Flying with your watch?

I always take it off and put it securely inside my carry-on.

I think we're missing an important voice on airline travel etiquette. MadDog, what say you?

Im travelling a lot in my work, and always use heavy metal watches like the SM1000’s, Ploprofs, Big Blues etc... These set of the scanners every time so i remove them always at security.

My biggest fear is to reach for you jacket in the bin, with the watch stored on top of it, and seeing it flying thru the air towards the concrete floor. (been close a few times...)

So always store it in your jacket pocket or lap top cover, never loose in the tray.

I have flown commercially at least once a month for more years than I care to remember, and I fly recreationally hundreds of times a year. I fly with my watch all the time. Actually, I wear it all the time, unless I'm running, hiking or in Iraq. My daily is a Navitimer on a leather strap, and I'd never had it go off in the metal detector. Occasionally in a body scanner, they will want to look at my watch when I get through, but I've never had to take it off and send it through the x-ray machine. I have never been concerned about damaging it by flying, and after 13 years of daily wear it's still in great shape. I only recently bought a second watch and now I rotate them from day to day, but will often travel with the second watch in a zippered pouch in my briefcase.

All major (and regional) airports in US and Europe never took the watch off. I had my colleague did it long time ago, by the time he got to the end of the line to pick up his belongings - watch was stolen. If you travel with more than one watch on the other hand, I have cheapo hard case from eBay - like this(picture from the web):


And this is how it holds my watches:

I always make sure not to leave it loose in the tray - always put it inside a bag and there so be no issues.

Similar experience in CONUS and Western Europe, I have had them ask to peek under it, but never to remove it.