Following on from the discussion around Hodinkee's offering via Chubb, could we discuss the best offerings for UK watch owners?

I used to use Hiscox, who offered great customer service, were relatively flexible, offered cover for visting housekeepers (who held keys - a 'key' requirement for me) and they only required pieces over £10k to be separately listed. They required certain items (i think those over £20k) to be kept in a locked safe with a fairly high cash rating, if it isn't on your wrist (bit of a pain, but manageable), but crucially, they didn't offer 'underinsurance'. So as my collection grey in value, it just become too expensive.

I would like a policy that lets me insure X% of my portfolio, rather than the whole lot. Essentially, I want to to insure a value of £X (the sum assured), whereby i am simply ensured to receive a cash value of (up to) £X if i have a sustain a loss up to the value of £X, where £X < full portfolio value. So say i have a £100k collection, but i only want to insure, say, £50k of it, I take the risk on the remaining £50k. Some insurers let you do this, others vehemently refuse to, presumably as they feel a larger collection is more at risk...although surely they could just price for that?

Anyway, it seems Beazley offer this, and the pricing looks to be around 1.6% (w/ £250 excess, per item)

Who do other people here use? Does this sound about on-the-money? What else do i need to think about or check in the small print..?

Many thanks for any thoughts.

 

I use AssetSure currently (just rolled into second year) but I'm also interested in exploring other options. They're not the cheapest but you can pick and choose what to insure, whether or not you want accidental loss coverage (adds a bit to cost) and there is no premium payable on claims. My household policy covers any valuables (watches, jewellery, etc.) up to £1500 or £2500, I forget. Anything over that I cover with AssetSure. It keeps the house insurance quite low while not having to worry about the increases in cost if I need to make a claim.

The cost is front loaded so gets cheaper as you add more items. Example: Single watch insured for £9,680 is £141.44 including tax and admin fee (£15) so 1.46% of value with no premium. If I add another watch for around £6000, it's an additional £40-45 from memory (quoted in 2019), so about 0.75%. Didn't key in a third so not sure how it scales from there.

I excluded accidental loss since that's not likely to happen. I've never lost a watch in my life (broken many, some intentionally) so taking an informed chance on that one. Forced theft from person or home is covered along with international trips. No special requirements for storage that applied to me but that could be due to what I was insuring.

Although, I've never had to make a claim yet which is the true test of how good an insurance policy is.

 

Interesting, thank you. That certainly sounds competitive. They are knowingly underinsuring ? I like to have something written into the policy specifically, to make it absolutely clear that the amount i want to receive in case of a claim is less than the total value of the collection.
Do you approach directly, or do they use insurance brokers? Either way, do you have a good contact for me to try?

 

https://www.assetsure.com/ (Underwritten by Lloyd's of London)

You declare each item individually and they may require some proof of value but since my watches were new/modern I didn't bother. I insured for original purchase value and have receipts to back it up and they were fine with that. Obviously more difficult with vintage or second hand pieces but you can contact them to discuss the evidence they require. They pay out to a maximum of the insured value in any case but not sure how it impacts items you may have "overvalued".

 

I have up to £60k on my Aviva insurance with single item cover up to £20K.
If you have more than £60k you could keep other items in a safety deposit. With Aviva you do not need to name the individual items so you could rotate them.

I have all pictures/valuations and serial numbers stored just in case.

 

assetsure are affiliated with watchfinder. They know the value to replace and as mentioned you pick your insured value.

they can, I think, source the watch if the price is stupid.

I use them and they are good for the international cover, theft when out and about etc. Not that expensive either. I should note, I’ve never had to make a claim however.

 

Does this work for vintage though? I dont want new-for-old, I dont want a loss-adjuster's equivalent, and I dont want to argue with a claims clerk about why my claim for a 1956 watch is 100x what it originally cost my grandad.

 

Thankfully I have not had to test it but the policy says "market value"

 

I get my valuable insured on my house insurance. I detailed them but also get them valued individually for insurance purposes. For valuation I have used value my stuff https://www.valuemystuff.com/uk?gcl...M5bOdCU2hEITRFK_Dy-lvYJXqxBF406gaArLPEALw_wcB