I’ve got my Watch through Jewelers Mutual. Your property insurance usually caps a watch at $1400.00, plus I don’t want anything associated with my homeowners in this out of control Fla Home Insurance Market. .
1 Like
Worth having an insurance discussion somwere here. (shout to @cpp also) Our insurance probably isn’t covering a lot of our changing audio collections. I’ve only got a few watches of modest value, but I do have a fair amount of art. And back in the 80s I collected sets of depression glass, a fair amout of carnival glass, some pattern glass too before I settled on a very hard to find pattern of early American leaded bar glass. I had tried to catalog and keep track, and have insurance with riders for some of it - at 20+ year out of date values.
I know Chubb from car coverage - one of the companies that has agreed-upon value. Didn’t know that they did watches. My wife’s jewelers have suggested some jewelry-specialty companies also.
Yes, I’m a financial professional, but my expertise on insurance stops after the uses of life and long-term-care. I don’t get involved with liability or household.
3 Likes
You should be able to add a VPP (Valuable Personal Property) rider to your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy. VPP upper limits are basically unlimited, you pay commensurately for the level of coverage, and it often requires an appraisal or other proof of ownership. A VPP rider can generally be exercised separately from the policy it is attached to, and it won’t affect your primary policy premium rate.
1 Like
It obviously has powerful sentimental value for you. I wish I had a few pieces of my Dad’s jewelery, it all went to the wind so to speak (in other words ?) after he passed. I was a kid at the time, so no real way to track it down…
It’s a beautiful watch, I hope you at least take it out occasionally to look at or wear, even if it’s just at home.
Anyway, I’m glad you keep it serviceable, and hopefully you can pass it down to your kids someday.
1 Like
I have fine arts coverage with a rider, and some of the collectibles are also covered in a rider. But valuations are old and some of the collection probably fluctuated. The net has had odd effects on depression glass, for example. It can be easier to find some prices and pieces, but styles change in terms of favor. The good stuff is still difficult and expensive. But authoritative pricing no longer exists.
1 Like
Well, as far as passing it down. I have all girls ( 41 and 38) and watches aren’t their thing. The wife if I go first will sell it and break up the money between the girls. The grand kids, well are girls as well.
I had to go for a dedicated, custom, policy with Lloyds for my complete audio setup. It was either no-go, or the rates just didn’t make any sense, otherwise. Was still expensive, but we’re talking ~$1.5M coverage, on a ground floor, in Florida, in an obvious, and very exposed, flood and hurricane zone.
Same for our art … most of which is paintings, but there’s some sculpture work.
Watches, I did via Hodinkee (which use Chubb). It’s pretty reasonable and absolutely zero hassle for anything under $100,000. There’s also a grace period on new purchases/additions being covered prior to scheduling.
The wife’s jewelry is with Jeweler’s Mutual. Has been good so far.
Ironically, the way insurance is going in Florida, we may have to move just to make it possible to GET insurance (I’d say at reasonable rates, but that ship has long since sailed here … my homeowners went up 60% YoY … even with all the high-value stuff on separate policies).
2 Likes
My VPP covers art and jewelry, but there is no option for coverage of “high end” electronics other than cameras & photograph equipment. I suppose I should probably call them and double check that my hifi electronics would be covered under the main policy. Seems like probably not since my hifi system in aggregate is worth more than my watch collection.
2 Likes
The problem I had with the VPP approach (bear in mind insurance in Florida is already subject to a much smaller group of potential insurers) was that they required appraisals for every watch over $10,000 that was a) over 2 years old and/or b) didn’t have store receipts for.
That’s 90% of my collection.
Those appraisals were $300-$600 a pop, and required sending the watch away for weeks at a time, with the only shipping options having a hard-cap of $1,000 insurance.
So, with third-party insurance and regular re-appraisals necessary for proper coverage, it just became a complete farce.
Hodinkee/Chubb is a bit more expensive in terms of raw coverage, but is so much less hassle that its entirely worth it (for me).
2 Likes
Yeah, Florida is a difficult place for insurance no doubt - more so now than ever. 
My father was military, so I have USAA and their insurance is fantastic. I just contacted them and confirmed that even my “high value” electronics are covered in my main policy. And so far they haven’t required me to have my watches appraised beyond the estimated value I pull from Chrono24.
Honestly I’m more concerned about the value of my record collection. I use the mid-high estimate from discogs to value it, but I’m not so sure they would accept that if the time ever came. But I guess that’s a problem for another day (or hopefully NEVER)
1 Like
You know, it’s funny … perhaps ironic … I have 12,000+ LPs in “proper” storage in the UK, and I don’t think about their insurance at all (they’re covered as part of the storage agreement, but not to market value … fixed price per LP/album).
I think that’s partly due to the fact that, as much as I love vinyl, and find it more enjoyable (if not technically nearly as competent) than digital … if I lost it all … I wouldn’t attempt to replace it.
2 Likes
I might not either, but in the case of some massive disaster I sure enough intend to be compensated for the loss of a collection I’ve spent 25+ years acquiring.
1 Like
I think … I’d have to check the agreement … that I specified 25 GBP per album for an insurance basis. Some are worth 20x that … some (maybe most) less or effectrively nothing.
I’m guessing it averages out.
All in, it’s a bit shy of $400K in coverage.
At this point, everything I couldn’t get digital versions of, natively, that I was happy with, I have (or had*) ripped/needle-dropped.
From another perspective … between my analog and digital libraries, I crossed the threshold of where I could not listen to every track, once, between now and being dead.
That’s a sobering thought, and has practical implications …
And yet … I still continue to explore, and acquire, new music … (yes, I know … that’s a definite tangent!).
*I wound up buying a high-end LP setup for the job, and paying one of my UK friend’s kids to needle-drop all the stuff I couldn’t get good digital versions of, and then selling that LP setup once it was done. Flew over to teach him how to do it properly.
3 Likes
I’m nowhere near that. My record collection is worth ~$25k at the high end (though it is EVER growing 
). Fwiw, it’s actually reasonable easy to catalog your collection on discogs, though it does entail going through every album one by one to extract the pressing code - a big ask on a collection of 12k records. lol /tangent
1 Like
I never tried to value my record collection. A little new but mostly vintage in very good to excellent condition. I wonder what it could be estimated at per linear foot.
2 Likes
If you look at the label of each record there’s a 5-7 digit alphanumeric code. If you search that code on discogs.com it will return the exact pressing of each record. It’s relatively easy to catalog your collection this way, though I gather insurance companies are not great about accepting the valuation (though it is, in fact, the most “market value” valuation you can get)
So I’ve got about 15 to 20 linear feet of albums. That’s a lot of little tiny codes to check. I do know about the pressing codes and that you can look them up on Discogs. Mostly, to verify that I don’t have some of the really rare or desirable Led Zeppelin pressings.
1 Like
Back to the subject of watches …
I just realized that, oh, three and half years ago I had posted this … to start off the thread. And now having acquired the GMT Master II that the Tudor was supposed to be a stop-gap for, it’s time to find it a new home.
I actually feel a bit bad about that (enough that silly-sentimentality may result in it staying) … as the Tudor GMT is a lovely piece in its own right. And it has a PROPER GMT movement. I’m just not sure when/where I’ll wear it (which would be a shame) now I have the Rolex version. Especially where the bezel on the Rolex is sturdier and more scratch resistant.
2 Likes
Fwiw I would think twice about that. The Rolex is an obvious upgrade, but are there not still occasions when it would make more sense to wear the Tudor which you’re not so worried about banging up etc? A high-fallutin’ “beater” if you will. Just a thought.
2 Likes
There are plenty of occasions where one might avoid a Tudor in favor of a Seiko or a San Martin beater too.
2 Likes