Explore Q Report's Content Centre for expert advice on jewellery insurance. You can also read e-guides and blogs, watch videos and more.
Some people have one special watch (like their grandad’s Rolex), and others have a full collection of luxury timepieces. Either way, you’ve probably worried about the possibility of theft, loss or damage. After all, watches sadly make the top 10 list of most popular items for burglars.
For worries about the safety of personal items, people turn to insurance. But does home and contents insurance cover luxury watches?
Home and contents insurance helps to replace or repair your belongings if they’re stolen or damaged by a covered disaster, such as a fire. If someone burglarises your home and takes your camera, or your furniture and books are destroyed in a fire, contents insurance alleviates the expense of replacing your possessions.
Too many people assume that their home and contents policy covers everything they own. When you read the fine print, however, you realise that high-value items like luxury watches, may not be covered (or at least not adequately).
Is your luxury watch protected from the unexpected? In this article, we’ll look at the issues surrounding cover for fine timepieces so you can evaluate your personal needs and protect that treasured watch.
When you shop around for home and contents insurance, you’ll find two main types of policies: replacement value and new-for-old.
Most policies offer new-for-old cover, which means you’re covered for the full cost of replacing your belongings that are damaged or lost during events such as a burglary or fire. Even if your laptop were three years old at the time of the loss, you’d be able to replace it with a new one.
A replacement value contents policy only covers the value of your possessions. Your three-year-old laptop has depreciated since you first purchased it, and this type of policy will only reimburse you for each item’s current value.
What does this mean for your luxury watch? Depending on your type of coverage, you may or may not be able to purchase a replacement that meets your luxury watch’s standards of quality and value. And, as we’ll see in the next section, home and contents insurance may only cover your luxury watch under certain conditions.
When you apply for home and contents insurance, you can choose different levels of cover. The least expensive option is a defined events policy. It usually only covers your possessions when they’re lost through a singular event, such as a burglary or house fire. This type of protection doesn’t do much for your luxury watches because they’re highly portable.
Unlike a television, which stays in your home all the time, a Rolex accompanies you to work and nights out. If your watch sustains damage while you’re on holiday, that loss is not considered a defined event, and it likely won’t be covered.
For a broader level of coverage, some contents policies include accidental damage, which protects you against incidents like dropping your watch on a tile floor or smashing it in a car accident. This type of cover costs more than a defined events policy. Still, it typically has a value limit for specific items, and this limit often falls short of the replacement cost of luxury watches.
Most contents policies have limits on how much you can claim for your belongings. For example, your policy may only reimburse you up to $500 for a ring, even if it would cost $4000 to replace.
Valuable items like Audemars Piguet watches may need to be insured for a higher value or listed separately under your home and contents policy. Otherwise, you might receive just a fraction of its actual cost as a result of your claim.
When you opt for specified cover of a luxury watch under your contents policy, you’ll most likely need to get a valuation. You will also have to pay an additional premium to obtain adequate insurance for valuable items.
After learning more about insuring your watch with home and contents insurance, you might be wondering if there’s a better way. Home and contents insurance works well for many personal items, but it’s not well-suited for watches for the following reasons:
What’s the answer?
Q Report Watch Insurance covers your favourite Vacheron Constantin or Patek Philippe whether it’s sitting on your dresser or keeping time on your wrist as you fly to Fiji. No matter how far you travel, our insurance protects your watch at its current value.
Complimentary Revaluation & up to 150% Cover
Each year, we revalue your insured luxury watch at no cost to you, so you’ll always know you have enough coverage. If your watchmaker discovers that the replacement value is not quite enough to cover the cost of replacement for an approved full loss claim, our Q Classic policy includes an additional 50% buffer. This sometimes happens if currency fluctuations or sudden spikes in the value of the watch will make it cost more to replace.
Return to Your Jeweller or Watchmaker
We love luxury watches ourselves, so we think it’s vital that you have the option of returning to your original jeweller or watchmaker for repairs or replacement. Of course, you can go anywhere you wish; the decision should be yours.
Agreed Value Cover
Home and contents insurance doesn’t always pay the amount shown on your policy in the case of a claim. Even if you’re paying a premium on the insured value shown, they can replace your watch at the lowest price that they can find.
Here at Q Report, our watch insurance policy provides agreed value cover, which means we’ll pay the actual amount shown on your policy minus a flat $100 excess In the case of an approved full loss.
Customer Danielle Yeates put it this way:
“Undoubtedly the BEST jewellery insurance available. General household policies don’t even come CLOSE to being adequate or compare to what you get from Q Report. Going back to my jeweller was one of the most critical things for me, and this was guaranteed. They are so easy to deal with too and are actually a pleasure! Something definitely unexpected in the insurance industry. Highly recommend!!”
Since we only cover jewellery and watches, we’re highly attuned to the concerns you have about your luxury watch. And we believe that beautiful timepieces were meant to be worn and enjoyed, not tucked away in a safe.
So wear your watch with pride and joy. When you know it’s fully insured, you can wear it with peace of mind. If you haven’t yet purchased your watch, consider buying from a Q Certified Jeweller so you can have insurance from the moment you walk it out of the shop.
And if you’re wearing it right now, get a free online estimate for a Q Report watch insurance policy. Have questions? Ring us at 1300 882 018. We look forward to talking with you.
To get an accurate insurance quote, please provide the amount from your purchase receipt.
Don't have the receipt?
If you don't have the receipt, you can provide the most recent valuation amount instead.
