Reply With QuoteGet an insurance certified one and get one with a combination lock. I'm not a fan of battery powered digital locks.
I'm looking for recommendations for a theft proof / fire proof safe to store my humble watch collection. It will be bolted to the floor. The best I have found is the following:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-Lock...gateway&sr=8-1
Any comments on this safe or better suggestions?
Get an insurance certified one and get one with a combination lock. I'm not a fan of battery powered digital locks.
Have a search on here for safe threads, one of our members sells them, I THINK it's markS but a search will confirm it, he will give you good advice and a good price I bet.
mike
MarcJ is the guy to contact.
Also, agreed on the mechanical combination lock. Safe keys can be bloody long!
For anyone that has used MarcJ, where is he based please?
Secondly, if you have bought through him, can you share which safe you went with? A model number is enough, just to give an idea.
Additionally, does he do the 'bolting' down installation aspect or does he simply supply?
We'll be needing one installed soon but have very little idea as to size/price/options/etc.
Agree on getting an insurance approved one. I have a digital lock and it works fine for me, was an expensive upgrade over a key lock though
Another vote for MarkJ here.
Personally I would purchase a second hand unit from a professional safe supplier with mechanical code lock rather than the unit from Amazon.
Been quoted £300 for the safe and £100 delivery for home use.
The safe company I visited in Essex had a warehouse filled with them. All safes come refurbished, but you have to wait 3 > 5 weeks.
I’ve bought a few for work, and have had the repainted for an extra £50.
If you need fire protection, you could purchase a fireproof wallet.
B
He’s based in Barnet but his guys seem to go all over judging from what they said. His guys do the fitting and bolting down as part of the price. Battery powered Chubb combination ones seem good. You can externally power them with a 9v battery if required and you don’t have to worry about further hiding a keyOriginally Posted by cman
whilst this is probably not what you want to hear....
I have also been considering the same. In the end, decided to hire a safety deposit holding with St James (they are based in Manchester and Leeds), at a cost of £110 per year. The major downside is that I need to take a trip into the city centre to rotate (which is a huge hassle) - but personally it sits very comfortable with me that my possessions are truly secure.
Have read too many stories locally, of thieves breaking in, and demanding that the safe be unlocked. This is seemingly on the rise too
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...paign=sharebar
Thieves demanding safe be opened is an argument for keeping key off-site.
Of course, depends whether they’ll believe this and the lengths to which they’d go.
I'm realistic. The watches are watches and a determined thief will get them and I would open a safe in a heartbeat in at threatening situation. The safe is simply to protect against the opportunistic thief. Please keep the suggestions coming.
I went for something totally unpractical with character
I didn’t bother to bolt it down, if they want it and can carry 350kg they can have it.
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See if you can get hold of a proper Safe, not that expensive. It weighs, I don't know buts its heavy. It took three burly blokes with a sack truck to get it upstairs , and they struggled. no scrout bag burglars are going to move it or get into it. Its old, from the 40s I think, West Bromwich made
Hatton Garden customers thought that
So true!! (Lol)
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I have a safe similar to the big heavy ones shown above. It took 3 men, each built like a gorilla to move it in and no 20 year old scrote is going to get into that, so the goods are safe.
The only downside is that no insurance company will accept it as being secure because of the age and design.
I also have a big heavy safe of a similar size to the above photographed ones although mine was bought brand new, is insurance and fire rated and has a mechanical combination lock. It took three men to deliver it and they also bolted it to the concrete floor. For anyone with a collection of watches it's money well spent not to mention somewhere to store documents, passports etc securely.
One reason insurance companies won't rate older safes is paradoxically they are far too easy to open, especially the key operated ones. A friend of mine bought a similar sized safe to those pictured above for £10, the only issue was it was locked and the key had been lost, but he could hear there were some things rattling around inside. He called a locksmith who had it open in a couple of minutes and said he could make a key for it for £50. The contents weren't particularly valuable but were worth more than the combined total he had spent on it!
Not really bothered about what insurance companies think or rate my safe all I know is 99.99% of house burglars would not get into it, I doubt Raffles will be round our way anytime soon
I'm pretty sure most of that range are rubbish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3p5KUNfDG0
I bought mine on ebay, its a key type and I have it well hidden and bolted down , it would stop a casual burglar I'm sure but not a pro, cost about £200 deliver £4k cash and £40k valuables rated
i too went with an older but more substantial safe,a tann ts4 from a former high street bank,its is 6ft tall so takes care of all the guarding duties while im away, it is a high grade safe with a colossal rating for insurance and weighs in at 3500 kg's. I do believe the only way into this box is by asking, the door is 125mm thick before the hard plate and wall thickness is 207mm, the only way in is by asking, but its a feint,a look at me, the main duties while im at home is done by a much smaller discreet hidden(built in by me during construction by me)safe also with a high rating.If they come i will be happy to open the eye catching safe in my garage for access to papers,cards,deeds and other valuable items.
Many thanks for the info. He's within 30miles which is promising. Non powered, old school mechanical/combination style would be fine. Glad to hear his team bolt down and install! I'll reach out in due course. Deciding on location will be tricky... for something so heavy and substantial.
I'd ask for Marc's input with that too.
And for reference, my safe fits into the lower half of an IKEA Pax wardrobe perfectly.
See if you can get hold of a proper Safe, not that expensive. It weighs, I don't know buts its heavy. It took three burly blokes with a sack truck to get it upstairs , and they struggled. no scrout bag burglars are going to move it or get into it. Its old, from the 40s I think, West Bromwich made
Fantastic thing I find old safe's fascinating. If I had the space I'd have one.
At my old job we had one with a Mk4 manifoil combination lock on, uber cool !
My old house had one of those large old safes bolted to the floor in the built in wardrobe. During renovation of the house, it had to come out but unfortunately, I'd already removed the staircase and access upstairs was via a ladder.
I called a couple of second hand safe companies who wouldn't offer much money at all and they'd only collect from a level ground floor. We had to get it down by rolling it, Egyptian style, on cut lengths of scaffold bar then lower it with a block and tackle. I gave it to a farmer neighbour who wanted it to store his shotgun cartridges in. He collected it with a forklift truck. The thing must have weighed half a tonne.
It had no scrap value either as apparently it was a steel case filled with concrete, not solid steel walls.
Last edited by broxie; 5th August 2019 at 12:41.
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