Splint Invest experience: Invest in Rolex & Co. from €50

If you want to diversify your assets and make them less dependent on price movements on the financial markets, alternative investments are an exciting addition to the traditional equity portfolio.

The up-and-coming Swiss platform Splint Invest is taking a pioneering approach: it is democratizing access to high-quality collectibles by making them available to a wide range of investors. Investments in art, luxury watches or rare wines, which were previously almost exclusively reserved for very wealthy individuals, can now be made easily and digitally via an app.

In our Splint Invest experience, we show you how the Splint Invest business model works, where we see the advantages and disadvantages and how you can invest your first Splint in a collector’s item of your choice without any risk to yourself – now also in Swiss francs.

Promo code SFB60 and preliminary remarks on our Splint Invest experience

Splint Invest convinced us, which is why we entered into a cooperation with the Swiss start-up, which was founded in 2021 and is now well established.

This article is primarily based on our own research and experience. We received first-hand support from Splint Invest on individual topics where in-depth background knowledge was helpful.

🎁 With the promo code SFB60 you will receive a starting credit of 60 in your reference currency (CHF, EUR or GBP) and can test Splint Invest with a real investment without any financial risk. You will also be supporting our blog.

🎁 Our 2026 Summer Special Offer for those who are already on board:
If you’d like to start on a larger scale right away, you’ll receive a generous bonus of 130.– with an investment of 500.–. Use the promo code SFBSUMMER (cannot be combined with other offers).

Simply download the app to your smartphone, register, enter the promo code and off you go!

– Partner offer –

Disclaimer: Investing involves risks of loss.

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Alternative Investments

For those of you who are new to alternative investments, we have summarized the most important facts about these non-mainstream asset classes in this section.

What are alternative investments?

As the name suggests, these are alternatives to traditional asset classes such as equities or bonds. Alternative investments are often characterized by the following features:

• Weak correlation with traditional asset classes or even contrary market development
• Low liquidity or long-term capital commitment
• Increased profit and loss potential

Examples of alternative investments established on the market are:

• Hedge funds: actively managed funds with the aim of achieving market-independent returns
• Private equity: Investments in unlisted companies with growth potential
• Commodities: e.g. wheat, oil or precious metals
• Real estate: Investing in “concrete gold”
  (see also our article Real estate ETFs: The easiest way to invest in concrete gold)

Collectibles or luxury items are less well known, but are also alternative investments. This is what this article is about.

Why should you invest in alternative investments at all?

In terms of comprehensive asset diversification, alternative investments can complement traditional asset classes such as equities or bonds well.

Adding alternative investments can make your own portfolio more resistant to stock market turbulence and interest rate fluctuations. This reduces the dependency on conventional investments and the associated market developments and opens up new potential return opportunities.

About Splint Invest

Brief history

Splint Invest is a Swiss start-up based in Zug, which was founded in 2021 by two private investors and auditors, Aurelio Perucca and Mario von Bergen, among others. They were motivated by the realization that many private investors, driven by negative interest rates, stock market turbulence and rising inflation, were desperately looking for alternative investment opportunities.

After a test phase among acquaintances, the app went live in February 2022. By 2026, the platform already had around 20,000 investors – and the trend is rising sharply.

Splint Invest is a so-called financial intermediary. As a member of the self-regulatory organization VQF, Splint Invest is audited annually for compliance with money laundering regulations.

How does Splint Invest work?

Platform & investment idea

Splint Invest is based on an app that you download to your smartphone. You can use this platform to trade digital shares in alternative investments. These are collector’s items or luxury items, also known as collectibles or luxury items in technical jargon.

Specifically, you can invest in contemporary works of art, high-quality luxury watches, exquisite wines, selected whisky barrels or exclusive handbags, for example, thereby acquiring co-ownership of these objects.

Splint Invest makes collectibles accessible to a wide range of investors. This asset class was previously reserved for very wealthy individuals, as the company’s own slogan “Do it like the top 1%. Invest in alternative investments”.

Interaction between experts, platform and investors

Splint Invest operates the platform, selects external partners and validates their expertise according to data-based criteria. If Splint Invest comes to the conclusion that the external partner is trustworthy and the collector’s item on offer is fairly valued, it is purchased and offered on the platform as an investment object.

What amounts are involved?

From as little as €50 – or the equivalent in CHF or GBP – you can purchase shares, known as splints. With the promo code SFB60 , you even get your first split for free, which is effectively a risk-free investment.

Splint Invest now offers you three reference currencies: EUR (previously), now also CHF and GBP. A single Splint is still equivalent to €50, but is converted into the selected reference currency. You can find out exactly how this works in this article from Splint Invest.

Existing customers can change their reference currency once and irrevocably, for example from euros to Swiss francs. In our experience, the currency change can be initiated with just a few clicks and takes effect within 24 hours.

What fees are charged by Splint Invest?

Let’s start with the positives: There are no custody fees or other hidden costs with Splint Invest. There is also no withdrawal fee when you transfer the proceeds from the sale of Splints back to your bank account.

With Splint Invest, only transaction-related costs are incurred when purchasing splints. This means that the purchase price of splints already includes the so-called platform fees of 4-10% and property-specific external administration costs for storage and insurance. The latter are calculated once over the entire investment horizon and vary depending on the investment property.

To help you decide, we recommend that you find out exactly what fees will be charged before you purchase an investment. You can do this easily and individually according to the planned investment amount via the app.

What are splints?

A splint is a digital unit that defines the co-ownership of a physical asset . A watch with a value of €20,000 is therefore divided into 400 splints of €50 each. If you buy four of them, you own one percent of the watch.

How are splints taxed?

Splints are tangible assets under Swiss law. The value of the splints reported at the end of the year is added to the assets in the tax return. An investment with Splint Invest is therefore subject to wealth tax.

How is the expected return determined?

Together with the external experts, an investment horizon and three scenarios are defined for each property with regard to the expected performance: a defensive, a balanced and an offensive scenario. These forecasts are largely based on historical data or yields and sales prices achieved in the past for comparable properties.

According to our Splint Invest experience, yields often exceed 10% p.a., but vary considerably from property to property. For example, the expected annual yield as at 26.5.2026 for the 13 active offers for the balanced scenario ranges from an attractive 12.8% for Ornellaia, Bolgheri (top red wine from Tuscany) to a high 29.4% for a painting by Javier Calleja.

In the next chapter, you will find out what real returns have been achieved through sales to date .

When will they be sold and what real returns have been achieved so far?

The sales process is initiated by Splint Invest according to fixed rules, i.e. from the start of the defined investment horizon, and is generally based on the balanced or offensive scenario.

According to our Splint Invest experience, however, it is often the case that an offer corresponding to the offensive scenario arises before the specified investment period expires. In this case, Splint Invest arranges for the collector’s item to be sold prematurely. Occasionally, it may also happen that the market opportunities for a particular item become less favorable. In such cases, Splint Invest may recommend an early sale – even at a loss – on which all investors will vote.

The ordinary investment term varies depending on the property and is generally between around one and ten years.

The sales realized by Splint Invest to date indicate attractive returns and a comparatively short holding period, as the following overview shows.

Key figure	Value
Total exit volume	CHF 3.73 million
Total number of exits	64
Average net yield	21%
Average holding period	16 months
Best exit	74,8%
Fastest exit	2 months

If no suitable purchase offer is received within the defined sales range (usually 2-3 years), the sales process is continued. In this case, offers that correspond to the defensive scenario are also accepted.

As an alternative to these sales organized by Splint Invest, you can also sell your shares in the investment object yourself. This is because Splint Invest offers a secondary market, the so-called trading venue, where splints can be traded within the community on a weekly basis. We will go into this in more detail below and show you for whom the trading venue is particularly worthwhile.

Where are the goods stored?

Storage is a factor that should not be underestimated when it comes to the performance of the asset. Splint Invest places correspondingly high quality demands on its partners in this regard. Currently, for example, watches and handbags are stored in the vault of the Berner Kantonalbank in Bern, while whisky barrels and wine bottles are stored in state-supervised duty-free warehouses (e.g. in London).

What tangible assets can you invest in?

The range of alternative investment opportunities is constantly being expanded, as are the higher-level categories. The following categories are currently available (sorted by introduction, oldest category first):

• Whisky
• Watches
• Art
• Wine
• Handbags
• Rum
• Diamonds
• Lego
• Miscellaneous (e.g. precious metals, collector’s cards, sneakers)
• Digitized rights
• Luxury cars
• Private equity

As with equities, the same applies to this asset class: in order to achieve the best possible risk/return ratio, it is worth diversifying as broadly as possible across several property categories.

How does the registration process work?

The registration process is simple and takes less than a minute: enter your name, e-mail address and a password. A welcome e-mail is generated immediately, which must be confirmed. That’s it!

After registering, you can redeem the promo code SFB60, which will credit you with CHF, EUR or GBP 60, depending on your choice of reference currency. You can only transfer this amount back to your bank account after it has been invested.

Only when you have purchased a total of 10 splints or more, i.e. from an investment amount of €500, is verification of your identity required. You confirm this with a valid ID document and a selfie in the form of a short video sequence. This purely digital process took us around two minutes.

In principle, anyone aged 18 or over who is resident in Europe or has access to the app can register.

How do I transfer money?

Money can be transferred via a bank account (individual or standing orders possible). Thanks to the European SEPA payment area, to which Switzerland also belongs, transfers from your bank to the platform and back are free of charge. Alternatively, you can also transfer money by credit card, but debit cards are not accepted.

Transfers are currently possible in CHF, EUR or GBP, depending on the reference currency selected.

What is the app good for?

Let’s get straight to the point: We have rarely come across such an informative and yet extremely clear app. Compliments Splint Invest!

You can download the app for free from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. We have tested the latter.

The app is available in German, English, French and now Italian. The actual content is divided into the following five sections in the menu bar:

Category “Investments”

This is where the music plays and the journey of discovery begins! You can use the filter function to make an initial selection – by status (“My investments”, “New”, “Active” for properties that are still available for purchase or “Sold out”) and by category (e.g. art). You can also refine the selection according to investment horizon, stability (i.e. how much the value of a property fluctuates) and track record (the previous performance of the property).

So far, we have not encountered any slow sellers at Splint Invest: Sooner or later, every property finds a buyer, within a few hours to a few days, depending on its popularity. An auto-invest function is not yet available, but is planned.

Exits” section

This section is new and replaces the former “News” section. It provides a complete overview of all sales realized to date – and not just your own exits, but the entire splint investment universe.

As we have already shown above in the section on realized sales, the exits can be tracked both on a consolidated basis and in detail for each collector’s item – including term, volume and return achieved.

For us, this is a real gain in transparency: anyone who wants to assess this still rather unknown asset class before making an investment is given a sound, data-based foundation here – and can see in black and white what real returns have been achieved across the entire platform to date.

Dashboard” section

This is about the company’s own investments. The cumulative market and nominal values as well as the changes in value are displayed. To assess the diversification of your own portfolio, you can also find out how many categories and investments you are invested in.

Category “Trading center”

Here you can trade splints directly with other investors. This secondary market opens every Thursday: from 9:00 to 18:00, you as the seller post your splints, after which the market is open to buyers for four days until Sunday.

You determine the offer price yourself, but within the bands that Splint Invest specifies in order to avoid abuse. These price bands are set conservatively at the top, but allow for large discounts at the bottom – for a Splint with a market price of €52 around €29-55. There are no fees for transactions via the trading venue. Below we take a closer look at how the trading platform can be used in practice and for whom it is particularly worthwhile.

Profile” section

In addition to personal details, there are also interesting things to discover in this section. Numerous explanatory videos are available in the FAQs. If you still have unanswered questions, you can also formulate your individual question in the chat in this section. We did this several times and always received a satisfactory answer within the promised 24 hours.

A small drawback: Unfortunately, the response is sent by email and there is no way to retrieve the requests in the app, let alone a ticket system where you could track communication with support.

Our conclusion about the app

The app positively surprised us in terms of its functionality, clarity and information content. Whether purchases, transactions via the trading platform, explanatory videos or questions to support: all interactions can be conveniently controlled via the app – without any paperwork.

The first purchase

Stefan decides on an object with the highest possible return potential and the shortest possible investment horizon – and finds what he is looking for. He invests his first split in a painting by the artist David Hockney.

The value of this painting from 2010 is estimated at an impressive €156,000, resulting in a total of 3,123 splints. At the time of purchase, 42% of the splints were still left.

And lo and behold: barely invested, the artwork has already increased in value by 0.6%! The increase in value is based on the monthly revaluation of all investments on offer. On 10.7.2025, the painting was sold by Splint Invest after 33 months, which corresponds to a realized net return of 14.3% p.a.

Trading venue: For whom the secondary market is particularly worthwhile

Stefan used the trading platform for the first time on 10.8.2023: He bought a Rolex Sky-Dweller split pin for €48.50, around €1.50 below the market value at the time. Since then, he has used it regularly – mostly for splints that are offered below market value, for which there is a practical filter (“Below market value”).

On the seller side, an honest classification is worthwhile. In a self-experiment, a total of 20 splints were put up for sale on 21.5.2026 – all at least 2% below market value so that they would also appear in the “Below market value” filter and increase the chances of sale. Despite this deliberate waiver of yield, only two splints were sold. So you should not expect a quick, safe sale, even if you deliberately offer them at a lower price.

Two worthwhile tips from our Splint Invest experience with the trading platform:

• When selling: Only post your splints in the last hour before 18:00. Then you can see the other offers including prices and can position yourself specifically.
• When buying: Be there in the first hour – then the most attractive offers are still available.

Our conclusion on the trading venue

Unless absolutely necessary, do not use the trading venue to sell: The sacrifice in yield is often too great. We often see discounts of 10% and more – presumably because the sell side urgently needs liquidity. Those who wait and see, on the other hand, are generally better off with an orderly sale organized by Splint Invest. However, it is good to know that the trading venue is available to you as a liquidity instrument if you need it.

On the buyer side, it is extremely attractive: there are always real bargains to be had here.

What are the risks?

The greatest risk of this alternative investment is a financial loss. This occurs if the sales proceeds are less than the amount originally invested. As no long-term track record spanning several market cycles is yet available, statements on possible loss phases can only be made to a limited extent at present. On a positive note, however, numerous sales have already been successfully completed and many collector’s items have found buyers at attractive prices.

It is also important to note that any insolvency of Splint Invest does not represent a cluster risk on the investor side. The underlying luxury items do not fall into the bankruptcy estate, but remain the property of the investor. In addition, all collector’s items offered are insured against theft and damage.

The Smart Club for convinced investors

The Smart Club is an exclusive community of particularly active and committed investors. This has the following four advantages:

• Premium access: As a Smart Club member, you can reserve new splints before they become public.
• Cashback bonus: Every year you receive 1% bonus cashback on your invested amounts (net), credited directly as bonus credit in the app. The bonus is credited in January.
• Smart newsletter: You will receive regular updates with insights, expert tips and insider information.
• Invitations to exclusive events: Exclusive events allow you to network with other investors and gain insights from industry experts.

To remain a member of the Smart Club, you should fulfill the following two obligations:

• Annual net investment worth at least EUR 5,000. The net investment amount is the total amount invested across all categories, less sales and exits in the same period.
• Investments in at least four categories per year, e.g. art, watches, wine and handbags.

Admission requires a personal invitation from an existing member. If you are interested, Smart Club member Stefan (stefan@schweizerfinanzblog.ch) will be happy to send you the invitation link.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Splint Invest?

Conclusion on our Splint Invest experience

Alternative investments such as high-quality collectibles can help to diversify a portfolio and make it more stable. We are convinced by this asset class and its user-friendly implementation, which is why we are adding splints – i.e. shares in these collectibles – to our portfolio, which consists primarily of equity ETFs. We are doing this gradually over a longer period of time and without exceeding a 10% share of the total portfolio value.

For a still young platform for alternative investments, the question of trust is central. The same applies to Splint Invest: despite numerous realized sales, a long-term track record over several market cycles is still lacking. However, we consider it positive that many collector’s items have quickly found buyers and achieved double-digit returns. The fact that early sales on the secondary market are not always easy is of little consequence to us – we invest in splints for the long term anyway.

In our opinion, splints are particularly suitable for people who wish to supplement their portfolio with alternative investments and who value at least one of the following aspects:

• Better diversification and potentially less dependence on equity and interest rate markets
• higher potential returns, combined with corresponding risks
• more emotion compared to traditional investments such as shares or bonds

Questions? Just write them in the comments below. We’ll get back to you quickly.

– Partner offer –

Disclaimer: Investing involves risks of loss.

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This might also interest you

Updates

June 22, 2026: Summer special offer published.

May 29, 2026: Updated sales statistics and fee model, and added new insights regarding the trading platform.

May 6, 2026: May special offer published.

April 1, 2026: April special offer published.

March 1, 2026: March special offer published.

January 15, 2026: Article comprehensively updated.

October 3, 2025: Explanation of new accounts with CHF or GBP as the reference currency.

June 23, 2025: Splint Invest Explains Smart Club.

April 15, 2025: Exit table updated.

November 1, 2024: Added a new table showing all sales to date and the returns achieved.

April 9, 2024: Mention of previous sales, completion of the investment categories, multilingual support for the app, and an increase in the bonus to 60.

September 4, 2023: Added my own experiences with the trading platform.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Investing involves risks. You must decide for yourself whether or not you want to take these risks.

Errors excepted: We have written this article about our Splint Invest experience to the best of our knowledge and belief. Our aim is to provide you as a private investor with the most objective and meaningful financial information possible. However, should we have made any errors, forgotten important aspects and/or no longer have up-to-date information, we would be grateful if you could let us know.