Will.i.am has teamed up with Gucci to create a smart watch.

The 40-year-old rapper announced his ''special partnership'' with the Italian luxury label at Baselworld, the watch industry's leading trade fair, yesterday (19.03.15).

The 'Scream & Shout' hitmaker is collaborating with Gucci Timepieces to create their own stand alone ''smartband'', which is similar to Apple's new smart watch, and will be able to make and receive calls, take pictures, send texts and emails, monitor fitness and hold music, reports Vogue.com.

Gucci's president and CEO Marco Bizzarri said: ''Wearable technology and smart devices represent a new frontier for the fashion industry. It is very appropriate that Gucci is leading the way through this collaboration with will.i.am, as innovation has always been such an important part of our DNA.''

According to the Black Eyed Peas star, the smartband - developed through Gucci and his i.am+ brand which aims to create goods combining fashion and technology - will be ''unique'' to the marketplace.

He said: ''i.am+ and Gucci Timepieces are setting the pace with our vision for a wearable technology.

''In developing together a device that is both fashionable and technologically advanced, we will create something that is unique in the marketplace. From the very start, I coined the term 'fashionology,' a merging of the worlds of fashion and technology, which is exactly what this collaboration with Gucci represents.''

Details surrounding the watch's release date and price are yet to be released.