Imagine that you purchased this Rolex GMT-II ref 126710BLRO, new in 2019, after waiting patiently on the waiting list for nearly a year. Your receipt shows that you paid the then retail price of £7,150 and that is what you covered it for on your insurance. Sadly it has stolen, and you quickly realise that your insurance settlement doesn’t cover the current retail price of £7,750. So not only are you short £600, but you also find out that your insurance company doesn’t get a preferential replacement from Rolex, so you’re going back on the waiting list.
This time you’re going to have to wait somewhere between 12 and 18 months to get another one. By which time the retail price will have gone up again. You can, of course, bypass the waiting list and buy a pre-owned model, but with second-hand values around £16,000, you are going to be even more out of pocket.
So how can you ensure that you not only obtain a replacement within a reasonable time frame but that your level of insurance cover is sufficient? The easiest way to ensure this is to have the watch valued based on a second-hand replacement, which factors in the premium price. You’d also need to ensure that your insurance provider is willing to underwrite the watch on this replacement basis.
Never assume that just because you have insurance that you are covered and always have your watches and jewellery regularly valued by a qualified, experienced and independent valuer.
Gareth Brown FGA, DGA, GIA-Pearls, CPAA, AJP, FJVA
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