Ulysse Nardin luxury watches authenticated and guaranteed via the Bitcoin blockchain

The mark of luxury watches Ulysse Nardin (Kering group) claims to be the first watchmaker to offer all of its customers a warranty certificate anchored in the public blockchain, Bitcoin.

To guarantee the authenticity of his luxury watches, but also to allow his customers the secure conservation of the guarantee, the watchmaker Ulysse Nardin announces the completion of a public blockchain project.

A "tamper-proof" certificate of authenticity

The brand deploys the blockchain certification for all of its collections. More specifically, when purchasing a product, it is accompanied by a paper document (or PDF) corresponding to the warranty certificate.

From now on, customers will be able to keep a digital signature of this document (in the form of a hash) on the blockchain Bitcoin. This signature is associated with various data identifying the product, the buyer and the life cycle of the watch (if it has been sold for example).

Thanks to the transmission and storage on the blockchain, the warranty certificate of Ulysse Nardin watches "Becomes inviolable," says the manufacturer. But it highlights other advantages of the blockchain for its customers, and for itself.

The registers of “hashes” are accessible to the public, anywhere in the world, at any time, which eliminates the risk of loss, forgetting or falsification of the physical warranty cards, traditionally supplied with the watch at the time of purchase, ”details the brand of luxury giant Kering.

Bitcoin network, "the best safe"

Another advantage of using blockchain: the use of the electronic certificate for after-sales service. Indeed, the company thus has a reliable history of transactions linked to the product, but also a certificate of authenticity for a resale and a purchase on the second-hand market.

Ulysse Nardin however, does not send the physical warranty card to oblivion. The latter also includes a "tag", used by customers to extend the warranty period and generate their blockchain warranty certificate.

The buyer will indeed enter, from the watchmaker’s website, the unique code mentioned on the physical warranty. This will generate an electronic certificate in his name in the form of a PDF file containing all of the purchase data (model, serial and warranty number, etc.).

Next step: transfer of ownership of the certificate

And it is the signature, or the digital fingerprint, of this file which is then registered on the blockchain. On this point, the manufacturer has therefore chosen the public blockchain and more particularly the Bitcoin network.

According to Ulysse Nardin, the Bitcoin blockchain constitutes "the best safe" because of the advanced cryptographic methods implemented, its strong decentralization and the "high level of reliability of its data. "

We want to provide reliable proof to our end customers and thereby create confidence in the authenticity of all our products. The second stage of this deployment will concern the transfer of ownership of the certificate. In addition, why not eventually have a record of all the maintenance operations of our watches in the blockchain? ”, Already announces the CEO of the brand, Patrick Pruniaux.

Other watchmakers are interested in blockchain, however. Last May, the luxury brand Franck Muller was thus marketing a Bitcoin watch called Encrypto and developed in partnership with the cryptographic investment company Regal Assets.