Source: Pixabay (free commercial license)
In the time of global pandemic and worldwide economic struggles, the market for luxury watches someone remains to survive. Last week, for example, we saw Rafael Nadal rocking a $1 Million Richard Mille watch while playing the French Open.
This week, the news comes from Breitling, as the luxury watch manufacturer has decided to embrace the blockchain technology. As the company confirmed a few days ago, the certificates for their watches will be issued on the Ethereum blockchain from now on.
The old-fashioned paper certificates are not that hard to forge by trained criminals, but with the Ethereum platform stepping in, no Breitling aficionado can be tricked into buying a fake product.
Breitling is partnering with Arianee, a company that will implement the Ethereum blockchain technology to issue a new sort of certificate of authenticity for luxury goods. From now on, Breitling watches will come with both a paper card certificates and digital Ethereum certificates. Unlike the paper ones, the new kind of certificate is practically impossible to forge.
Arianee will be using non-fungible tokens to ensure that Breitling’s digital passports cannot be changed. Due to the nature of the blockchain technology, it’s not possible that a third-party would connect to a centralized database and add/remove any data.
What this practically means is that if someone steals your Breitling watch from you, you will have the digital certificate to prove whom it belongs to.
From now on, every Breitling customer will receive a guarantee card with a code they can scan. This way, they can add the watch (or any other luxury product) to the Arianee wallet. When added, the watch will remain listed there, together with such details as its serial number, activation date, and so on.
Not only is this expected to reduce the chance of forgeries, but it can also help to prevent theft. With unbreakable Ethereum certificates, stolen Breitling watches will become practically impossible to sell. Of course, if you would like to sell it the legal way, nothing is stopping you. It is possible to add more information to the digital certificate, which is exactly what will happen if you sell your watch to someone.
Other sorts of information that could be added to the certificate include details about repairs and maintenance. With the help of this data, you can easily judge the quality of the watch and its current condition, even if you’re not the world’s biggest expert on watches.
The deal with Breitling is not the only gig Arianee has. The company specializes in creating “perpetual relationships between brands and owners.” By using the IoT (Internet of Things) technology, the company is waging a war after counterfeiters that have cost luxury goods manufacturers over $1.2 trillion this year.
Their solution seems to be what’s going to put an end to the counterfeiting business, or at least, curb it down. This is the reason why several companies involved in the production of luxury goods have already booked Arianne for the job. In addition to Breitling, Ariane has contracts with companies like Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, and so on.
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