300-Year-Old Swiss Watchmaker Set to Roll Out $100K Watch with Built-In Crypto Wallet

The watch, which will guarantee the ultimate in-data security and privacy protection, is expected to become available in mid-2019 with prices set to start at $100,000.

Swiss oldest and most luxurious watch manufacturer A. Favre & Fils has decided to become a member of the crypto community. The watchmaker, whose history dates back from 1718, has announced creation of handcrafted mechanical timepiece with a built-in crypto-currency cold wallet and state of the art proprietary security solution. The item will be the first ever Swiss watch of this kind.

📢 A. Favre & Fils announces the first Swiss handcrafted mechanical timepiece with a built in crypto-currency cold wallet and state of the art proprietary security solution. 🗝📂 Curious? 👀 Watch this now!👇🏼 https://t.co/UAO0YBWM7n #what_is_the_missing_link pic.twitter.com/DzMqWKrwRy

— A. Favre & Fils (@afavrefils) January 10, 2019

According to A. Favre & Fils CEO Laurent Favre, the tenth generation representative of the watchmaking clan who revived the family tradition in 2008, the product is intended to keep the mechanical watch relevant in the modern age. As he stated, the new watch is “a bit like figuring out the future of steam engines in the age of electric trains”.

He said:

“I am very excited about this new piece and the vision it creates for the Swiss watchmaking industry. I am particularly proud of the great board of advisors we can count on for this very innovative project we are working on. Our team is composed by luxury watchmaking experts and a world-class board of advisors including Stephen Urquhart, Ex-President and CEO of Omega for 17 years and Oliver Bussmann, former Group CIO of UBS and SAP and one of the most influential blockchain expert”.

Laurent Favre further added:

“We have developed this first timepiece with the idea of offering something useful for the crypto-community, not simply something to spend their money on.”

The new product under the working title ‘Crypto Mechanical Watch’ is expected to be available in late spring or early summer. As was reported by CoinDesk, one watch piece will cost in the range of CHF100,000 – CHF150,000 (or $102,000 – $153,000), or the equivalent in cryptocurrencies. The price will depend on the material – gold, metal, etc.

The base of the device is a very fine watchmaking timepiece, hand-finished and equipped with an in-house manually wound mechanical movement.

According to the company, the watch will guarantee the ultimate in-data security and privacy protection. In case the watch is lost, stolen or destroyed, designers will incorporate various safety features. However, the details about these features have not been revealed yet.

A. Favre & Fils said:

“You have to keep adding relevant features that advance the design. It’s a bit like figuring out the future of steam engines in the age of electric trains.”

The only thing the company agreed to tell more about is the built-in crypto wallet. A ‘cold’ wallet device that keeps cryptocurrencies safe when they are not being used is a kind of vault on your wrist. When used or traded, cryptos become ‘hot’ and are moved out of the vault.

Currently, the watch manufacturer is exploring ways of incorporating blockchain, into the company and its production. This incorporation might include digital ledgers to record transactions or tokenized company shares.