If a mechanical timepiece hooked up with blockchain technology, would it make you more likely to buy it? Luxury watch brands are increasingly betting that it would.
Blockchain (briefly) is a secure record of information maintained by a network of computers – it’s most famous application is for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. In the words of London think tank Chatham House, the idea is “to decentralise the storage of data so that such data cannot be owned, controlled or manipulated by a central actor”.
So why have luxury brands started adopting it? “It helps us combat counterfeiting,” says Guillaume Boilot, chief operating officer at Vacheron Constantin, which trialled blockchain technology on documentation for a capsule of its restored Les Collectionneurs pieces and expects to roll it out across its new-watch line-up next year. “And it guarantees owners the authenticity of their watches throughout their lifespan.”
Ulysse Nardin has been even more bullish. Last year, it became the first Swiss watch company to offer what it calls a free and tamper-proof extended warranty certificate, using the Bitcoin blockchain to record information on every watch it sells. Customers get a “digital certificate” from the brand with a “digital fingerprint” that is logged with Bitcoin. Basically, it’s a super secure PDF.
“If someone tries to tamper with the document, its fingerprint will change and you will get a mismatch with the information on the blockchain,” says Stéphane Carlier, Ulysse Nardin’s chief digital officer. “As nobody can modify the information on the Bitcoin blockchain, only the original document will match its trace on the blockchain.”
But what happens when you want to sell? Well, these records can be transferred and, in doing so, provide comfort. Take the blockchain-based “digital passports” Breitling now offers on all its watches. These store details of repairs and servicing, in theory satisfying the buyer’s concerns about getting ripped off.
Whether we can trust it depends on your faith in the evangelists who swear the tech is unhackable. It remains to be seen quite how widely the technology will catch on in the industry. But if it does, keeping your watch’s “box and papers” under your mattress may become a thing of the past.
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