- Experloop, founded by a jeweler, offers a digital solution to jewelry certification and identification, with a small chip intended to be as beautiful as the jewelry itself.
- The chip includes a sensor to prevents it from responding to an interrogation unless the user places their finger over it to approve the transaction.
Customers of Singapore jeweler Michael Koh often face a challenge that is as old as the jewelry business itself: how to identify, authenticate and understand the jewelry they buy, inherit or find.
As a result, Koh invented a high-tech solution in the same studio where he crafts fine jewelry: a patent-pending, gold microchip that’s so small it can be embedded permanently in precious wearables like rings, necklaces and watches. He further developed it to protect the user’s privacy by only operating when the user chooses, via a built-in sensor.
The solution is now being produced by his tech startup Experloop, to help jewelry owners permanently identify and authenticate a valuable piece of jewelry they wear, sell or bestow to descendants. Potential customers are other jewelers, watch and jewelry brands and insurance companies.
Bringing Chip Design to the Jewelry Workshop
Koh is founder and CEO of Caratell, a “haute joailleries” retailer in Singapore, that’s been in operation for nearly three decades. He and his staff members create high-end jewelry with fine metals and gems.
Buyers have always received a paper certificate of authenticity and ownership, while the gems themselves are often lasered with a serial identification. But neither solution is foolproof in cases where individuals don’t have access to that paperwork or can’t view the laser numbers.
When business slowed during the pandemic, Koh chose to use that time to, “bring jewelry to the next level,” he said, by making it digitally identifiable. He opted for passive UHF RFID technology that can wirelessly identify an object with a unique ID, but found there were no RFID chips commercially available that met his requirements. He needed a chip that was small enough, and attractive enough, to become a visible part of a piece of jewelry.
So, he made his own. The chip is sized at 2 millimeters (0.07 inches), round and 1.5 millimeter (0.06 inches) in depth, made of gold. The casing can be 14 or 18 karat gold, either yellow, white or rose. paperwork then fitted the chip into watches, typically embedded on the side of the watch, near the crown post. They are designed to be fully visible, but discreet.
Sensor-based Privacy Feature
The engineering didn’t finish with size and aesthetics, however. “People brought concerns about privacy, so I went on developing,” said Koh.
A common concern of those who would use the technology was that a third-party could interrogate the tag when they came within range, without the wearer’s knowledge. He needed the chip to be inoperable unless the owner of the watch or jewelry approved the interaction with a reader.
To address the privacy concern, Koh incorporated a touch sensor into the chip. If the sensor detects a person’s finger touching the chip, it can be interrogated and respond to that interrogation. That means that a jeweler with an RFID reader, or the individual who owns the jewelry, would simply place their finger over the chip and then capture the unique ID with an RFID reader.
If no one is touching the chip, it remains inert.
Data Stored in the Cloud
The system includes software to store the certification of the jewelry, the ownership, sales receipt, and other relevant information, in the cloud. Access to the data would require authorization.
One example of a common application could be use by a jeweler or watch seller who is seeking to confirm the authenticity of a product brought into the store. Jewelers could be called upon by customers to provide the digital record of an item they bought or inherited or prove its value for the customer when selling it.
Additionally, the chip provides a way to identify the owner in the case of a found piece of jewelry or watch.
Rigorous Testing
To ensure that the chip can last the lifetime of the jewelry itself, Experloop has put the chip through rigorous testing. This included using ultrasonic cleaning techniques and cycling jewelry— with the chip— through a tumbler 6,000 times as well as exposing the chip to 180 degrees Celsius temperatures. “It withstands all of that,” Koh said.
Koh is attaching the chip in jewelry he sells, using epoxy or wet laser attachment directly onto the item. If someone tried to remove it, the jewelry would be damaged. “There would be clear indication it had been tampered with,” Koh said.
For users, the software provides additional levels of security such as requiring facial recognition or biometrics to provide access. The digital record, like the chip, is intended to last the lifetime of the jewelry itself. Most often jewelry is handed down to a next generation, Koh said, and the technology can be used in that case as well, so that future generations understand the history and value of the jewelry they have inherited.
It could be used for sales transactions between two individuals as well. If someone transfer ownership of their jewelry to a buyer, they can use a reader to scan the tag and enter the details of the transaction and the new owner.
Seeking Partners
Koh is now seeking partnerships with technology companies or investors for distribution of the chip and high-volume sales. He has been bringing the technology to tradeshows in Asia and the U.S., and to potential customers, including sharing the RFID chip experience with Yin Yong, the mayor of Beijing.
He is in conversation with watch brands about including the chip in the products they make, as part of the manufacturing process. He also intends to work directly with insurance companies for lost and found functionality.
In the long term, Koh sees a potential for the chip in other high-value, small-metal items as well such as surgical tools, casualty recovery in a disaster or weapons and arms management.
He envisions the technology used for other applications such as loyalty or payments as well. For instance, the chip—in a ring, bracelet or watch— could be linked to a wearer’s payment account to enable contactless payments without requiring a card or phone.
As a loyalty card, it could also be used to enhance a shopper’s experience in stores. When they entered a store, for instance, a user could place their finger over the chip on their jewelry and be identified for a more personalized shopping experience. If they didn’t want to be identified they would simply keep their finger off the chip.