Usually when President Obama steps out on St Patrick's day, it's his brilliant green tie which steals the show.

But today another accessory won the day - the enormous new 'smart watch' festooning the Commander-in-Chief's wrist.

Obama was seen today wearing the hefty item - a Fitbit Surge device - as he walked around D.C. and met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and later lunched with congressmen on Capitol Hill.

Scroll down for video

New accessory: Obama sported the watch at a meeting today with Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland

Check it: Obama has recently said that he was considering getting a Fitbit, or its rival the Apple watch

Device: The Fitbit Surge, pictured above in publicity photos, monitors heart rate, sleep and even the location of those that wear it

The Fitbit surge is an advanced piece of wearable technology that constantly monitors the body of the person wearing it.

It uses LED sensors to measure heart rate, and can function as a calorie counter and GPS device. It also tells the time.

The Surge model is the largest and most sophisticated Fitbit model, and sells for around $250.

Obama has previous expressed his interest in emergent 'wearable' technology. In a February interview with Re/code, he seemed torn between getting a Fitbit and an Apple watch.

Testing it out: Obama

Suiting up: Obama was pictured earlier today with the watch while getting dressed

He said: 'I don’t have a Fitbit yet, but I work out hard. Word is these Apple Watches might be a good companion for my workouts. So I’m gonna see, I’m gonna test it out.'

The testing had evidently begun by Tuesday, when Obama prominently wore the device for his public engagements.

Fitbit enthusiasts are encouraged to even wear their device to sleep, where it collects data while the subject is unconscious, and can wake them up with silent, vibrating alarms.

One feature the President may be particularly keen on is that the device is programmable to have a golf mode.

Fitbits are set up to communicate with mobile devices regularly to store the data they collect - however the President is only allowed a Blackberry because of security concerns, which is incompatible with his new toy.

Both the White House and Fitbit have yet to respond to requests for comment.