The technology company, Apple Incorporated, has been granted a patent for a smart watch that can be manipulated with a flick of the wrist.

The United States Patent office granted iTime Patent Number 8,787,006 which states "the invention pertains to an electronic wristwatch."

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The document describes a device worn on the wrist and is dubbed the iTime, which synchronizes with a tablet or a smartphone. There are also clues that the watch is intended by Apple to be an independent device that does not need to be connected to other devices.

The watch "can be integrally formed with an electronic wristband which provides the additional circuitry," according to the patent.

The addition of a smart watchband to the smartwatch distances the product away from competing devices that have already released their versions of smartwatches in the market, like Motorola, Samsung and Sony.

The patent also says that the watch does not need to be paired with other devices for it to be used to make texts and calls. Apple Insider, the blog, was the first to spot the patent that was filed in 2011 and credited to Felix Alvarez, Albert Golko and Mathias Schidt.

Since the patent was filed, Alvarez has left Apple and is currently working at Google as a product design engineer.

Golko is currently an iPhone product developer at Apple Inc.

Schmidt previously worked at Apple on projects like the iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle. He was awarded seven patents, and resigned in 2011. He is currently an employee at Nest, the manufacturer of smart thermostats that Google recently acquired.

Only time will tell if the innovations Apple are putting in this device are enough for it to compete with, or even surpass, the existing smartwatches in the market like the Galaxy Gear, Fuelband, Pebble Watch and Fitbit Force. 

TagsApple smartwatch, smartwatch, watch, bluetooth