Paying with your smartwatch is gaining popularity, also among customers of ABN Amro. The bank also offers customers an alternative: selected analog watches that, thanks to a special chip, are suitable for contactless payment a la Apple Watch. Computer!Totaal tested such an ABN Amro watch.
Lax watch with payment chip
Price € 69,-Colors Brown, other watches in more colors
Diameter 40mm
Band for payment chip 20 or 22 mm
Payment function NFC payment chip for in band
Other Analogue timepiece with standard battery
Website www.laks.com Website www.abnamro.nl 8 Score 80
- Pros
- 20mm band also works with other watches
- Affordable wearables and chip
- Contactless payment works great
- Negatives
- Leather strap not very comfortable
- Watch sometimes shows the wrong time
- Problematic ordering process at the time
As one of the largest Dutch banks, ABN Amro is investing heavily in paying with wearables. Apple Watch users can pay smaller amounts contactless via Apple Pay by holding their watch against the payment terminal, but there are more options. Various brands – with the approval of ABN Amro – sell various accessories with which you can pay contactless. From rings and key rings to bracelets and watches from Swatch, Mondaine, Olympic and Laks: the choice is large and steadily increasing. Thanks to a voucher from ABN Amro, I ordered a Laks watch and used it for three months.
Problematic order
You can buy an ABN Amro-capable wearable from the relevant manufacturer. I therefore ordered a (men's) watch via the website of the German Laks. That did not go down well, because the website was apparently renewed and therefore did not work for days. When I finally ordered the watch, I couldn't use the resulting registration number to give the payment chip access to my ABN Amro account. Several phone calls with ABN Amro followed, with the conclusion that my type of account was not yet suitable, but that that would soon change. In other words: I couldn't use the wearable yet. Strange, because the bank was already advertising pay wearables before I placed my order.
As luck would have it, shipping the watch from Germany took nearly two weeks because UPS first sent my package to the wrong address. When I finally received the watch, I could not register it – as partly expected. Email and telephone contact with the – helpful – employees of the bank followed. One of them had to manually convert something, after which the registration was successful. A day later, the head of ABN Amro's wearable department called me for an apology and explanation. Friendly, but I can't imagine I've been the only one with registration issues.
Payment chip makes watch special
After successfully linking the Laks watch to my account, I was able to squeeze the payment chip out of the packaging and push it into the underside of the top watch band. Payment is not possible without that chip. This watch and the strap have nothing to do with payment with most other Laks models, ABN Amro confirmed to me. You can also attach the strap with payment chip to another suitable watch – more about that later.
It's all about the payment chip, but you can also buy it separately for 18 euros. You do need a suitable watch strap.
Contactless payment works great
After a difficult order and hassle with the registration, I was finally able to pay contactless with the watch. The first time in the supermarket was a bit exciting, but I was positively surprised at the speed and accuracy of the payment. And three months later I still am. In all that time, the number of misses can be counted on one hand and it always worked the second time.
Hold the bottom of the band, which contains the payment chip, against the designated place on the payment terminal and payment is done in exactly the same way as when you do it with your debit card. In a few seconds, the payment is processed and you can withdraw your arm. At first it felt a bit crazy to hold your wrist over or against a payment terminal, but that quickly changed. The payment method still regularly attracts prying eyes or even questions from store employees or other customers, but I think that's funny. It's still fun to explain to people how you can pay with a 'stupid watch', especially because the vast majority of them respond positively with answers such as 'Jeez, the technology is worth nothing' or 'cool, I want that too!'
Payment chip can last a long time
The payment chip in the watch band is passive and has no influence on other electronics, according to Mastercard, ABN Amro and Laks. There is no limit to the number of passive wearables per checking account. So you can buy different watches, key rings or bracelets and share them with your partner, for example, if you have a joint checking account. The payment chip has no expiration date, as long as it is not damaged. Because payment works via NFC and the required energy comes from the payment terminal, the payment chip in the watch does not require its own power. So you don't have to charge the Laks watch. However, you will eventually have to replace the battery of the timepiece.
Exclusively for ABN Amro customers
Since I pay with this watch, I use my debit card much less and I regularly go out without a wallet in my pocket. Not only can I pay with my smartphone, I also always have my watch on with which I can use my debit card. Up to 25 euros this goes without a pin code, above 25 euros I just enter my pin code. You can make contactless pins up to 100 euros per day without a pin code, after which you have to enter it anyway.
Nothing is perfect, not even this wearable and payment method. Firstly, the payment chip can only make contactless payments. Not all payment terminals in the Netherlands and abroad support this. In shops where you can only withdraw money by putting your card in the slot, the watch is therefore of no use to you.
The second but is more important: to be able to use this watch or any other wearable in this way, you must have a current account with ABN Amro. Chances are that you don't have that, so you should switch. Is this – extra – payment method worth the switch? The answer will vary from person to person.
If you can't pin contactless somewhere, the watch is of no useMediocre watch
Anyone who is or is going to switch to ABN Amro can buy a suitable wearable from Laks or one of the other partner brands. The splash-proof Laks watch I tested disappointed me. Not because you have to put the separate payment chip in the watch band – that's an advantage. It's partly the leather strap that doesn't appeal to me. It has few holes (I had a few punctured) and even after months of wearing it is still stiff, which is why it still doesn't fit very well.
A bigger problem is that the watch regularly shows the wrong time. Quite a thing for an analog timepiece, because you have to be able to rely on the time shown. Due to the wrong time in Berlin, I almost missed my train to the airport, arrived almost an hour late for an appointment and had to rush a few times to catch the bus. Very annoying, because it is not clear to me what is causing the problem. Sometimes it went well for weeks, followed by days where the watch alternated ahead and behind. A new battery did not fix the problem.
Same band on a different watch
The unreliability of the watch and the less pleasant strap mean that I no longer use the watch. I put the top band, which contains the payment chip, on my Amazfit GTS smartwatch, which also uses a 20mm band. The fact that the bottom band is made of rubber does not matter when paying. It may not be the most elegant solution, but the wearing comfort is better than with the full leather strap.
Other Laks Straps
If you, like me, prefer to use your own watch, you can buy a separate strap of 20 or 22 mm at Laks. A payment chip is included as standard. You pay a total of 45 euros for this, in my opinion a competitive price. If you need a new or extra payment chip for whatever reason, you can buy it for only 18 euros. Purchasing a separate strap without a payment chip is only possible after contacting the (non-Dutch) customer service of Laks and costs 36 euros – a less good deal. A good watch store can slightly adjust your existing (leather) strap so that you can use the payment chip without Laks accessories.
Conclusion: buy ABN Amro watch?
My problematic order and registration were a bad start to contactless payment, that's for sure. By now, ordering and linking such a wearable should be a piece of cake, according to the bank. I'll just assume that. In any case, paying with the watch works (surprisingly) well and is not inferior to contactless debit cards or mobile payments in terms of ease of use. In fact, because you always have your watch on, you pay faster than when you have to take out your debit card or phone to pay.
I can no longer live without this watch, although I have put the pay band on another watch. The Laks watch disappoints me qualitatively. Fortunately, you can also purchase a separate watch strap with a payment chip or even just a separate payment chip and use it with your own accessories. The big but in this story is that you must have a checking account with ABN Amro. If you have them or are willing to switch, you can get started with various and affordable wearables that you can easily use for contactless debit card payments.
