Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller has rolled out a new limited-edition timepiece inspired by the Solana blockchain. It brings together the brand’s signature luxury style with a nod to crypto culture.
Only 1,111 pieces are being made, and each one comes with a price tag of 20,000 Swiss francs — about $24,300. What makes these watches different is a built-in QR code that links directly to the owner’s Solana wallet address. The idea is to let users carry their digital identity on their wrist.
Franck Muller is calling the release a “phygital” product — a mix of physical and digital — aimed at crypto users who want to show off their involvement in the Web3 space. But the timing of the launch has raised some eyebrows.
The rise in crypto-related crimes this year has made many wealthy investors more cautious about revealing their digital holdings. Some have been physically attacked for it.
Earlier this year in France, the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of the crypto platform Paymium, were nearly kidnapped in broad daylight. The attack was caught on camera and shared online. Just before that, in the same city, the father of a crypto millionaire was kidnapped. He was rescued, but not before one of his fingers was cut off.
There was also a case involving David Balland, co-founder of the hardware wallet company Ledger. David Balland, the co-founder of hardware wallet company Ledger, was also targeted earlier this year. He and his wife were kidnapped from their home. Police managed to track them down, rescue the couple, and recover the ransom money that had already been handed over.
Unfortunately, these aren’t one-off cases. As the value of digital assets rises, so do real-world attacks on people linked to the crypto space.
In that context, Franck Muller’s new Solana watch might excite collectors or blockchain enthusiasts, but wearing it in public could carry serious risks.
It’s a bold move by a luxury brand stepping into the world of Web3, but it also brings up a larger question: in a time when flaunting crypto wealth can make someone a target, is it safer to keep that kind of identity under wraps?
