NFTs (non-fungible tokens) seem to be everywhere right now. Following record-smashing sales of digital artwork and virtual fashion, the first NFT watch was minted by Swiss cybersecurity company WiseKey in 2021. The token was presented on the OpenSea NFT marketplace at an auction to raise money for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was offered by Jean-Claude Biver, a watch industry veteran who had emerged from retirement to collaborate with WiseKey on the project. When Biver was Hublot’s CEO in 2009, he worked with the firm to launch SmartCard, the first digital certification of a luxury watch; the partnership’s follow-up is this new NFT—a digital twin of the Hublot Bigger Bang All Black Tourbillon Chronograph “Special Piece”, one of the most significant pieces within Biver’s private collection.
But why would anyone pay for a timepiece you can’t strap onto your wrist? And what exactly is an NFT watch anyway?
