Morning gents.
Im sure this has been covered, I did do a quick search but no real joy, so I thought I would ask.
Obviously not looking for personal info but a guide for a newbie such as myself would be helpful, as my collection grows such does the need for a little more security at home.
Any advice welcome even it is just a go down that route advise.
Thanks
Other than buy a safe and bolt it to a wall, what sort of advice are you after? There are a few threads on types of safe people have bought. There are also threads on insurance.Originally Posted by 2ptjoe
I have a safe that I use for watches documents and other high value items
I also have cctv and an alarm. The standard fitout for any home security, nothing more nothing less.
If you have an awkward space to utilise also consider a gun cupboard - they're as if not more secure than a standard safe and being taller and thinner can lend themselves quite well to watch storage.
They also tend to be cheaper for a similar level of security.
Very true, and I agree they're just as secure as a safe. Bit more difficult to hide though. I'd personally recommend more than one safe, with the first in a traditional place and the other somewhere non-traditional. Decent alarm system of course and always make sure it's switched on at night! Also handy if you make friends with the local police station and have their phone number.
Another option is a floor safe. They're rarely particularly big, but they're cheap, secure and easy to hide under the corner of a carpet.
I'm just looking for any advice really.
For obvious reasons I don't want people to list what they do but ideas to steer me in the right direction from people experience, like the gun cabinet idea, are wonderful.
I'll search harder as well thanks
For me the old saying works best. If people don't know what is where then they can't get at it so hidden floor safe sounds like a great idea.
There was a very old but very solid one fitted when I bought my house, but in converting to solid floors its had to come out and I've no longer got anywhere to put it.
To be honest you could have had it if you were closer.
Depends on the value and your insurance policy - some insist on safes.
Best form of security is a dog IMO.
Hmmmm......
To the OP, do a search on safes and you'll find plenty of threads. I had one of these fitted via bolts to a concrete floor and it's proved invaluable for my watches, documents and other valuables. A decent safe and fitting is not expensive, compared to the peace of mind offered.
A good start is not advertising massive collections on what is effectively a public forum!
Not if you knew my dogs it isn't . Flipping things will lick you to death.
Thanks for the thought. Yes, bit of a trip.
A friend of a friend used to deal a lot in cash and used to hide it all in his loft. He told his wife where it was in case he get hit by a bus but what he hadn't factored was the mice and only being in a couple of bags the mice used it as nice little home and bedding.
Not watch talk but just reminded me of it !!
On a related note, I often wonder how susceptible this might make those who heavily use Instagram etc. to show-off their wrist baubles. Some are smart enough to keep their face etc. out of their pics, but a lot don't. I'm not sure I'd be wanting to advertise to potential thieves that on any given day I'm likely to be regularly carrying several thousand pounds' worth of easily removed & concealed watch on my wrist, with more at home.
As to the OP's question - a safe, CCTV, dog, alarm etc. are all very worthwhile, but I think a decent Insurance policy should be the first line of defence - a safe won't help if a watch is snatched from your wrist or gym locker, or if an intruder is threatening your family in the hope of gaining access to your hidden safe.
Agreed!
I do wonder about it too, if someone was determined they could get a lot of information from social media/forums and target people specifically. It's a cynical way to think I suppose but being sensible doesn't take up too much time.
I was burgled a couple of years ago, I had an alarm, but they didn't care, from what we worked out, they were in and out in less than a 5 mins, and once they found the safe, they were laughing. The police think they used a similar tool to them to get the patio door off the wall, the same tool got the safe off the wall and floor attachments, they got a nice collection of mens and ladies watches.
The police advice was to hide things really well and separately, they did suggest somewhere, but for obvious reasons, I don't particularly want to say where. I now have CCTV as well as the alarm.
Last edited by dickdutch; 26th July 2018 at 18:02.
Very easy to pinpoint a location when people allow GPS data to be embedded in images...
Yes, it does amaze me what people put on social media in general.
Facebook is prime as they announce to the world that they are off on holiday for 2 weeks .............
I think the comment about splitting items is good if not in a safe.
You don't even need to do that - most patio doors you can get through with little trouble in less than a minute if you know what you are doing.
I don't bother with a safe on the basis that I'd prefer they didn't thrash me to get the code. I scatter a few low value watches on the middle floor and hide the rest.
I know a way of getting through patio doors in seconds: a brick. Unfortunately your house is only ever as secure as a glass window.
You need to make your house somewhere a thief does not want to be inside. Ear piercing alarms, dogs and hiding valuables (and car keys) make life difficult for an intruder. Security lights and CCTV are good deterrents but make sure they are out of reach. It’s amazing how many intruders use a casually discarded sweeping brush or washing line pole to push a camera/light/sensor skywards.
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I believe a safe makes it easier for them. All the valuables in 1 place. I seen a house trashed where a huge safe from upstairs was pushed down the stairs, ripping the plaster off the walls and breaking the bannisters. Good insurance on properly valued items is the best hope.
This.
They also steal camera hard drives from attics. A lot of alarms are unmonitored
hi all,have got CCTV and alarms and a proper safe but i think my best deterrent is my lovely old rottie Diesel,loves his family but very territorial.some lowlife smashed my nieghbours patio doors with a brick but lost interest when Diesel threw himself at the dividing fence barking and snarling..
Last edited by greasemonkey; 27th July 2018 at 07:52. Reason: sspelin
+1, my thoughts exactly.
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 27th July 2018 at 11:04.
Put a dummy hard drive up there with the real one more hidden.
My preference is hiding them in a domestic setting.
I think most burglars want to be out of your house as quickly as possible. So put watches and jewellery somewhere safe and make it take them ages to find them
Just don’t forget where ‘safe’ is
Craig
And that's exactly how majority of dogs would react in the similar circumstances, it also unfair to expect of your (untrained) pooch to lash out and sink it's teeth in an intruder using its own judgement only. Service dogs are trained to do it on command and more importantly disengage when told to. There are special k-9 courses one can enroll to, having said that, my in laws have to keep their little chihuahua away from any stranger coming to their house whom she sees for the first time as she just goes for the jugular despite the size difference. Once 'properly introduced' which involves sniffing the 'intruder' and allow herself to be petted while MIL or FIL hold and pet her as well, she will happily tolerate anyone and will lick to death friends and family even if she sees them once in a while. Completely changed my view of the breed..
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I have a 3.5 ton safe i took out of a high street bank, its got 100k cash rating, when im away everything goes in here, its big its heavy and its insured, watches,guns laptops hard drives etc, i also have a small well hidden safe for every day. The plan is the big guy take the beating while the goods are safe are elsewhere.
As mentioned before, a decent house / contents insurance policy will not only give you peace of mind for contents in the house but also while you are out and about. And a decent heavy safe, bolted into a concrete floor if you need it. Consider the value you are protecting and spend accordingly.
As you you can see I just posted a SOTC to the forum. The day I can’t share with fellow watch folk collections such as this, for fear of theft and abuse - is when I give up this little hobby.
Use encryption - or back up to the cloud with 2 pass authentication.
How will encryption help, aren’t they taking the drive because it’s possible evidence against them?
I use a large gun safe bolted to the floor. I have it in a walk in closet so it's out of sight and it's fire proof so watches mite survive and any thing else inside. Was a pain putting it in the house they are not light.
Sorry - thought you meant a HD with your personal backup data. If it's for CCTV then defo backup or stream to cloud storage (not local HD)
I’ve a normal safe and gun safe. House alarm, Insurance and a dog.
Regarding dogs, most would bark and some thief’s simply don’t like dogs. But beyond that, certain breeds have a natural guarding tendency, if you want a dog to protect you then you choose the right breed.
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