Companies employed many strategies trying to combat counterfeit products. Blockchain could therefore be a promising solution to overcome this problem by issuing non-fungible digital certificates of authenticity. However, even though some brands have already implemented such solutions, many Swiss watch brands are still unfamiliar with this technology and take a skeptical stance. Furthermore, for companies offering the development and implementation of blockchain solutions as well as web and mobile applications, this market is still untapped due to the low adoption in the industry.

The methods used in this paper were to conduct a literature review based on secondary data and semi-structured interviews with industry and blockchain experts. The gained insights helped in conducting a market analysis inspired by the structure of a SWOT analysis. Furthermore, BPMN guidelines were followed to visualize an existing business process and to identify the impacts that blockchain implementation could have. In the next step, a roadmap was suggested that outlines the necessary steps for an implementation project.

Trends have shown that the pandemic has shifted many brands’ mindsets and made them more open to new technologies such as blockchain, especially regarding engaging with customers, proving the authenticity of a timepiece, facilitating the second-hand market, and showing transparency in the sourcing of materials. Nevertheless, what remains one of the major challenging factors are the uncertainties and traditional mindsets that can still be observed across many other brands. Hence, while many opportunities for new brands adopting blockchain and for software development firms to enter the market can be identified, it might take some time for blockchain to be widely adopted by the watch industry.