Insurance?

[stilty]

I'm curious as to what to do with insurance. Obviously, one cannot insure reps as genuine, or even insure reps. I can't see any insurance company covering illegal goods.

But damn, it would be a drag to have my watches stolen, or lost in a fire or earthquake. "knock on wood"

What about Frankens? One can easily spend $1000 on a franken if one uses all genuine parts. How would that work? The watch is not illegal nor is it infringing on copyright... all the parts are genuine, with the exception of the movement. I can only see it being a problem if the watch was represented as 100% genuine. Or how about those spectactular Daytonas out there with zenith movments and all gen parts? We're talking thousands of dollars per watch? $800 to $900 for the dial alone!

How would one list with insurance company? How do you prove value or replacement cost? Would one line list as an inventory of parts? Could one list the genuine serials from the cases?

[gioarmani]

Coming from a law student, I'd highly suggest that you not even consider listing any part of these watches, or anything to do with them. If they burn or get stolen, simply forget it and move on to the next one.

It's way too easy to be misconstrued as fraud. Don't give anyone even the smallest reason to deny your claim, much less worry about criminal charges looming over your head.

[ubiquitous]

My El Primero Daytonas are going into the safety deposit box now that I've found some new watches to wear as daily beaters... All my other watches I can rebuild/repurchase for the most part, but this pair (even though they are frankens) have special value and meaning to me, hence will get the special treatment...

[oakland]

I'd agree, definately don't try to insure. Mostly because you need either an appraisal, or a receipt of purchase. The receipt in one way is incriminating itself, and an appraisal would be considered fraud, unless you told the appraiser a watch is a rep, in which case i doubt they'd appraise it at all. Either way, you would have to do something illegal or shady to insure your illegal or shady goods. I wouldn't consider it. Honestly, would you insure all of you 200.00 watches. I wouldn't, gens included. That's my 2 cents.

[Chicken Manny]

Two words; fire safe. All the insurance you need unless you have some high end stuff to protect and some very savy thieves. Oh, and bolt the thing down.

It is the only thing that keeps me relaxed when I travel.

[stilty]

Thanks everyone. My policy is coming up for renewal and was just curious. No way in hell I would even consider a rep, but when I look at the drawer of gen cases, dials, crowns, date discs, hands, bracelets, and all the movements, it really adds up!

[deltatahoe]

My policy is coming up for renewal and was just curious [...] when I look at the drawer of gen cases, dials, crowns, date discs, hands, bracelets, and all the movements, it really adds up!

i don't see any reason why these genuine items cannot be insured....i would talk to your insurance company about it -- tell them collecting watches is a hobby and you have lots of spare parts (dials, cases, movements, etc) that you want to make sure are insured. it would probably help if you had receipts of some sort for these, but i'm guessing you can get them insured for replacement value some way or another....

if/when you talk to your insurance company, post back here if you can remember -- i'd be interested to hear what they say about it....

deltatahoe

[KB]

Good advice! I carry a HUGE rider on my insurance to protect the trinkets in the lives of the delightful Ms. Nanuq and me. My insurance agent's eyes lit up when she heard what some of this stuff is worth. Do I regret paying it? Honestly, yes. But if something happens and I need to replace the irreplaceable, it will be worth it.

As for the reps? I try to maintain the mindset that they're all worth about as much as it would cost to give them away. I think that keeps things in perspective. If you can't bear to give it away, then either you shouldn't have it, or you should insure it. WITH DOCUMENTATION. Get it appraised.

So Nanuq show me your watch collection and I will tell you what you can give me

Ken

[offshore]

I'm sure insurance works differently around the world... however I last week re-insured my house & contents... I wanted a "blanket" cover for $20K on jewellery, watches and my tools.

I was asked only to supply photos of my work area,(tools) and about 20 of my more than 1000 watches ( all genuines)(and a couple of pieces of jewellery ) -didn't even show the assessor my (few remaining) reps

I have it in writing that in the event of a claim, my assessment of the value of a piece will be accepted!!

Obviously I am paying a premium to cover a single loss @ $20k, even though my most expensive piece would be no more than $5k, so I don't really understand the mechanics of all this.... maybe I'll find out if I ever have a claim

Offshore

( PS the premium on the policy was around $200)

[stilty]

I'm sure insurance works differently around the world... however I last week re-insured my house & contents... I wanted a "blanket" cover for $20K on jewellery, watches and my tools.

I was asked only to supply photos of my work area,(tools) and about 20 of my more than 1000 watches ( all genuines)(and a couple of pieces of jewellery ) -didn't even show the assessor my (few remaining) reps

I have it in writing that in the event of a claim, my assessment of the value of a piece will be accepted!!

Obviously I am paying a premium to cover a single loss @ $20k, even though my most expensive piece would be no more than $5k, so I don't really understand the mechanics of all this.... maybe I'll find out if I ever have a claim

Offshore

( PS the premium on the policy was around $200)

I'm sure I'll be able to work something out with them. They'll be happy to take more money from me! I already have an extra policy out for my golf clubs as they spend most of the time in my trunk and the car policy does not cover loss of contents.