I'm not saying this is a definite thing but he's also a journalist of a notable and large publication who is doing international news stories abroad in the Middle East. Would he not be a person interested in tech and savvy ways of obtaining data / recordings / photos / video? I'm not saying that this is something we should believe inherently but something about how sensitive things can be with sources and obtaining the types of datas he'd be interested in while working on the types of stories that got him into the position of fearing for his life turns on a light, for me, that would indicate he was the type of person interested in making his devices capable of doing as much as possible for him. I, like others, am not completely knowledgeable about the Apple Watch nor it's ultimate capabilities so I'll defer to the experts but I'd assume there has to be some way to broadcast it to a device within a few 100 yards?

I could also see it being obfuscation as OP mentioned since it seems those reporting officially on the story from Turkey have been quick to cite evidence without showing any proof. It's very interesting all around and I've got my eyes peeled on this story.