As a watch enthusiast and Rolex collector I’ve dabbled with the idea of proper watch storage for years. Once you reach a certain point in your collection it’s an issue that all of us think about, and it’s a serious issue considering the total value a small Rolex collection can be – let alone a larger collection.
During my years as a collector I’ve mingle with others in the industry, whether online on the forums or in real life at watch events or just friendly gatherings. This is a subject that’s brought up almost every single time, yet there hasn’t been any definitive protocol or guide for best practices when it comes to safeguarding your valuable collection. I’m writing this guide today in hopes of changing that, so that other watch enthusiasts can use this article as a reference point.
Why Do we Need Storage
This is a fairly simple point to discuss, as many of us own multiple high-value watches – we cannot wear them all at the same time. This leaves us with one watch on the wrist and the rest of the collection, well, off the wrist. This is where the question comes into play, where do you store the remaining, one, two, or 50 watches in your collection?
Proper storage is essential as you can’t just leave a multi Rolex collection out on your dining room table when you leave the house. This leaves your collection susceptible to a petty home burglary, let alone a sophisticated robbery that could have been planned in advance. There’s quite a few examples of high-profile home burglaries, which I think is enough to warrant the need for correct storage.
The Safest Storage Options
Let’s explore some of the highest security options for storing your Rolex collection. The drawback to using the most secure options is a lack of convenience, so it’s up to you to decide how much you value your collection and much access you need to your watches.
Bank Safety Deposit Box
The bank safety deposit box is going to ultimately be the most secure but least convenient way to store your watch collection. Opening up a safety deposit box at your bank is also relatively cost friendly as well. The chances of your watches being stolen or misplaced at the bank is minuscule. You’re going to be benefiting from the entire safety infrastructure of the bank in this case. Generally the banks is going to have multiple layers of the most sophisticated security, the building itself will be reinforced substantially to thwart and slow down, or make it nearly impossible to brake into.
The bank is also going to have the best commercial and professionally installed security and camera surveillance system. Then comes the most important layer of security for your watches, which is the bank grade high security vault. This vault will usually have multiple reinforced doors to be accessed, and the vault itself will be more secure than any high-grade TL rates safe you can buy for your home.
This all sounds fantastic, but the real downside with using this option is accessing your watches for wearing. This is the perfect option if you have certain watches in your collection that you wear infrequently or don’t wear at all. If you have your watches on frequent rotation you’re going to want to move down to the home safe option below.
High Security Home Safe
Next up in terms of safety is the high security TL rated home safe option. We’re not talking about cheap safes with no ratings here, this section is about only the highest security home safes that come with a special rating, I recommend the highest rating of TL30, but TL15 is also adequate depending on positioning and location of the safe. These safes generally weigh around 400 pounds for the smallest lowest TL rating your can find, and usually sell for around $1500usd brand new – for the cheapest option. The best ones will weigh 2000 pounds or more, and don’t really have a cap on price with some of them going into the $100,000 mark depending on brand and size.
If you choose to go with this option you’ll have more convenience to access your watch collection at home during hours that the bank is closed, holidays, and you don’t have the burden of leaving your house each time. Although these TL rates safes are extremely safe, they can still be compromised with the right tool and the right amount of time. Positioning the safe properly in the house is very important to make accessing the safe even more difficult for a thief, and anchoring the safe into cement is essential. It’s also wise not to talk about your home safe or tell anyone it exists.
Hidden Storage Spot
The hidden storage spot is a funny concept, as at times it can be more secure than even a bank or high security home safe. After all, if a thief doesn’t know where your watches are located, they’re impossible to steal – right? Another benefit is you can get creative and build a hiding spot inside your home yourself and it won’t cost very much financially.
This option is self explanatory, and you can think of countless ways and special places to conceal your watches inside the house. Perhaps in the ceiling, floor, or inside a circulation vent. Another benefit to this option is the convenience of accessing your watches at home.
More Convenient Alternatives
If you don’t have a very high value collection, or if you’d rather rely on insurance to safeguard the value of your watches, then you might want to tone down the security a little in exchange for convenience. Let’s discuss below a few hybrid options that align with this.
Combination of Bank and Home
A simple option would be to use a combination of bank and home storage. You can keep half of your collection at the bank, and the other half at home. Another way to go about this setup is storing your box and papers at the bank and the watches at home, or the other way around. This is a bit of an odd option but depending on personal circumstances it could work for you.
Easy to Access Home Safe
Another low security option is a low security safe placed somewhere easy to access and in the open. Your watches will still be relatively safe from “robberies of convenience” and they’ll also be easy to access quickly for yourself. I don’t recommend this option as it leaves your collection open to attack, the other options on our guide are better than this.
Low Security Display Safe
An even worse and less secure option than the one above is a display safe. This is a low security safe with a display window, usually built with winders inside to showcase your collection. This allows visitors to your house to see your entire collection, and at the same time it’s easily broken into with bare hands or small hand tools. This is the least recommended method of storage on our list.
Storage While Travelling
As a bonus let’s discuss a few of the safest ways to store your watches while travelling. Ultimately the best and safest option is to travel with only one watch, and that one watch should remain on your wrist with no removal, and never leave it in a hotel room.
If you so happen to want to bring multiple watches on a trip, it’s highly recommended to keep them on you at all times. Don’t leave them in a hotel room, inside an air-bnb or even at a friends house. You should keep the watches inside a discreet travel case like a WATCHPOD, and stored in a backpack that you keep on yourself. The bag you store your watches in should be safeguarded against any form of pickpockets while outside.
Alternatively, if you have access to a bank in the country you’re visiting, a safety deposit box will again be your best option.
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