Our customer loves extravagant timepieces. He has various one-of-a-kind examples of Rolex as well as an IWC. His current favourite: a Rolex Daytona, in white gold with a rubber strap. “I’m fascinated by the manufacture, design and history of a watch,” he says. He currently owns six watches, but suddenly one went missing.

Stolen from his wrist

Recently, during a stay in Kiev, he went for an evening stroll through a street festival with his family. He took a look at his watch and half an hour later noticed in dismay that his IWC was no longer on his wrist. Gone. Incredible how skilful some thieves are!

Insured with Helvetia – luckily

He insured his luxury watches with Helvetia. All it took was a phone call to his advisor, who immediately dealt with the loss. The advisor is familiar with the scenario. The same thing happened to him last summer at the Fête de Bayonne in Biarritz: his Rolex GMT Master Pepsi, a watch he had had for 25 years, was stolen. A friendly man engaged him in a conversation for just a few seconds. “If it hasn’t happened to you, you wouldn’t believe that someone could steal a watch from your wrist without your noticing,” he says.

Household contents or valuables insurance?

Items with an individual value of up to CHF 20,000 can be included in a household contents policy via the additional insurance module “special valuables”. Watches with a higher value need to be insured under a separate valuables insurance policy.

Good to know: if you don’t want to include your watch in your household contents insurance, or don’t even have a household contents policy, you can insure any timepiece – even ones valued at less than CHF 20,000 – under a valuables insurance policy.

Check the value of luxury watches regularly

Insurance usually covers either the price paid or the catalogue price. A person who inherits a watch and doesn’t know its value must have a certificate issued by an official dealer of the brand stating the watch’s market value. But be careful: as collector’s items and special editions increase in value very quickly, it’s a good idea to regularly check the value of insured watches and adjust the insurance as needed.

The Helvetia customer advisor originally paid CHF 12,200 for his new Rolex, but the catalogue price is CHF 14,400. The watch has gained in value in the meantime. That’s why he insured it for CHF 18,900.

To help the claims department process the loss, theft or damage quickly, it is advisable to deposit the following documents with Helvetia:

• the bill for the watch or certificates of market value
• a certificate of authenticity
• various photographs of the watch from different angles, of the watch on its own and on the wearer’s wrist