Watches and jewellery worn while travelling: the worldwide all-risks extension

A watch or piece of jewellery is often treated as part of daily life until it leaves the house. It goes through airport security, hotel safes, beach clubs, restaurants, taxis and second homes abroad. A standard contents section may protect it at the insured address, but that is not the same as protecting it while it is being worn around the world.

The extension to ask for is usually described as worldwide all-risks or personal possessions cover. It is designed for accidental loss, theft and damage away from home, subject to limits and conditions. For high-value items, the wording, schedule and valuations matter more than the headline promise.

What we analyse in a collection

Art, jewellery and watches are insured well only when the policy reflects how each piece is valued, kept and used. We analyse that before approaching the insurers whose underwriting suits the collection.

Valuation and agreed value

Who values the pieces, how often valuations are updated, and whether they are insured on an agreed value or on market value at the time of loss.

Scheduled and unscheduled items

Which pieces must be listed individually, and what limits apply to items that are not listed, per piece and in total.

Where the pieces are kept and worn

At home, in a safe, in a bank vault or when travelling: each location changes the conditions and has to be declared.

Partial loss, restoration and loss of value

How restoration is handled and whether a loss of value after repair is considered.

New acquisitions, loans and transport

How new pieces are added, and what applies to works lent to exhibitions or shipped between countries.

Security and prevention

Alarm, storage and transport conditions that the insurer may set, and how they fit the way the collection is actually used.

What we need to prepare a proposal

• A list of the pieces with recent valuations or purchase invoices.
• Where each piece is kept, and the security there.
• Pieces worn or taken abroad, and how often.
• Any loans, exhibitions or planned transport.
• Your current policy, if there is one.

We assess the risk, analyse the conditions available and look for the protection that fits the collection. All cover is subject to the insurer’s acceptance of the risk and to the terms of the policy issued.

Insurers and specialist partners

Adler & Rochefort works with insurers and specialist partners in the protection of private wealth, including Hiscox, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, Hispania and Innovarisk. The choice of solution depends on the characteristics of the property, the sums insured, its use and the underwriting conditions available. All cover is subject to the insurer’s acceptance of the risk and to the terms of the policy.

Specified items, not vague contents

Insurers expect important watches, engagement rings, necklaces and collections to be listed individually. The schedule should show a description, serial number where relevant, current valuation, photographs and any purchase evidence. If the item is hidden inside a general contents sum, the single-item limit can be far below its real value.

Travel changes the risk

Cover away from home is not permission to be careless. Policies often require reasonable care, use of hotel safes when items are not worn, and immediate reporting to local police after theft or loss. Some destinations, events or unattended baggage situations can be restricted.

The question is not whether the watch is insured at home. The question is whether it is insured on your wrist, in another country, after midnight, when the receipt is five years old and the replacement cost has moved.

Values move quickly

Luxury watches and jewellery can rise sharply in replacement cost. A valuation that was sensible three years ago may underinsure the item today. Agreed values, regular valuations and clear documentation help avoid a claim being settled on an old figure.

How to arrange it properly

• List each high-value item separately on the policy schedule.
• Keep valuations, photos, certificates and serial numbers outside the insured home as well as inside it.
• Check territorial scope, unattended property rules and hotel-safe requirements before travel.
• Review values whenever exchange rates, precious metal prices or secondary-market prices move materially.

An intermediary can place jewellery and watches within a high-net-worth home policy, a valuables extension, or a standalone solution depending on the values involved and how often the items travel.

Living in Portugal or Spain

The extension works the same way whether the household is based in Portugal or Spain, and the specialist wordings we arrange write it on the same terms in both. Two local points are worth knowing. First, standard Spanish home policies distinguish robo, theft with force or violence, from hurto, theft without it — a watch taken from a sun lounger, a bag lifted in a restaurant — and outside the home they often cover the first and not the second. Portuguese policies draw the same line between roubo and furto. A true all-risks extension on scheduled items removes the distinction, which is the main reason to have one.

Second, watch theft in resort areas and city centres is a recognised pattern in both countries, and underwriters on either side of the border ask where pieces are worn and how they are kept at a second home. A household that moves between a home in Portugal and one in Spain needs both addresses on the schedule and the safe conditions set for each. See private clients in Spain.

This article is provided for general information and does not constitute personalised advice; the position for any household, vehicle, collection or journey depends on its own facts and on the policy wording. Adler & Rochefort is a commercial brand of Ownizo, Unipessoal Lda., mediador registado na ASF n.º 425591790/3.

More on this subject: Insuring an appreciating asset: agreed value vs market value for cars, wine and art · High-value bicycles and e-bikes: cover away from home · When your art collection outgrows your household policy