Swatch says its own smartwatch will be available by April - just in time to compete with the Apple Watch

Swatch plans to start selling a smartwatch within the next three months, Bloomberg reports.

If the three-month time frame is accurate, Swatch's smartwatch will likely be available by April, which is when Apple plans to release its first Watch.

Besides Apple, Swatch will also have to contend with a bevy of Android-powered smartwatches, as well as the growing list of available smartwatch-fitness tracker hybrids.

In a Bloomberg interview, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek said his company's forthcoming smwartwatch will be able to communicate with the web "without having to be charged."

The Swatch smartwatch will also be able to work with Android and Windows software, and it will let people make mobile payments, like the Apple Watch. It's unclear which payment platform Swatch will use, however.

Swatch was busy filing patent applications last year, including one for long-lasting batteries, and Hayek says those patents will be reflected in "numerous innovative project launches in all segments."

"We'll implement all of those into new products. Some of them, such as the battery, will take a few years though, and are also destined for other industries, like the automotive industry," he said.

Swatch's CEO says the company is talking to retailers about its payments system, and has already reached agreements with two of the largest retailers in Switzerland: Migros, the largest supermarket chain in the country, and Coop, a wholesale retailer that also accounts for half of all the organic food sold in Switzerland.

You can read the full report over at Bloomberg.