The Apple Watch has been credited with saving a man's life after it helped him catch potentially deadly blood clots early.

Ken Counihan says his Apple Watch played a life saving role when it picked up on an unusual change in his breathing.

Ken told ABC News: "I got an alert back in October that my breathing was elevated."

He continued: "My wife had me make a phone call to my son and he suggested I go to the outpatient care, get it looked at, which is what I did. And they just did an X-ray. And they gave me some meds for bronchitis at the time."

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After going home to rest, the Apple Watch sent Ken another alert—one which would save his life.

At around 10PM at night, it told Ken—who is 'very active'—that his blood oxygen was low. His wife and son took him to the hospital where doctors examined the data gathered by his Apple Watch and discovered a serious illness.

Ken said: "They took me back to the CT scan and found that I had blood clots all over my lungs."

The doctor told Ken that if he hadn't gone to the hospital, he could have died. "He said 60% of the people that have this condition at that stage—if I had gone to bed, I may not have woken up the next morning."

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After making a recovery, Ken said the Apple Watch saved his life. "I've got friends that have gone out and bought an Apple Watch as a result. I just had dinner with a friend the other night… and he's looking to get an Apple Watch now as well. It saved my life. It's amazing."

The Apple Watch and other smart watches come packed full of health tools that can help people keep an eye on their heart rate and general activity.

The company's Emergency SOS feature was also recently made available in the UK. It can automatically call the emergency services if you have an accident.

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