Insuring A Watch Collection.

[bucko170]

Apologies if this has been covered before (I tried a search and couldn't find anything.)

I did a simple inventory of the watches that I have in my collection including the make\model, date purchased and the price paid for each item and was shocked to find how much the total cost added up to

Whilst some of the individual watches in my collection will have lost a little in value (those I just had to have regardless of cost) a lot have proved a sound investment and have increased in value and overall I would expect my collection to be worth more than what I paid for it.

This got me thinking that I should get them insured and I was wondering how other members especially those in the UK went about insuring their own collections - can they just be added onto my home contents insurance or will I require a separate individual insurance policy for them. Do the insurance companies insist on any clauses e.g they have to be kept in a safe etc?

[retroleds]

Most home owner's insurance policies will have a jewelry clause, but the problem with our old pieces is getting them appraised. A safe is always good insurance - a good used jeweler's safe is generally a better bet than a cheap modern safe. And forget modern safes with the digital keypad, they take about 5 minutes to access once the keypad is removed with a common allen(hex) wrench). And definitely bolt it down if possible. Load it with the heaviest items you can, removing them as you need space. And an alarm that makes a terrible din INSIDE the premises, along with outside, is very disturbing to any nefarious activity(or legitimate) - there are great wireless speakers and horns to be had fairly cheap so they can be distributed over a wide area, further increasing the frustration factor. True story: I accessed a client's building I hadn't been to for a while(legitimate business visit) but had gotten the alarm code wrong and the alarm went off when I was maybe 30 seconds into the building. I was reluctant to LEAVE the building figuring I would be arrested as soon as I l stepped out. So I locked myself in the mens room(only semi-quiet place) and called the alarm company. A few minutes later they shut the alarm off remotely. My nerves were fairly frazzeled from the noise.

[bucko170]

Most home owner's insurance policies will have a jewelry clause, but the problem with our old pieces is getting them appraised

I thought the value of the watches would be accepted on merit and reflected in the cost of the premium.

[retroleds]

I thought the value of the watches would be accepted on merit and reflected in the cost of the premium.

Insurance companies are funny -say they sell you an automobile policy with $500k of death coverage. You get hit by a semi-truck and die. Does you spouse or whoever get the $500k? Oh hell no - they have to prove your life was worth $500k. If you had recently lost you job those bastards would argue," unemployed, depressed, probably caused the accident to end it all". You have a theft claim, they will try to devalue your items as much as possible. Not saying insurance isn't useful, but don't expect too much from it. Security is better than compensation. Some things cannot be replaced. A good safe is useful for many things..."reading" material, a bottle of the best spirits, important documents, cigar humidor, guns, spare emergency funds.....

[Seer Taak]

I know this is a bit of an old post but i'm sorta playing catch up after badly neglecting the DWF for a bit of time.

I had the same insurance dlema. Supprisingly the best value, and maybe safest option was a bank safety deposit box. A lot less than I expected - around £50 per year but of course you wont be able to look at your watches whenever you want to.

Before doing this I looked into getting my collection valued for insurance purposes by a decent jeweler. They were going to charge £25 per item, if less than £1000 in value, or 5% of the total value if over. I never got as far as asking if they could vaue my LED/LCD's (I have some mechanical watches to) it would have worked out a bit pricey.