I’m thinking about keeping my watches in a bank safe deposit box.
The cost would be around £20 a month. However, they said they do not insure the contents which sort of threw me.
Anyone else keep there watches in a safe deposit box and does it seem better idea than storing at home?
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Not insured because they will have no idea what's in them?
Pretty much a world standard. In Australia they are closing up Deposit Boxes monthly. Obviously the cost of the service no longer "...resonates with our client mission statement..." - I can't be the only one sick of such BS.Originally Posted by Kingstepper
I think I keep mine in the same place. Not insured but safer than in the house.
You can get insured boxes. My friend has one but has to go to Kensington each time and the hours aren't great. They seemed happy with C24 prices for insuring.
It's in a bank though, what's the chances of your box getting robbed?
Whilst it's unlikely that there'd be a raid, from time to time, some boxes become 'lost' and cannot be found.
Retail banking is nothing like the movies, it's often physical keys, CCTV that doesn't cover all areas, few staff and a lot of trust.
Last edited by AKM; 13th September 2021 at 21:00.
Most high Street banks stopped offering safe custody services years back.
And as I said when I was there you could forget Hollywood and instead imagine 50 cash boxes piled up in a heap in a concrete vault.
Many people have their items of much greater value pawned for a nominal sum like £100. Monthly interest of perhaps £8 or so may be much cheaper than the cost of a safety deposit box, but if the items are stored in properly-rated bankers’ safes their home insurance typically applies with the full value insured.
Please check with your insurer before copying.
If customers stop using the branches, what else can they do? A bank is a business not a public service at the end of the day, if the branch isn't getting used enough to justify it remaining open then the community has spoken. Same as any other store really.
When I worked in a bank we had locked boxes provided by the customers rather than safe deposit boxes. They were balanced on top of each other and were forever falling off the shelves.
Heaven help anyone who had anything delicate in there.
I can see the logic in it, but why have watches that are kept at a bank. The joy to me is looking at them and being able to rotate whenever I want without needing to book an appointment. I’ve bought off people on here who’s entire collection is locked away in a vault somewhere.
Each to their own, but I wouldn’t want to own a watch that necessitated it being stored elsewhere.
Weren’t most of the boxes in that big London vault robbery uninsured?
Totally agree.
Spot on, a watch to me is something to be worn and enjoyed, heck that's the whole point of buying it surely?. I do appreciate though to some they are an item of wealth/status and needs to be locked away rather than worn as they are meant to be, it would not pay for us all to be the same I guess.
What an idiotic statement. This discussion is nothing to with ones reason to buy watches and your snide comment just serves to derail what was previously a good thread.
The simple fact is that once your collection is worth more than £100k and/or has individual watches worth more than £30k, insurance at home is all but impossible in the UK. My premium would be £6k to £10k per year depending on cover. Why would I pay that? I suppose you would just sling them in the sock drawer (which would invalidate all of your house contents insurance btw).
We are not talking about locking watches away, not to be worn. We are talking about the safest convenient location to keep them safe when in rotation. Or are you suggesting we should wear them all at once?
Couldn't you just put them in your panic room?
Did I ask your opinion?
It is a headache Ken. For two weeks now I've been trying to find time to pop in and swap the DSSD for a Sub. It'll be three weeks by the time I get there. My arm is beginning to ache.
I just don't want more than one watch in the house at a time. I see it as too much risk. Should the worst happen I'll only lose one and still have a collection.
buying a safe for your home (assuming you have the space) wouldn't be too much more than the p/m cost for the vault, clearly dependent on the grade of safe and level of coverage.
plus you have to get insurance anyway, whether independent or through your home insurance, having the safe should hopefully help
You can insure watches which are in a safety deposit box.
In my experience, even cheaper than in a rated safe at home.
I live in a country where it is not possible to insure items like watches.
I bought a safe. Its in the corner of a walk in wardrobe. I poured a layer of concrete over it using wood to make a frame. Waited for that too dry. Expanded the frame and poured a second layer of concrete over it but this layer contains broken glass. Then a final third layer.
Safe now set in a big concrete box. The concrete is under its legs, top, sides. It is completely encased, apart from the door of course.
Sanded it down, painted it black and cemented some nice tiles on the top.
If we go on holiday, I put some coats over the top, an old yoga mat and some boxes of books.
In normal use, get key from another room, type in code and take watches in and out. Takes a minute.
Can't imagine any safe-crackers lurking around here! Also your average burglar, not that we get many, is after cash or phones.
I'm more than happy with this arrangement for watches, passports etc..
A decent quality gun safe properly located and fitted will defeat most thieves, additionally a cheap safe box just placed under the bed will encourage most thieves to just scoop it up and get out quickly, don’t forget to put a house brick in it to give it ‘heft’.
Great topic relevant to many…
Question: what happens if the security deposit company go under quickly and unexpectedly?
Would your insurance pay out if your valuables were unrecoverable?….
Does anyone worry about spotters outside ‘safety deposit buildings’….
Or…..am I overthinking it all.? = probably
Good thinking, what sort of safe are you using, is it fireproof?
Yes, for xx hours. Can’t remember how long.
I’m guessing 50kg+ of concrete would help as well
Not really worried re fire, our villa is made of very hard concrete. All tiled floors and furniture is very spread out.
Am insured for earthquake and volcano damage!
Where do you live? Location on here is herts.
That’s five years out of date then.
Bali.
Re safes: I have said before on here that a decent firearm safe is a good quality cheaper alternative to a standard safe. They are also a bit slimmer than standard safes (but obviously taller)
They are iso and insurance rated, large enough to keep other objects in and the ammo locker is a safe within a safe. Perfect for smaller objects like watches.
I too worked in a bank (in Kensington) when at uni and the safe deposit boxes were as already described.
Just piled up on top of one another on shelves in the main vault. I am happier that my valuables are in my home and safely (as far as they can be) tucked away.
I would second the Firearms safe, you can get a decent pistol version with an internal lockable ammo section, all hinges are hidden within the safe casing so you would just need to secure it to a decent solid wall.
I still have mine in the loft albeit not secured to a wall but have been thinking about re-using it again recently and screwing it to the apex brickwork on the house looks like it will work.....definitely worth thinking about.
I have stored my watches in a safe deposit vault for years and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Firstly, I will never insure my watches because the premiums are ridiculous vs the insured value.
Secondly, I don’t want valuables in the house that anybody might cause damage to gain access to. A safe is useless when you have a knife to your throat.
Finally, my vault is located within walking distance of several great restaurants. I love going to the vault to swap watches and follow up with a long lunch.
A decent home policy will cover it if it's on your wrist.
I have to back up the comments about bank "safe deposit" facilities. Make very sure it's a proper facility before forking out cash for it. When I worked for Barclays the boxes were stacked on a shelf and the vault is open access to all staff of cashier level and above during the working day. They lock their own cash away in cages/safes within the vault room but any dishonest employee would have plenty of time to open a box or remove one entirely with some planning. It might be safer than at home, but the risk is definitely higher than "I'm ok unless the bank gets robbed".
Blimey, at least at HSBC our boxes were locked in the vault under duel control (two keyholders) when the safe door was open.
I did see more than one box fall and spill its contents though. God knows if it all went back, we were fishing stuff out from under a set of shelves with a ruler.
I use a firearms safe at home, bolted to a solid floor and wall inside a cupboard.
Sure, it has no valuables no insurance rating on it, but I am not looking to defeat a determined person who has the time and equipment to get into it, I am looking to stop the casual thief from finding and removing my collection
I bought a 4 or 5 gun one, and have built a set of shelves on the right hand side to take my watches, as well as the more valuable and rarely used parts of my wife's jewellery and so forth.
There is even room for my air rifle.
D
Also use a bank safe deposit box for keeping watches. Visit and change the rotation every couple of months.
Really interesting comments, exactly what I was hoping to get insights on. I store my watches in a home safe at present but it’s not bolted down as I live in a flat. And it would be easy to carry off. I’ve heard unsavoury looking characters have been waltzing into the block of flats because idiots keep the main door on the latch at times, and I’m getting a little bit uneasy about having them at home.
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I wonder if this will even be an option for anyone outside of big cities before long. My town had all the major high street banks present a couple of years ago. Now we’re left with one building society and the last bank seemed to think it was ok to direct their customers to the next nearest branch 60 miles away.
I’ve a safety deposit box in a specialist vault in Manchester. They have an insurance product you can take out.
I simply emailed my old fashioned broker and asked them for cover of the contents whilst in the safety deposit box only. Cheap as chips
If anyone wants an intro I think both of us will get 2 months free.
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Have just been through the same thing, going as far as reserving a box and opening an account with the only bank in town that still has deposit boxes. It was only when I rang my insurance company, expecting a reduction in premiums due to the new safety measures, that a spanner was thrown when my insurance company said they would not insure my watches if they were kept permanently in a bank vault (they would insure them for temporary storage) When I asked why, I was told it was because they had no control over the bank, but could specify the security measures in my home, i.e - rated safe, BS locks etc.
Seemed a bit strange to me, but I’d rather have them insured at home than not in a bank.
I have watches in a bank safe. I specifically asked my home insurance company if they would insure this scenario and they said yes. It was an add on but I have some comfort that they are insured. Up to certain value etc. of course.
Doesn't anybody have sock drawers these days?
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
I store my socks im a safety deposit box.
I pop in once a month to change them over.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
On the other hand, good luck getting them out of the house if there's a fire!
Excellent for floods though I guess... swings and roundabouts!
If Rolex, lend to your AD to store in their window?
(Would also impress other customers if you could waltz in, try it on and walk out with it on your wrist.)
LOL
Im looking for somewhere to store my watches in Sheffield. Like many of the above posters im a bit uneasy with having half a dozen expensive watches lying around the house. Any recommendations?
No recommendations as I live in the South but a quick google brings up...
https://sheffieldvaults.co.uk/
which is supposed to be opening later on in the year?
Cheers,
Neil.
Good subject.
I’ve been toying with the idea of opening one in my local area.
Lots of banks closing down and leases around £50k per annum.
1000 boxes at say £300 per annum, £300k a year income, minus the rent leaves £250k minus staff wages and fit out…can’t imagine it’s cheap but once done surely running costs are minimal.
One local bank offered a safety deposit service and sold out within days.
I’m based in Bromley, which is South London. Pretty affluent. Nearest safety deposit box would be London.
Cheers, I think I saw this a while back. I was originally toying with the idea of a safe bolted to the wall but my uncle had his crowbarred off the wall whilst he was on holiday. Took loads of the brickwork with it. Although I think this must be a very rare occurrence
Im surprised that AD's don't offer a storage type service. Keeps clients coming back to the store to switch their watches out so would provide the dealers more facetime with their clients as well as being a source of recurring revenue
I’m assuming you are being serious here, perhaps it’s a joke?
Why on earth would a company whose business model is to sell new watches, assist anyone in keeping their old watches, (some of which would not even be my manufactured by them), secure and safe?
I presume for the same reason that car garages offer "free this" and "free that"... To get people in the front door, to tempt in, lay on the patter, and hope to tempt them to leave with something new and shiny.
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