Get a virtual identity for your watch
and keep it secured in your digital wallet
WATCHFID-ID
The watch digital certificate
Certificate ID & date
Pictures, documents & reports (downloadable)
Watch main features
TRANSFER to a new owner or SHARE with potential buyers
Full history of the watch since the emission of the certificate
”Blockchain will undoubtedly be a major game-changer for the way the collectors’ watch market works.
We offer you the possibility of benefiting from this new technology as from today.
Challenges
Looking beyond trends and passions, there are three fundamental aspects to the queries all watch collectors or watch lovers have concerning the information traditionally provided to them:
- transparency,
- traceability,
- trust.
Where does the watch come from? What is its history? What transformations or interventions has it undergone? Has it already featured in many transactions? Were the previous owners worthy of confidence? All these fundamental questions can influence not only the watch’s financial value, but also the potential buyer’s psychology.
Use of new technologies
Until now, there have been no real practical means to find reliable answers to these queries, for two main reasons:
- the natural loss of information over time,
- at times, the temptation to avoid re-tracing the watch’s history, with its hitches, difficulties and uncertainties.
This situation was the norm before the emergence of Blockchain technology. But it is now possible to create and manage a “virtual identity” for your watch: totally secure, unalterable and anonymous, in a way that faithfully reflects the watch’s characteristics and history.
We made it possible with WATCHFID-ID, the digital certificate for your watches.
Get a WATCHFID-ID digital certificate
for your watch.
Key features
Virtual identity
The WATCHFID-ID digital certificate represents a unique virtual identity of your watch, a dematerialisation of its real identity, accessible only to you.
Traceability
In addition to the information gathered at t0 (time 0 corresponds to the issuance of the digital certificate), all successive events like maintenance, modifications, change of ownership, loss or theft, are recorded in the History Section.
Anonymity
The WATCHFID-ID digital certificate does not contain the identity of the successive owners, in order to safeguard their anonymity and fully protect their personal data.
Security
The recorded data cannot be falsified and thereby provides total security to the successive owners of the watch who do not have to worry about the reliability of the information provided to them.
Easy use
Viewing information, recording data, transferring ownership and using the various services are simple operations that can be performed in all circumstances using a simple smartphone.
Trust
By privileging transparency of information, the growing use of digital certificates contributes to instilling a climate of confidence, and will create a virtuous effect in the collectors’ watch market.
Process
Blockchain technology
Innovation serving confidence.
Blockchain technology can be used to record information (data, photos, documents) characterising an asset – a collectors’ watch in our particular case – as from point “zero” in time (issue of the certificate) then throughout the life of the asset, and in a fully secure and non-falsifiable manner.
All of this information constitutes the unique digital certificate, which is strictly confidential and held by the watch owner. Each data item recorded in the digital certificate is time-stamped and digitally signed, thereby ensuring its authenticity.
Store all your WATCHFID-ID digital certificates in a single secured wallet.
It thereby represents:
- a proof of the watch’s ownership by the owner,
- a fully secure record containing all of the watch’s characteristics and its certified history.
In the event the watch is re-sold, the corresponding digital certificate is transmitted to the new owner via a simple and secure procedure. This transfer of ownership then enriches the watch’s history.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I request the issue of a digital certificate for my watch?
- You are a professional: contact us to be approved by WATCHFID.
- You are an individual: you need to contact WATCHFID to have your watch appraised.
Where can my digital certificates be viewed?
- You will be invited to create an account the first time you buy a watch provided with a WATCHFID-ID digital certificate.
- This account will give you the access to your digital wallet, where you will be able to visualise all your digital certificates.
How do I receive my digital certificate?
- You will receive a notification by e-mail for the registration of your new certificate in your digital wallet.
- If you have not already created a digital wallet, you will receive an e-mail inviting you to create one via an extremely simple, anonymous and secure procedure.
What happens to my digital certificate if I sell my watch?
- If you sell your watch, you must transmit the digital certificate to the new owner, who will see it appear in his virtual wallet (existing or to be created if the new owner does not have one).
- In the event the new owner does not want to obtain a digital certificate (which would be entirely disadvantageous for him…), the system offers you an easy way to indicate it, in which case the digital certificate then returns to WATCHFID which will keep it until the new owner asks for it.
How reliable is the initial information recorded in the certificate?
- The initial information recorded in the digital certificate and then in Blockchain is of fundamental importance, as it represents the starting point for the chain of traceability.
- This explains why this information can only be generated and controlled by WATCHFID and a network of approved experts and professionals, after appraisal of the watch.
WATCHFID Condition Report and WATCHFID-ID: are they the same thing?
Absolutely not. They are two complementary concepts, but different in nature.
- The WATCHFID Condition Report is an extremely rigorous and detailed appraisal report presented in a “traditional” form. It is transmitted to the watch owner in paper and electronic form.
- The WATCHFID-ID is not an expert report, it is a Blockchain-based digital certificate, containing information, pictures and documents and representing a virtual identity of a watch. This digital document, hold and accessible by the watch’s owner only, can be enriched with new events or information throughout the watch’s life and transmitted to new owners. It represents a major step for collectors faced with many possible situations: sale, service, part change, theft, fire,…
- The WATCHFID Condition Report may be recorded in the WATCHFID-ID (along with other documents relating to the watch).
How do I know if there is already a digital certificate for the watch that I have just bought?
- All the logic suggests that the previous owner should have notified you of the existence of the certificate and then transferred it to you: it is in his interest to do so, as the digital certificate is a form of added value for the watch, on condition that the watch does not present a problem that ought ordinarily to have been recorded in the certificate (match between the virtual identity – the digital certificate – and the real identity – the watch).
- Nevertheless, you can also ask WATCHFID to check the existence of a digital certificate.
Are the WATCHFID-ID digital certificates unique?
- Yes. WATCHFID-IDs are unique by definition: there can only be one digital certificate per watch.
How does the digital certificate show me important information on the watch I want to buy?
- The digital certificate assembles the watch’s features and history in a non-falsifiable way. It contains, data, documents and photos.
- Based on this information, the conclusion is simple: there must be a perfect match between the watch being offered to you (the real identity) and that observable from the photos, descriptions and documents recorded in the certificate (the virtual identity).
- If the two identities differ, this is because an unknown event has not been recorded in Blockchain and this should put you on alert.
How are new items of information, documents or photos recorded in my digital certificate?
- By a simple procedure: the owner has to pre-record the information and it is then checked by us before being definitively recorded in the certificate.
Can I view my digital certificates on my mobile?
- Absolutely. The system is multi device and extremely user-friendly: all the features are available on your computer, on your tablet or on your mobile phone.
What happens if my watch gets stolen or I lose it?
- Even if your watch is lost, stolen or destroyed, its virtual identity is still accessible anytime, from anywhere and from any device, and you can use it to immediately report the event to the persons concerned (insurance, police, networks).
- If the watch is insured, the claim procedure will be simplified by the complete digitalisation of the process.
WATCHFID-ID
Keep your watch information safe, and accessible from any device.
