Watch insurance 

Watches can be invaluable in both sentiment and cost, so you want to make sure you safeguard yours the best you can. While you can't protect the sentimental value of your watch, you can protect its actual value with insurance. This guide will run through a few insurance options available to cover your much-loved timepiece.

What is watch insurance?

Watch insurance is a type of insurance designed to protect the value of your watch by replacing it or repairing any damage. Insurance for your watch can be found in many ways, such as through home insurance, contents insurance, single item insurance or specialist watch insurance.

What are my watch insurance options?

Contents insurance
A contents insurance policy is a type of home insurance that protects your belongings (contents within your home), including jewellery and watches. It automatically covers watches up to a certain limit. If the value of your watch exceeds this amount, you can always add more cover for specified personal effects. You might also want to add on portable contents cover so that your watch is covered outside of your home.

Home and contents insurance
Cover works in the same way as contents insurance; however, you get the benefit of protecting the physical structure of your home as well. This is mainly useful if you already have a home and contents insurance policy. You may have cover and not even know it, so it's best to check. While you're at it, check to see if you're happy with your home insurance premium – if not, it might be time to switch.

Single item insurance
If you don't own anything else of huge value and you want cover for your watch only, single item insurance could be the right option for you. It says it all in the name, you insure specific items only. Make sure you compare it to the cost of other insurances though since you might get better value out of a home insurance policy.

Specialised jewellery and watch insurance
There are a few insurers out there, like Q Report, that specialise in insuring jewellery and watches. You'll probably have to pay a little more for this specialised insurance since it also offers things like valuations of your watch and the ability to choose your own jeweller if your watch needs replacing or fixing.

Get watch insurance in contents insurance

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Name	Product	Watches	Jewellery	Portable Contents Cover	Accidental Damage to Home or Belongings	Fire, Storm & Theft Damage	Online Discount
Budget Direct Contents Insurance			$5,000	20% of your contents sum insured	Optional			Get 15% off your first year's premium when you buy a Budget Direct Contents insurance policy online. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
St. George Contents Insurance			$20,000					Save 15% on the first year of your policy when you buy online. Use promocode: COVER. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Coles Contents Insurance			$5,000	Optional	Optional			Save 10% on Coles Contents Insurance when you buy online. Also, get double flybuys points at Coles Supermarkets. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Westpac Contents Insurance			$20,000					Get 15% off the first year of your policy when you buy online. Use promocode: COVER. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Youi Contents Insurance		Optional	$15,000	20% of your contents sum insured	Optional			Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Virgin Contents Only			$5,000	20% of your contents sum insured	Optional			Save 15% on your first year’s premium when you buy a new eligible Virgin Contents Insurance policy online. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Domain Contents Insurance			$5,000	Up to specified Value				Get 12% off your first year's premium when you purchase a new Domain Contents Insurance policy online. T&Cs apply.	Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
ANZ Contents Insurance			$3,000	25% of your contents sum insured	Optional			Get a quote View details	Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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What's the best cover for watches?

We can help you figure out how to get the best cover for your watch, but there's no one-size-fits-all insurance policy. You'll also need to think about what's going to be the best policy for your situation.

In our opinion, the best insurance policies for watches will have the following benefits:

• Cover for wherever you are. Some policies may only cover your watch for when you're at home (but how often will you lose your watch at home?); it would be great to get a policy that will cover your watch outside of home, and sometimes even outside of the country.
• Cover for the right value. If you really love your watch, get it valued so you can insure it for the right price. Don't forget to take depreciation into consideration as well.
• Your choice of repairer. If you have a really expensive or valued watch, you may want to be able to choose who repairs it or replaces it.

If you're thinking about getting home insurance to cover your watch, it might be helpful to look at what makes the best home insurance policies as well.

What can watch insurance cover?

Specialist watch insurance and home insurance policies can provide cover for the following:

• Accidental loss, damage or theft
• Worldwide travel cover
• Fire, flood or other weather event
• Revaluation of your watch every year to match replacement cost
• Cover for additional valuable items

Pros and cons

Weighing up the pros and cons can be a helpful way of working out if watch insurance is for you.

What it doesn't cover

All policies have exclusions. Your watch most likely won't be covered for the following:

Frequently asked questions

• What's the difference between watch insurance and watch warranty?

  A watch warranty is a type of guarantee that a manufacturer has made regarding the condition and standard of its product. It's different from watch insurance because it will have a limitation – meaning it only needs to adhere to that condition and standard for a specific length of time. Generally, it only covers faulty products and not all types of loss or damage, like accidental damage.

• Can I get single item insurance instead?

  Yes. Single item insurance may be worth getting if you're only interested in insuring your watch. Some policies won't cover you for accidental damage though, so keep an eye out if this is the policy type you opt for.

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