Forget your Hublot, your Rolex or your Omega – it’s now possible to buy and wear a seven or even an EIGHT figure timepiece.
Alternative Asset News May 24, 2019
By Alison Macdonald
Commercial Editor at Bullion.Directory
Thanks to a new partnership between legendary Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller and international alternative investments and bullion brokers Regal Assets, smart investors can combine hand-crafted Swiss Haute Horlogerie with cutting edge cryptocurrency tech to literally wear their wealth.
Franck Muller’s newly launched Encrypto range of timepieces have already seen a number of High Net Worth investors snap up the ultra limited edition watches – watches which don’t simply tell the time, but form part of a key to a secure and fully insured cryptocurrency wallet.
The watches feature a dial that has been tastefully designed using the QR code of Satoshi’s Genesis Block address along with a custom designed B within an emblem of circuitry, while the laser etched public wallet address elegantly sits as a QR code in its polished frame. Customers can customize both the dial and the band of the watch.
Insiders say one of the first watches in the limited run series has already been connected to a cold-storage Bitcoin account worth in excess of $62,000,000 – quite a sum to be wearing on your wrist.
The thing is with the likes of Kanye West, Jay Z and Christiano Ronaldo being huge fans of Franck Muller this $62,000,000 watch might not even end up being the biggest account.
But isn’t this a massive risk, wearing a watch of such value?
The watch itself may be hand-crafted from pink gold and encrusted with diamonds but at “only” $55,000 the true value of the 62 Million Dollar watch lies in the unique public key beautifully enameled on the watch’s face.
This public key in combination with a private key, which can be fully insured by Lloyds of London and vaulted in one of the world’s top 5 private secure facilities gives access to the owners cold storage bitcoin wallet.
The “deep cold storage” wallet uses “offline generated, non-deterministic TRNGs (True Random Numbers Generated) that cannot be hacked,” according to Regal Assets.
The owner can check their bitcoin balance and add funds to their account by scanning the watch face key with their phone – but the watch isn’t enough to withdraw any investments – requiring the highly secure private key to remove funds.
“The Encrypto isn’t designed as a means to spend Bitcoin, it’s the key to an investor’s long-term cold wallet“, Tyler Gallagher, CEO of Regal Assets said yesterday, “our clients may very well have made good gains in these early volatile stages, but they are in this market for the long-term potential and our watches provide a beautiful physical representation of this plan.”
Mr Gallagher added, “I am honored to be part of the development of this process with Franck Muller. I believe this watch is revolutionary and is the perfect marriage between crypto and wearables, two booming industries. We at Regal Assets have always been big believers in cryptocurrencies and are always glad to partner up with established brands to come up with new and exciting crypto products”
Because of Franck Muller’s partnership with the International Bullion Dealer of the Year, any Bitcoin within one of Regal’s secure wallets can be converted to precious metals and delivered to any Brinks vault worldwide at any time.
This allows for the possibility of truly portable and tax-efficient offshore wealth, and for those clients based in the US the wallet can even form part of Regal’s Alternative Assets IRA retirement plan.
What about those of us with somewhat less bulging wallets?
Franck Muller’s full range of Encrypto watches start at $9,800 for an elegantly understated, hand-built polished steel or titanium case. These are delivered with a sealed private key allowing the owner to choose where they want to store their Bitcoins.
In total a maximum of 500 each of men’s and women’s versions will be sold, with the purchase price being anywhere between $10,000-$60,000 apiece, although some of the individual watches will see runs as short as 50 pieces.
The news of the launch comes at the same time as another Swiss watch manufacturer A. Favre & Fils announced their plans to offer another luxury crypto-wallet watch starting at $102,000.
It’s safe to say the wealthy are embracing functional crypto watches. For this author sadly, it’s a lowly Timex together with a crumpled up paper wallet – that is until the next Moonshot!
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Given Bitcoins recent drop, it’s hardly a $62 million watch now is it. I suppose even if bitcoin goes to zero like it will the watch has some gold in it LOL.