The extinction of counterfeiting in the luxury industry thanks to biometrics
Photo : Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Automatic
The Origyn foundation proposes an innovative solution that could definitively annihilate any desire to acquire and wear a counterfeit luxury product.
I invited recently Vincent Perriard, co-founder of Origyn, a Swiss non-profit foundation that fights against counterfeiting by combining artificial intelligence and machine learning through biometrics to tell us more about the innovative solution.
Authentication and the second-hand market…
Swiss watchmaking represents 18 billion euros of exports excluding 2020 and second-hand watchmaking represents almost 47 billion euros. The change in mentality and behavior but also the change in the offer of luxury brands have contributed to this strong acceleration of the demand for the second-hand market.
Nevertheless, doubts may arise; a counterfeit second hand product could be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
In the watch and jewelry sector, it will only take a moment to authenticate the product thanks to this technology.
Origyn’s vision is built around 3 goals: to find a universal authentication system for a luxury product that exposes counterfeiting, to share the governance of this innovation to the players who want to participate and finally to strongly reduce counterfeiting and the damage it causes. How does it work? The watch is photographed in a very high definition at during the assembly, hundreds of unique points emerge and create a digital clone of it. This digital clone holds all the information related to the watch and is protected by Origyn. Then, it will be possible to authenticate the product in an instant using an application on his smartphone. The watch industry could not afford to integrate a microchip because it would be too constraining in terms of manufacturing. So, thanks to the biometric system, the watch will have its own authentication.
To conclude, Vincent Perriard answered some questions from the audience about this technology:
“When overhauling with part changes, does the brand have to update its database? How do you handle alterations to the watch that change the scan?”
Vincent Perriard : “Yes because it allows to control the evolutions of the watch and concerning the alterations, the unique points decrease but thanks to the artificial intelligence and the automation of the system, they can always be identified at a certain number of points.”
“How will the auctions proceed? ”
Vincent Perriard: “There may be a set-up of partnerships with auction houses. Like second- hand platforms, auctions have their own specialist who handles authentication, Origyn believes that the brand is the only one being entitled to authenticate its product. ”
“In jewelry, can Origyn detect when one of the stones has replaced for example? Wouldn’t this application increase the quality of the counterfeit?”
Vincent Perriard: “Also in jewelry, it will be possible to detect the replacement. Thanks to this application, it will be the end of counterfeiting. The human eye cannot compete with photography and its pixels.”
If you wish to view the videoconference, please click on this link: https://youtu.be/om1- KfSY6AA