BOCA RATON, Fla. (WFLA) – There’s an item people wear each day that is filled with filth. It’s popular, it’s trendy and some consider it to be the most vital accessory they own.

In other words, many folks can’t without it.

The smartwatch has caught on like wildfire in recent years, as technology continues to dominate everyday life.

So, the question is – how smart are you when it comes to your smartwatch?

Do you clean it? Do you wipe it down after workouts? Or, hot weather? Or, after you’ve been sick?

You’d be shocked to see just how dirty your smartwatch is.

A study was recently conducted by Do you ever wash your wristwatch? Is it one of those things you don’t want to think about how dirty it is?

Our NBC partners at WPTV teamed up with experts from Florida Atlantic University to test 20 different watches made from different materials. Testing was conducted to see just what germs were present on the watches and how many. wanted to know what germs, and how many of them, were on a watch.

The Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University located bacteria in each watch. According to Dr. Dieuto Esiobu, there are all kinds of bacteria already present on human skin.

But, there are also big-time bacteria that definitely don’t belong.

“There are some very good ones and there are some very nasty ones,” said Dr. Esiobu.

The results of the study showed quite a bit of bacteria. It was certainly an eye-opener.

According to Dr. Esiobu, four of the watches had E. coli on them and six others had traces of E. coli. Nine of the watches had staph.

Seven of the watches had high total counts of bacteria, counting all the good and the bad germs that could be on the watch.

“It would mean they either don’t clean the wrist band at all, or that they just finished exercising or sweating, or they just dipped their hand in something dirty and left it,” said Dr. Esiobu.

And, the band mattered – big time.

“We found that plastics, rubber, how rough the wrist is, the more organisms you would find,” said Esiobu.

Only one watch came back with zero results and that was a gold watch. Esiobu said certain metals, like gold, have anti-microbial attributes.

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