This whole business of selling non fungible token assets — effectively digital records of owning a unique object that exists only in digital form — seems bogus to me.
Either that, or it will become a standard way of guaranteeing the provenance of all expensive watches.
Most likely we will stop talking about it within months.
The hype to value equation is particularly questionable in the case of a historic Hublot watch owned by Jean-Claude Biver, but being sold in an NFT version.
Whoever buys the NFT of the watch will not actually acquire the physical timepiece. That will stay in the safe custody of Mr Biver.
Buying the actual watch along with its NFT version makes a little more sense (only a little), and this is the case for a new Ressence Spymaster watch that is being sold by Sotheby’s on April 23.
The NFT cryptographic token of the watch which provide an immutable record of its provenance on a blockchain ledger.
Ressence’s Spymaster series is a 21-piece limited edition series of titanium watches made in collaboration with New York-based museum and experience pioneers SPYSCAPE.
Watch number 008 of the limited run, and its NFT equivalent, is being auctioned in Hong Kong with an estimate of $21,000 to $38,000.
The sale is raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
All 21 of the Ressence Spymaster series are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain.
“[Ressence CEO] Benoit Mintiens and his team are passionate innovators. The video piece accompanying the watch illustrates the genius behind all ground-breaking horological marvels they engineered,” says Sam Hines, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Watches.
“The NFT digital video which accompanies the watch seems just the right way to emphasise its true value. Spearheading the constantly evolving market, Sotheby’s is proud to be entrusted as the first major auction house to offer an NFT with a timepiece, bringing the latest technology – which has been making headlines in the past few weeks – to the watch communities this April,” he adds.
