Origyn and WatchBox Form Timely Partnership

Origyn, the Swiss foundation dedicated to identifying, authenticating and protecting the ownership of objects of value, has announced a partnership with WatchBox, a global leader in collectible luxury timepieces.

Origyn and WatchBox will collaborate to produce utility non fungible tokens (NFTs) for the ownership of luxury watches to become digitally tradable, unlocking the secondary market for re-selling.

Buyers with NFTs can trust in the watch’s authenticity and trade its digital ownership, making secondary market trading faster and safer for all parties. The NFTs also aim to solve the issue of counterfeit watches by acting as blockchain-based certificates of authenticity purchases on WatchBox’s platform.

Daniel Haudenschild, CEO of Origyn, said, ‘once an object has a guaranteed certificate, the NFT becomes highly tradable. Pushed by consumer trends such as reuse and upcycling, the secondary market in luxury watches has exploded and is expected to reach $29 to $32 billion by 2025. Authentication NFTs will make secondary market trading faster and safer for buyers and sellers alike. WatchBox is a leader in collectible watches that are guaranteed to be authentic and collector quality, and we are pleased to work with them to provide a digital guarantee of their services.’ 

To ensure security of the process, the watch is authenticated by WatchBox experts. It is then placed into one of Origyn’s proprietary minting boxes. Using high-resolution cameras and artificial intelligence, the box photographs the watch from positions around 360 degrees and mints a digital certificate containing its unique digital fingerprint.

When you get down to micron level, no two watches are exactly alike so Origyn’s computer vision and artificial intelligence can pick up details the human eye can’t see. Once this unique digital fingerprint has been created, an NFT containing all of the information is minted.

Origyn’s NFTs will provide consumers with guaranteed digital certificates of authenticity for luxury watches purchased on WatchBox’s platform and access to services such as insurance, digital provenance, concierge service and access to exclusive communities. The NFTs are planned to be rolled out this summer.

‘Discerning collectors have long trusted WatchBox to purchase authentic, collectible watches, and our partnership with Origyn will extend this proof of authenticity to the blockchain,’ said Justin Reis, CEO of WatchBox. ‘We are excited to provide our clients and community with access to a Web3 authenticity certificate, exclusive blockchain-native content and services and the ability to digitally trade watches through our partnership with Origyn.’

Origyn is the largest project on the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) developed by The DFinity Foundation, one of the fastest- growing blockchains globally. The certified pre-owned market in luxury watches has already overtaken the primary market and, according to McKinsey ¹, is predicted to reach over $30 billion by 2025.

Since its founding in 2017, WatchBox has generated more than $1 billion in revenue and raised $260 million from investors, including Michael Jordan, Milwaukee Bucks MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, Phoenix Suns stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker, Bill Ackman and more.

Origyn recently raised $20 million and is backed by Table Management, Polychain Capital, Bali Venture Partners, Vectr Ventures, Carter Reum, Divyank Turakhia, Paris Hilton and more.

1 www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/welcome-to-luxury-fashion-resale-discerning-customers-beckon-to-brands