Shipments in the nascent smart watch market reached 1.9 million units in 2013 with Android bagging the lion’s share.

According to figures from Strategy Analytics, Android OS was used in 61 per cent of all smart watches shipped worldwide last year.

“It is very early days, of course, but the smartwatch market is starting to take shape,” said Matt Wilkins, director at Strategy Analytics. “We estimate less than 1 per cent of all smartphones shipped worldwide were bundled with smart watches.”

The research firm added that Android’s growth was driven mostly by Samsung’s Galaxy Gear model (pictured), which is being promoted heavily in the US, UK and South Korea.

“Android currently has several challengers in the smart watch space, like Firefox and Pebble OS, but none of them are a major threat at this stage because of their relatively limited ecosystems and modest retail presence,” said Woody Oh, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

“Android’s main risk to its smart watch dominance in the future will come from Apple iOS, Microsoft, and perhaps Tizen or COS. These four brands have the potential scale or marketing power to offer a credible alternative to Google’s popular platform.”