  We apply the point form of relativistic quantum mechanics to develop a
Poincare invariant coupled-channel formalism for two-particle systems
interacting via one-particle exchange. This approach takes the exchange
particle explicitly into account and leads to a generalized eigenvalue equation
for the Bakamjian-Thomas type mass operator of the system. The coupling of the
exchange particle is derived from quantum field theory. As an illustrative
example we consider vector mesons within the chiral constituent quark model in
which the hyperfine interaction between the confined quark-antiquark pair is
generated by Goldstone-boson exchange. We study the effect of retardation in
the Goldstone-boson exchange by comparing with the commonly used instantaneous
approximation. As a nice physical feature we find that the problem of a too
large $\rho$-$\omega$ splitting can nearly be avoided by taking the dynamics of
the exchange meson explicitly into account.
