Watch insurance: your home contents insurance will usually cover your watches, but only partly — up to a limit for valuables, and provided you can prove they exist and what they are worth. Above that limit, you generally need to list the watch as a specified item, often with a valuation and an extra premium. It is better to know these conditions before you need them.
This article is for general information. Cover varies from one insurer and one policy to another, and from one country to another: your policy wording is what counts, not this page.
The valuables limit
Most home contents policies include a specific clause for valuables, which groups together jewellery, watches, works of art and precious metals.
Two limits usually apply: an overall limit for the whole category, and often a single-item limit. In other words, even if your total contents cover is high, the payout for your watches may be capped at a much smaller amount.
These figures are set out in your policy schedule, often in an appendix. Look for terms such as "valuables", "single article limit" or "high-risk items".
What can void your cover
Three causes come up again and again.
No sign of forced entry. A theft with no evidence of a break-in is often excluded or heavily limited. A door left unlocked, a window left ajar: the cover may not apply.
No proof of ownership. This is the most frequent cause, and the most avoidable. Without a receipt, a photo or a serial number, you have to prove that you owned the watch and what it was worth. That is very difficult after the event.
Not meeting the security conditions in the policy. Some policies make cover for valuables conditional on keeping them in a safe above a certain value, or on setting an alarm when the home is left empty for a long period.
Specifying a watch: when it is worth it
Above the standard limit, you can list a piece individually as a specified item, usually with a valuation and an additional premium.
This makes sense when the value of a single watch clearly exceeds the single-item or valuables limit. It makes less sense for a collection of individually modest pieces: the combined extra premiums can end up costing more than the risk covered.
Do the maths honestly before you start the process.
Building your file: thirty minutes, once
This is the part that depends only on you, and it changes everything on the day you have to make a claim.
For each piece: a photo of the dial, a photo of the case back with the serial number legible, a scan of the receipt and the model reference. Keep everything in a folder stored online, not just on a computer that could be stolen along with the watches.
Update it with every new acquisition. Thirty minutes once, five minutes after that. The same file is what you will need if you ever move house — see moving house with a watch collection.
What insurers expect when it comes to storage
No policy requires a watch box: it is not a security device and should not be presented as one. It protects against dust and scratches, not theft.
Safe clauses, on the other hand, do exist above certain values. If your policy includes one, lockable storage is the minimum: our Sirius and Polaris watch safes combine locking with winding, so you do not have to choose between protecting an automatic watch and keeping it running.
And bear the basic principle in mind: what protects a valuable watch best is nobody knowing it is there.