loop makes that easier than ever.”

Research by Samsung Electronics suggests that the wearables market was worth £314 million for UK retailers in 2014 – the second highest in Europe after Germany. Similarly, research from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker indicates that around 45.7 million wearable units were produced in 2015 alone. According to the Barclaycard Contactless Index, overall spending in the UK has more than doubled over the past year, rising by 123 per cent.

Tami Hargreaves and Colin Lee provide quotes on the new partnership between Mondaine and Barclaycard bPay loop.