Where auctions are already soaring for works of art and intangibles, never before has a luxury watch been the subject of an NFT (Non Fungible Token) sale. This watch will be the first luxury watch to have a digital life with certified ownership and authenticity. This digital twin will be the “authentic” double of the physical watch in the digital space.
Jean-Claude Biver and Switzerland’s WISeKey International Holding, a Swiss cybersecurity company, are leading the way in announcing the first historic NFT auction of a luxury watch. The auction took place on March 31, 2021 on the leading Open.Sea NFT MarketPlace, which is already active in the sale of artworks.
To make history, Jean-Claude Biver has symbolically chosen the famous Hublot Bigger Bang All Black Tourbillon Chronograph “Special piece”, a historic timepiece because of the major role it played in paving the way for today’s new trends, a watch that has made watchmaking history, a symbol of success, a source of inspiration that has made it Jean-Claude Biver’s favorite watch for over a quarter of a century.
45 years of an extraordinary career. From the early years at Audemars Piguet, the amazing Blancpain adventure, the
collaboration with Nicolas Hayek, Omega, then the dazzling development of Hublot, the presidency of the watchmaking division of the French group LVMH, the rejuvenation of TAG Heuer, the re-launch of Zenith, the creation of the first Swiss luxury connected watch with Google and Intel, or his commitment against racism during the EURO 2008 and the Charity Water campaign with Depeche Mode to name but a few, not forgetting his swiss mountain cheese… Jean-Claude Biver is a living legend in the watch industry, characterized by his commitment to the Swiss watch industry, his spirit of daring and entrepreneurship, with passion.
Jean-Claude Biver and Carlos Moreira, CEO of WISeKey, launched 12 years ago at BaselWorld the first digital
certification of a luxury watch. They are now repeating this technology breakthrough with the use of Digital identification combined with NFT to use the existing digital certificate of authenticity on the Hublot watch and checking and creation of a Digital Twin with its corresponded Non-Fungible Token.
WISeKey, was the first company in the world to use dual factor authentication combined with blockchain technology to secure luxury watches, currently protects over 2.5 million luxury watches. Since 2010, WISeKey has collaborated with manufactures of luxury watches deploying this unique technology to integrate semiconductors tags powered with its VaultIC154 NFC secure element and provide brands with the ability of issuing, modifying, and checking of a digital certificate of authenticity.
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These tags, when placed on any product and tapped by an NFC phone, securely authenticate, and track the product much like an embedded ePassport and confirm the identity of the product on the blockchain ledger. This technology has received a patent in the USA.
According to watchpro, WISeKey successfully launched this week its WISe.Art, a digital certificate of authenticity, a NFT for art pieces that will live forever on the blockchain, unchanged and unchallengeable, as proof of the buyer’s ownership.
WISeKey says the announcement generated strong interest from the luxury and art community and WISe.ART is now operation using OpenSea NFT MarketPlace.
