Number One: Jacob & Co. Is Launching The First Ever NFT Watch

Earlier this month, the Watchonista team was talking about writing an April Fool’s Day Post. Among the many ideas batted around, one of the stories proposed was announcing a non-fungible token (NFT) watch. These digital assets have been the talk of the town in the art world, with musician Grimes netting $390,000 for a 50-second video and a collage by artist Beeple selling for 69 million at Christie’s.

But our prank idea was quickly put aside when Jacob & Co. announced that it was teaming up with the newly launched NFT platform ArtGrails to release the world’s first timepiece NFT, The Jacob & Co. NFT (Piece Unique 1 of 1). This trailblazing timepiece will be up for grabs via a five-day auction that started on April 4th.
 

We spoke to Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co., and celebrity art dealer and manager Avery Andon, founder of ArtGrails, to learn more about this timepiece and why you might want to get in on the ground floor of non-fungible collecting.

Most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Dogecoin, but its blockchain stores extra information that allows buyers to verify ownership of a work of digital art. And in the case of artwork or a wristwatch, Ethereum also provides the provenance, which adds to its value.

The digital art market has exploded over the past few months, and for Arabov and Andon, it seemed like a natural progression for Jacob & Co. to enter the NFT space. “Our goal is to prove that there is a market for High End Luxury Digital Assets (HELDAs),” said Arabov. “We want to be the first ones to break into this industry.”
 

Being the first is a big deal. Whoever buys the Jacob & Co. NFT will get a super scarce (and therefore desirable) commodity, and their name will be forever linked to the timepiece. Think, the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication, the most expensive pocket watch ever sold at auction.

Because it is so new, many collectors are wary of owning an asset that you can’t physically hold in your hand. But if established institutions like Christie’s are getting in on the action, there must be some security in the investment.
 

“When I’m explaining it to people,” Andon told Watchonista, “I compare an NFT to a fancy baseball card – except you can see every past owner, the last time it was sold, and how much it sold for.”