All, I have tried to google this a few times the past few months, but haven't seen many decent results. Do any of you use a personal safe to store your watches? If so, what do you use? I have 7 expensive watches, and event though they would be covered by my renters insurance, I'd prefer to not have to ever replace them due to theft. I guess a follow up question is are their safes that are specifically for watches? Do they make safes that have winders in them? Or, do they make them with outlets where I could plug a winder in?
If you buy a safe made specifically for watches, you're going to get soaked and deplete the watch fund. If you want to drop Buben-Zorweg cash, buy something like this (with electrical outlet included): http://m.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=23724396 ...and a couple of these... http://m.brookstone.com/brookstone-..._Items_Zone|ProductDetails|Accesories|617993e ...and one of these: http://www.patek.com/contents/default/en/5270G_014.html
Safety deposit box with homeowner's / renter's insurance for however many pieces you keep at home. It sounds like you're renting... even if you buy a safe, are you going to be able to sink 12" bolts into that rental?
I probably wouldn't drill screws, but if something weighed 100+ lbs, I wouldn't think I would have to!
When I rented I had a wall safe bolted into the studs, and a safe deposit box. When I bought a house I got an 800 lb Mesa safe and bolted it to the floor. I kept the bank vault box too. Gotta protect those babies.
If you do store your watches in a safe, make sure the environment is dry. I use a wardrobe dessicator in my Honeywell Fireproof safe. Either that or some packs of silica gel.
Just wanted to point out one of the key benefits of the safety deposit box strategy: disguising the full magnitude of your ridiculous collection from your significant other. The best part is that you're not even being dishonest. You only have a couple watches around the house, and as long as you have a little good bye ceremony (or box the watch up on the kitchen table) every time you sell one, your significant other won't think too much of the occasional delivery or rotation. The first question a man would ask is: "And how many do you have at the bank?" Women don't think that way. Out of sight, out of mind.
Here is some food for thought - any safe can be broken into. It just a matter of the right tools and time. If your main goal is to prevent the watches getting taken in a "quick in and out" style break in (which account for the vast majority of residential burglaries) then you need either something really heavy or concealed or bolted into the structure. On the other hand, if you have a very high end collection or are worried about being specifically targeted, I would recommend a bank safety deposit box along with a smaller concealed/diversion safe for watches that are in your regular rotation.
50kg thats gone in a flash. If you dont bolt it down you would be better of filling it with screws and a phone book (too make it feel full) and hiding your watches somewhere else. Any thief would drop everything and go for the safe.
I would strongly recommend against using bank safety deposit boxes for very valuable collections. There are exceptions, but most major banks are insolvent (albeit propped up by the Fed, ECB, etc.), and it is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that in the event of a major crisis, the contents of SDBs will not be safe at all. The exception would be if you have third-party insurance with a reliable company, though that can be tricky.
I store my watches in a small money safe that's integrated into my wall, just put them in a seprate box.
Yea guys always be careful about information you share, the last thing we want is for someone to become a target.