Epson is expanding its repertoire beyond the printers and projectors it is known for with the announcement of a new GPS sports watch, which the Japanese company says is the "first entry in to electronic sporting goods market".

Details are a little on the light side, but Epson says the watch will weigh only 50g and give you 12 hours of battery life in a package that is only 13mm thick.

One of its special features is that the Epson watch will be water resistant to 50m, meaning it's more useful than some models out there.

However, despite the announcement, actual details look a little scarce. The picture (shown above) is captioned as being a "conceptual image", so we don't know exactly what the thing will look like. The concept looks a little basic compared to some modern rivals like the Nike+ SportWatch GPS or the Motorola MotoACTV.

Epson also says it is looking to "help people enjoy healthier, fuller lives by using its technologies and skills in sensing, low power, and device downsizing to provide wrist-wearable devices and web-based services."

We don't know exactly what Epson's web-based services will include, but some sort of data collation and monitoring would be expected - something that the likes of Garmin and Polar are very good at.

However, it's interesting that Epson, a division of Seiko, has identified a growing interest in electronic sports devices. Current models are all rather expensive, so a cheap, lightweight and reliable GPS watch may be well received by runners.

How long until we see an Epson lifestyle wristband that monitors your daily steps?