Having first piloted the protection of its watches using blockchain technology last year, Vacheron Constantin is rolling out the anti-counterfeiting measure to every watch it produces.

Breitling announced a similar strategy last month.

The Vacheron Constantin pilot, started in May 2019 and saw watches in the Les Collectioneurs collection digitally tagged and traced.

It appears that experiment was a success, leading to the wider implementation by the Richemont-owned brand, although it will be the end of next year before the plan kicks in.

“It is a natural step for our maison to now extend the digital certification on all its collections”, says Louis Ferla, Vacheron Constantin CEO.

“Digital identities will transform the way one owns valuable assets, enabling their owners to track the product lifecycle, share or prove its ownership and benefit from tailored services attached to it. On top of this unforgeable proof of ownership, the client will benefit from all information on his timepiece at the reach of his fingertip, including product technical information, user guide, certifications and product history, and enter a new galaxy of services, such as seamless resell on Watchfinder and line repair request,” he adds.

Richemont has so far not said it will extend the use of Blackchain across all other brands.

Blockchain technology is a distributed database system based on encryption-secured information that does away with the need for paper-based authentication, which can be forged.

It thus makes it possible to create a digital certificate of authenticity that is impervious to any attempt at counterfeiting and which follows the watch throughout its lifespan, even if it changes owner several times.

In another initiative to engage with owners of its watches, Vacheron Constantin is launching The Hour Club, a digital platform exclusive to the brand’s customers, will serve as a hub for the traceability and authentication of its watches.

Owners of Vacheron Constantin watches will also have access to experiences, events and exclusive content through the Club.