A few months after the term "
blockchain
" has definitively passed into everyday language in watchmaking, we have to reckon with a new acronym, which we thought was reserved for the world of high-tech and cryptocurrencies: NFT (Non Fungible Token or non-fungible tokens in French), these certified and traceable digital objects. If simplified, they could be viewed as a digital property deed.
Where many
gamers
have, in the past, bought online specific accessories or cards but who remain confined to their game, NFTs allow you to afford on the Internet a piece or all of an object that the we could not afford or that we can have permanently on us.
In contemporary art, for example, NFT's new El Dorado, “Bored Ape” * works are currently reaching $ 450,000 on these platforms.
The painting or the sculpture are mobile and can be admired at will with your fingertips.
From there to what the NFTs invite themselves in the ultra-quiet sector of watchmaking enthusiasts, there is only one step.
Time ahead
More than ever subject to speculation in view of the sums reached at auction, the watch sector could open up a little more to NFTs in the coming months. While many brands are studying the system closely, few have yet embarked on the adventure for fear of engaging their brand image in a more than volatile market. With the exception of one of the big names in Swiss watchmaking, Jean-Claude Biver, who auctioned a Hublot Bigger Bang All Black Tourbillon Chronograph watch last March via this system. More precisely, it is an authentic and digital duplicate of the famous watch that he offered to the highest bidder on the Net.
This idea of a double game is precisely what Sotheby's will be offering soon during its sale of original drawings by talented designer Gérald Genta.
“Gérald has always been ahead of his time.
Honoring its heritage by pushing back the limits of watchmaking sounded obvious, which is why we have extended its designs thanks to what is currently the most innovative in art, the NFT ”, summarizes Evelyne Genta, his wife. and partner.
Perilous tempo
The question was even asked in October during the Dubai watch fair, the Dubai Watch Week, during a series of conferences on the metaverse, bitcoins and NFT. So many parallel worlds, with growth certainly inflated with helium, but which are based only on the beliefs of their buyers, who are often in a hurry to sell more than to buy. The slightest earthquake can also tip the system, like the recent drop observed in cryptocurrency.
A colossus with feet of clay which in the process ignores intellectual property, as evidenced by these fake Rolexes offered on the market.
Hermès recently attacked digital artist Mason Rothschild for his fake digital Birkin bags.
So many problems currently being studied to perpetuate this sector which, according to experts, could reach several hundreds of billions of dollars in the years to come.
Proof, perhaps, that reality still does not catch up with fiction, unless it is the other way around.
* Developed by Yuga Labs and launched in April 2021, the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection consists of 10,000 portraits of jaded monkeys, successfully sold.
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