Collecting luxury watches is a passion that often requires a substantial financial investment. Whether you own watches inherited from a parent or rare and sought-after automatic, manual, or quartz models, these pieces can hold sentimental value that sometimes surpasses their financial worth, making them irreplaceable.
What risks are your watches exposed to?
Luxury and collectible watches are vulnerable to various risks:
Environment: Humidity, dust, exposure to light and heat (fire) pose threats to dials, leather or fabric straps, and internal mechanisms.
Theft and vandalism: In France, burglaries have increased by more than 50% in ten years, both in urban and rural areas (source: ONDRP, National Observatory of Delinquency and Penal Responses). Jewelry, and specifically watches, are prime targets in 45% of cases (ONDRP).
To protect your watches, it is essential to secure them in a safe, away from handling, accidents, and temptations. A fireproof safe offers dual protection for your documents and digital media such as the register of serial numbers and photographs of your watches, preserving their ownership and value over the long term.
Read also
Why you should buy a safe?
What criteria should you consider when choosing the right safe?
It’s about protecting what matters to you and thus living more serenely. A safe should be difficult to open by force and hard to carry away. It must be made of high-resistance materials, with secure locking and a fastening system.
The budget varies depending on the level of resistance, protection (theft, fire), required volume, the value of the items to be protected, and your risk assessment.
What is the environment of your home?
To conduct a proper risk analysis with your insurer, it is important to determine if you are in a city house, an apartment, or a rural area, and whether you have other complementary security equipment (alarm, security door).
What is the value of your luxury watches?
To choose a safe offering the best levels of quality and performance against break-ins and theft, refer to the European burglary resistance standard 1143-1 Label A2P, which is the most demanding standard for safes. Rigorous tests are carried out in laboratories to test the resistance of the safe. There are 7 classes (from 0 to VI). The higher the class, the greater the resistance, covering significant damage (insurable amount). The European standard 1047-1 guarantees resistance to fires.
Read also
How to evaluate the security level of a safe?
What will you use your safe for?
Choosing the right lock, whether key, combination, or electronic, is as important as the safe itself. Determine its intended use. The level of performance (sophistication of the combination or opening code) plays an important role in deterring burglars. Protection against theft requires a lock certified in compliance with the EN 1300 standard. Beware of losing your key and its duplicate, as well as forgetting the code for a digital lock.
What is the volume and layout you need?
Start by deciding what you will store (official documents, jewelry, computer). Plan enough space to accommodate your watches and an additional volume of at least 30% to meet future acquisitions. A safe will accompany you for many years. You can also choose specific arrangements to store your luxury watches, such as watch boxes, jewelry cases, or drawers. Safes can be equipped with electrical outlets for your watch winders.
Where will you install your safe?
Define the installation location based on usage (daily, occasional, multi-user), available space, and accessibility (installation). A safe can be built into a wall, or if it weighs less than a ton, it must be fixed into a concrete floor or wall to deter removal attempts. Choose a place in your home that is accessible for you and convenient to enjoy your collection but difficult to access for intruders. Avoid obvious places like the master bedroom or office, often visited first by burglars.
Read also
How to choose the best location for your home safe?
What is the cost of buying a safe?
It is tempting to think that any level of protection is better than none and to choose the easy option by buying a cheap product. However, most untested and uncertified products are sold under the generic term “safe.” Many so-called “certified” safes have not actually been tested by an accredited and independent laboratory. Acquiring such a product simplifies the task for thieves, as they no longer have to search for your valuables – you’ve put them all in one place!
It is therefore crucial to distinguish these products whose prices are very attractive and which are easily transportable for you but also for burglars!
Starting from €1,400 for a Complice built-in safe class 0 (up to €8,000 insurable value)
And up to +€40,000 for a high-security safe with an insurable value exceeding €300,000.
All Fichet Bauche safes are designed and manufactured in France at our Bazancourt factory.
Need help choosing the most suitable safe for your needs?
Guide d’achat
These tips should help you better protect and secure your precious luxury and collectible watches. Good security starts with a good safe!
