tjphysicist wrote:
So, I just bought my first Breitling and have thus seen first hand what is up with all this, and am frankly EXCITED. Thought i'd post it on this thread hope it's ok. Here's what I know so far:
https://www.breitling.com/zz-zz/service ... gn=organic- My watch, and likely ALL new watches will now come with: Box, Travel Case, Warranty Book, Manual, Sliderule (if applicable) and the usual "warranty holder/wallet" thing. Along with this you will get a card with a QR code on it (seen in the article above). Scan the code to take you to the website for your particular serial number (see below) and from there you can register it to your account as well as download the "digital certificate (on blockchain)" (more on this later) as well as COSC Certificate.
- Note that I did not say a COSC certificate will come with the watch, I have confirmed with Breitling that this is as intended, the COSC certificate is now digital
- The card/certificate may be downloaded onto your phone. Breitling is using an app/system called Arianee wallet. This will allow many benefits including digital verification of the authenticity and most importantly - digital certificates are easily transferrable, so if I sell you my watch, I just transfer the certificate to your account (i'm not clear on the details of that yet).
- Only watches actually made and shipped out after 13/Oct/2020 (This date is from an email response I got from Breitling) have currently ACTIVE certificate/wallets that may be downloaded. Other watches like mine, that CAME with the QR Code may be registered using such, which allows me to view the ewarranty and any history and details, but if it was shipped before 13/Oct/2020 the actual blockchain certificate will not be active.
- Watches that never came with a QR code may still be registered on the site. These, as well as ones like mine that came with a QR code but don't have an active digital certificate are currently being worked on, Breitlings press release above (as well as the response I got from them) gives a tentative date of Jan 2021 for when all previous watches will be able to be activated fully and have their digital certificate downloaded.
- The digital certificate will also contain traceable watch history information (where available) as well as other details.
- It seems there is a period there, where watches were being shipped out with the new QR codes and new format but don't have activated certificates as of yet, which I find odd.
- I still got a warranty book, and I assume newer watches will as well, were servicings have to be stamped etc. I also assume that a fully activated digital certificate will have the history of all servicings done (assuming Breitling is able to pull that history). So in my case it will likely have it all, since mine is brand new, but someone with a 20 year old navitimer may not see any history (presumably)
This is frankly really awesome! If it fully works the way they say it will...i love it! So far though, I haven't gotten to see exactly how the certificate downloading part actually works, or servicing, as my watch is new and doesn't have an active certificate in the blockchain yet.
I agree with you that’s it’s a great concept, and like you I have the QR code but as my watch (Superocean heritage 57) was shipped on the 8th October I can’t actually get the certificate as it was before the magic 13th October. I spoke to Breitling last week and they’re hoping that the pre-13th October watches will be able to get the digital certificates in January.
They didn’t seem clear why this is the case, and when I asked whether they could just re-date my warranty 5 days, they were very adamant that that would never happen and I’ve just got to be patient.
A really good concept and hopefully I’ll get to see it working soon.