Insuring your watches.

A watch is the valuable you wear. It travels, it comes on and off daily, it is worn in public and abroad, and the good ones often appreciate. That combination, high value, constant exposure, and a rising market, makes a watch one of the more underinsured things people own, because a standard policy was not built for any of it.

Watch insurance covers a timepiece for its full replacement value on open-perils terms, including theft, accidental damage, and loss anywhere in the world. This guide covers the gap a standard policy leaves, why a watch is often worth more than you paid, and how to insure one properly.

What it is

Watch insurance covers a wristwatch, or a collection of them, for more than a standard policy will. Like other valuables, it comes three ways: as a scheduled rider on your homeowners policy, as a standalone policy, or as part of a high-net-worth program.

The starting problem is the one jewelry has. A watch sits under your homeowners policy's jewelry sub-limit, commonly around $1,500 for theft, is paid at depreciated value, and is not covered if you simply lose it. Scheduling fixes all of that, the same way it does for a ring. What follows is what makes a watch different.

Insure for replacement value

With most valuables, the price you paid is a fair guide to what they are worth. Watches break that rule. For sought-after references, the ones with multi-year waitlists at retail, the real cost to replace the watch is the secondary-market price, which can run well above what you paid at the boutique. Insure such a watch for your receipt and you are underinsured from the day you walk out, not because the value climbed, but because retail was never the replacement cost.

The fix is to insure at replacement value, what it costs to obtain the watch today, which for an allocation piece means the market price, not the boutique receipt. Box, papers, and service history matter here too, since a complete set is worth more and makes the value easier to prove. Keep them, and revisit the value as the market moves.

Worn, traveled, and targeted

A watch is exposed in ways a ring in a drawer or a painting on a wall is not. It is worn daily, swapped, taken off at the gym or the beach, and carried abroad, and every one of those is a chance to lose it, damage it, or have it taken. Luxury watches are also a known target for theft, including off the wrist in public.

That makes two features of scheduled coverage matter more for watches than for almost anything else. It is worldwide, so the watch is covered on your wrist in another country, not only at home. And it is open-perils, so an accidental knock that cracks a crystal, or a watch lost on a trip, is covered, not only a break-in. For a piece you actually wear, that breadth is the whole point.

What it costs

Watches are inexpensive to insure relative to their value, on the order of 1 to 2 percent of the watch's value per year, similar to jewelry. The rate depends on where you live, whether the watch is worn daily or kept in a safe, and your deductible. A watch worn every day in a city costs more to insure than one kept in a vault, which is the trade-off between enjoying a watch and protecting it.

How to insure it

There are three routes, and the right one depends on the watch and how many you own.

Whichever route you take, each watch is scheduled at an agreed value, ideally set at replacement cost and supported by the box, papers, and any appraisal.

Common questions