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A TRULY UNIQUE MASTERPIECE.
This is a collaborative effort by Cathay Pacific Airways, The Boeing Company & Sinn-Spezialuhren.
Our pilots love
of aviation has been the driving force behind this remarkable effort of engineering & craftsmanship. The watch commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 747, fondly known as the "Queen of the Skies".
“City of Everett”, first flew in February 1969. Cathay Pacific brought its first 747-400 into service in 1989, and B-HOP (originally registered as VR-HOP) served for 25 years before her retirement in 2014.
The
prototype Jumbo Jet, named
set about marking the occasion by producing a special-edition watch, crafted from part of B-HOP. They teamed up with Sinn Spezialuhren, a German watchmaker that specialises in cockpit clocks and aviation chronographs, to develop and craft the Cathay-Boeing watch. Its design is based on the iconic Sinn 856 UTC certified pilot’s watch.
The Cathay Team
case and back was cut from B-HOP’s titanium spar, which is the main structural beam of the wing. This presented a unique technical challenge for Sinn and its watch case manufacturer SUG, as they needed to find a way to safely cut into the hard titanium alloy surface.
Material for the timepiece
visited SUG in Glashütte, Germany, where all its watch cases and backs are engineered and constructed, and saw the machinery solution first-hand.
Captain Rod Proven
says Cathay Pacific General Manager of Flight Operations, Captain Mark Hoey. “SUG required a newly developed computer programme to keep the cutting tools from having too much continual contact with the surface of our titanium alloy material, as that would result in extreme temperatures, while also keeping the machinery well-lubricated and cooled to avoid a fire. But you can trust fine German engineering to overcome such a challenge!”
The titanium cases and backs were then sent to Sinn Spezialuhren’s production facilities in Frankfurt. The assembly of the Cathay-Boeing watch is currently in full operation. It’s a limited run of 748 watches, with that number referencing the Boeing 747-8F aircraft that we currently have in our fleet.
“It was a rather difficult nut to crack,”
“This has been a labour of love.”
“It’s been a long wait with a lot of hard work from design refinements to licensing agreements, but now there’s this chance to own a piece of aviation history.”
Cathay-Boeing
As a world first, the ownership of these timeless creations will live forever on the blockchain in form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Each owner can rest assured that the legitimate physical assets proof of ownership is secured by smart contracts and linked to their decentralized wallets.
FAQ
A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital asset that represents ownership of an item or piece of content, either digital or physical. In the case of a physical watch, an NFT would be linked to that specific item, providing indisputable proof of ownership. Blockchain technology secures the NFT, ensuring authenticity and offering a transparent record of ownership history.
Unlike cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, NFTs cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, as each token is distinct and holds a different value. By utilizing NFTs for physical items like watches, owners can verify the uniqueness, provenance, and rightful ownership of their valuable possessions, bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds.
Yes. Each physical watch is linked to their corresponding NFT. When an NFT is sold & transfers to a new owner, the physical watch is transferred with it. To support the technology that makes this possible, StadioLabs.com was chosen to manage this on-chain utility.
There are exactly 550 watches in this limited collection that were ever made on demand. The serial numbers will only range between 001 and 748.