It was only a matter of Time: NFTs Arrive in the Watch World

I'm so confused.

Is it digital or mechanical? Priceless or worthless?

Another New York Times piece about either the art market or the watch market or maybe neither....

Highlights:


A still image of the Jacob & Company nonfungible token, or NFT, known as SF24 Tourbillon Piece Unique. The NFT itself is a 3-D animation.
Credit...via Jacob & Company

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The latest crypto-token craze is spilling over into watches.

Following a torrent of record prices for digital assets from artwork to sneakers, the first watch NFT — or “nonfungible token,” verified by blockchain technology — was offered early this month. It didn’t sell, and the auction has been extended.

But other NFT prices, realized on online platforms and by traditional auction houses, seem to signal that NFTs are attracting investors as well as creating new ways to own or just enjoy watches as dematerialized assets. And more watch NTF auctions are scheduled.

The first watch NFT to go on sale was the Bigger Bang All Black Tourbillon Chronograph Special Piece, offered by Jean-Claude Biver, the industry veteran who emerged from retirement to seize an opportunity to make history.

“What we are doing today is a world first that will have wings,” Mr. Biver said in a Zoom presentation on March 30, at the beginning of the original six-day auction. “We are at the start of something great.”

Some more:

“A lot of my collector clients are intrigued by NFTs, because they are new and different,” Avery Andon, an art dealer and founder of the NFT platform ArtGrails, said in a video interview from Miami. “But NFTs will take some getting used to.”

Will watch collectors be inclined to buy digital watches pegged to a blockchain token, without ever possessing an actual watch?

“NFTs derive their value from their scarcity,” Mr. Andon said. “This Jacob & Company NFT is the only one in the world, and serious watch and NFT collectors see inherent value in that.”

And, Mr. Arabov said, “Most watch collectors keep their watches in the safe 99 percent of the time, anyway.”

Beside assurances of provenance and scarcity, the Jacob & Company NFT was sold with a bit of watch purchasing tradition: a paper certificate and a storage box fitted with a hard drive to store the NFT.

I suspect this, and other NFTs may all be “fungible” in the future.

Art forgery has had a multi-century head start.

Yeah, I somehow miss the point. The term "non fungible token" sounds like something a neighbor's dog will leave on your front lawn.

I guess if you have most of your wealth in bitcoin, this would be considered diversification.

It also shows just because something is limited or scarce that doesnt make it automatically desirable. Even a 1 of 1 edition can be too large if no one wants it....

Let’s call it what it is. It’s f..ing stupid. As Sports Illustrated used to say, “Another sign that the apocalypse is upon us” .