Panerai to Include NFT 'Digital Passport' With All Luxury Watches

Sep 13, 2023

Italian luxury watch brand Panerai announced Wednesday that it will include an NFT-based “digital passport” with all watches purchased from October 3, expanding an initiative that the firm began in 2022.

Each Panerai digital passport will contain comprehensive information about the timepiece in question, constituting its digital identity. Granted to the client at the time of purchase, it acts as proof of the watch’s authenticity.

The Richemont-owned brand partnered with Web3 solutions provider Arianee to introduce the blockchain-powered digital passport. Panerai will present the initiative at the Watches and Wonders fair in Shanghai next week.

Because the passport is transferable to the next holder and designed to document both technical details and the product’s journey throughout its lifespan, the record will also help address the issue of counterfeiting and give confidence to secondary market buyers that the watch is legitimate.

The secondary market for wristwatches is sizable, with Bloomberg reporting that just shy of $27 billion (25 million euros) worth of pre-owned timepieces were sold in 2022, per data from industry analysis firm LuxeConsult. The secondary market is projected to top primary watch sales by 2033.

Panerai’s NFT passport also lets holders extend their watch’s international limited warranty up to eight years—an additional incentive to register. The 163-year-old brand says that the functionality will pave the way for “further value-added services and advantages.”

Panerai first implemented the Arianee technology in March 2022 with an ultra-limited, 50-piece run of its Radiomir Eilean Experience Edition watch, sold with a one-of-a-kind NFT artwork and featuring exclusive, evolving content. While it also involved a digital passport, the focus was the artistic and experiential aspect.

Even then, Panerai stated plans to eventually expand the digital passport functionality to all of its watches. Now with the broader rollout, the emphasis—in line with the luxury industry’s current attitude to Web3—is on the utility.