Five things you should do after buying an expensive watch

Ricardo Sime

You’ve saved up for two years to get the watch you always wanted. There was even a month there where you were living off saltines and peanut butter just to get over the hump. And now, finally, after all this waiting, your precious has found a home right on your wrist. Yet before you step off into the sunset, there are five things you should really consider doing. Especially after buying an expensive watch.

Insure it

Depending on how much you spent to add this watch to your collection, insuring it should be the first thing you think about. With the recent rise in thefts, having insurance on such a large purchase will give you the peace of mind needed to truly enjoy it.

Many people, when they think about watch insurance, automatically assume that their homeowner’s coverage will suffice. Yet in many instances, the limits of such coverages don’t line up with the cost of an expensive watch. Leaving you to shell out the difference if you want to replace the piece. However, if you do decide to get good coverage, which will cover you in instances such as theft, fire and earthquakes, note that the cost is reasonable. Your premium can range anywhere from 1 to 5 per cent of the watch’s value annually.

Not bad for a bit of reassurance.

Save the warranty

You see that lovely box that came with your precious watch. You see how you tossed it into the black hole that is the “storage” corner of your house. Well, I highly advise you don’t do that. At least until you grab the warranty card from within and save it somewhere safe.

It’s imperative that you always keep your watch’s warranty card in a safe place. It provides you access to after purchase services in instances where you identify issues with your watch within a few months. With millions of watches sold yearly, even a decent 2 per cent service rate means a ton of watches get sent back to manufacturers for some TLC.

That warranty card proves you fall within the range in which the brand allows free service for manufacturing related issues. Which saves you from paying high service fees. It’s also nice to have should you decide to sell the watch to someone else while it’s still under warranty.

Snapshot of the caseback

The caseback of a watch isn’t just for looking at the movement or seeing how much water resistance you have. Printed on it is a very useful piece of information should you ever need to report it stolen. That is the serial number.

A watch’s serial number is its unique identifier. Like your social security number in the States, the serial number provides the manufacturer with an initial means of verifying the watch is indeed authentic. But more importantly, by taking a picture of the caseback, your watch can also be easily identified should someone try to sell it after it has been stolen.

Note that your watch’s serial number should also be written on your warranty card.  A picture of the caseback will act as a good backup should that be lost.

Case it

You just dropped $3000 USD on the new Tudor Ranger. Life is good until you knock it off your kitchen island. What was it doing on your kitchen island? Well, seeing as you have no storage options available, you thought that would be a good spot.

Wrong!

For the same reason you would keep a classic car in a garage when not driving it, an expensive watch should be properly stored when not on the wrist. Accidents happen fast and leaving your watch out in the open is just an invitation for trouble. A simple four, six or eight piece watch case will do the trick. And with prices starting at $100 USD for a quality offering, the financial investment is well worth the protection.

Strap it

My final piece of advice is to buy straps.

For many of us, buying an expensive piece is something you only do every few years. With that in mind, it’s important to stretch out the experience. And one of the easiest and most affordable ways of doing that is with watch straps. With just a handful of straps, you can completely change the look of a watch over and over again. It’s a sure-fire way of extending the honeymoon phase of the purchase, allowing you to bond with a watch in more situations than you would have, had it still been on it’s original strap.