While traditional finance giants are trying to rally around putting a spoke in the wheels of cryptocurrency development, the business is proceeding unstoppably like a loaded 18-wheeler. And from the technology that made it what it is, the blockchain, many other applications are emerging that can be even more disruptive, like NFTs.
If you’ve thought of NFTs as a “container” that encompasses digital works until now, remember that NFTs can instead include anything – including physical assets. And that’s what Richape Mille has come up with, setting itself the goal of dragging the use of NFTs into the world of luxury watches. And at the same time, giving everyone who knows about luxury horology the enormous potential to invest through secure transactions guaranteed by the underlying blockchain technology.
From the physical world to the metaverse
“What we are proposing is a paradigm shift. We want to transform the current luxury watch market, freeing it from the current liabilities such as waiting lists, watch flipping, price diversity, and excessive mark-ups that inflate the final price of timepieces, and bring it back into the hands of enthusiasts.” This is what Hannu Siren, one of the founders of Richape Mille, tells us.
“Connecting these watches to the blockchain allows for simple and easy transactions to be introduced on a dedicated marketplace, like the one we’re preparing, ChronoMETA. In ChronoMETA, anyone will be able to sell, buy and trade NFTs dedicated to the watch industry with payment in cryptocurrency – and we aim to make ChronoMETA the first industry-specific marketplace in the metaverse.”
“Think of the possibilities: ChronoMETA natively supports fractional ownership of NFTs. That is, it grants everyone, even with a minimal amount of money, the ability to acquire a share of a Grail watch, something that could not happen otherwise. Or at least, with the ease offered by ChronoMETA. The market for luxury watches is on a vertical rise, with watches like Patek Philippe’s 5711 Nautilus model seeing their value appreciate fivefold since it went out of production.”
The entry ticket: the Metalus NFT collection
The marketplace will be accessible soon and will have a rather unique entrance fee. Richape Mille is launching a collection of NFTs called Metalus, which will bring the 100 most iconic timepieces in watchmaking into the digital world of NFTs. They will be divided into four levels of rarity, Rare, Super Rare, Grail, and Piece Unique, and be available in 5711 pieces.
Pre-registration on the Richape Mille website will allow accessing the Discord channel, where the community that wants to be part of this new project will gather. Among all the people most active in the channel to create content and value for other users, a select group will be invited to join the whitelist.
The whitelisters will be able to buy the NFTs of the Metalus series at the launch price (maximum 2 NFTs for each wallet), while the rest of the NFTs will be placed on the public marketplaces at the end of the purchase phase by the whitelist – at substantially different prices, probably subject to the gas war to get them. A few days after the minting, the type of timepiece purchased and its rarity will be revealed.
“The creation of the community is our real secret weapon,” continues Siren, “since it will involve people who love watches and like to invest in a sector that offers great potential for development and growth, including in our NFT value.”
Richape Mille firmly believes in community development as the key to providing a long-term, solid asset that gives value to the people who have supported its project—starting with small but significant perks.
All purchasers of the new Metalus NFT series will receive a custom hoodie, accompanied by its NFT version, and those who hold NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club series – of which Richape Mille himself is a member, with the number 6068 – and keep them in the same wallet, will receive a dedicated custom NFT showing their monkey wearing the Metalus series watch they purchased.
Finally, a dreamy “physical” prize: one of the buyers of the Metalus Series NFTs – drawn at random – will receive a platinum Rolex Daytona, complete with box and papers.
Community-building is the real deal
“All members of our community on ChronoMETA will have access to a series of special initiatives dedicated only to them: online and offline events, special offers, and bonuses from the best watchmakers in the world. It will be a continuous barrage of new features designed to make this group the benchmark for luxury watchmaking in the real and virtual world.”
Among other things, Richape Mille has created meta-made.org, an initiative to develop services and technologies dedicated to companies in the watchmaking sector that wish to enter the metaverse with the support of professionals. In this regard, it is already working in the strictest confidence with primary clients. But the path to this innovative digital world now seems marked out.
