Hodinkee insurance is a new service that was created to provide protection and peace of mind to those who buy or sell luxury watches. It offers specialized coverage, with a focus on delivering fast, thorough customer service.
Here at Hodinkee, they are focused on what matters most to watch collectors: the watches themselves. Having insurance is an essential part of ensuring that your prized timepiece continues to tick for years, decades, and generations.
What is Hodinkee insurance?
Hodinkee insurance is a new service that was created to provide protection and peace of mind to those who buy or sell luxury watches. The goal of the company is to make sure that your investment does not fall victim to theft, loss, accidental damage, or natural disaster.
Here at Hodinkee, they are focused on what matters most to watch collectors: the watches themselves. Having insurance is an essential part of ensuring that your prized timepiece continues to tick for years, decades, and generations.
If you buy a watch from Hodinkee, you will automatically receive 30 days of free buyer insurance with the purchase. It is important to note that this does not cover pre-owned watches. The service provides coverage for up to $250,000 for watch repairs and replacement. This means that if your timepiece is lost or damaged, it will be replaced by Hodinkee with a similar model of equal value. This protection covers only new watches purchased through their website.
Types of their insurance
1. Full Theft Coverage (FTC)
This is the most comprehensive type of coverage that Hodinkee offers. It covers the full value of your watch if it is stolen. There are also many other protections to ensure that your watch will be safeguarded, including full replacement if it gets damaged or loses time, and being replaced free of charge with a new watch of equal value. Most major luxury watch brands offer insurance this comprehensive.
2. Partial Theft Coverage (PTI)
Partial theft coverage can be added to any watch that is in your collection. The insurance protects you from theft, loss, or damage to a portion of your collection. This type of coverage is typically offered by insurance companies for an additional fee.
3. Accidental Damage Protection (ADP)
Accidental damage protection is available for any watch that you own. It covers accidental damage and protects you on the off chance that your watch stops working while you are wearing it and it gets damaged. This sort of coverage is typically included in the price of a new watch.
4. Replacement Coverage (RTN)
Replacement coverage is similar to Accidental Damage Protection in that it covers you for accidental damage and potential loss or theft of your watch. However, with this type of coverage, you will be automatically reimbursed if your watch stops working while you are wearing it and it gets damaged. This kind of policy protects against loss, but not theft.
5. Price Protection (PPR)
If you purchased your watch from a third party source, such as an unauthorized reseller or auction, and you want to take it to Hodinkee for service, then price protection gives you the peace of mind to know that your watch will only cost what you paid for it. If a price change occurs between when you bought it and when you decide to sell it again, they will make up the difference plus 10%.
This is similar to the Accidental Damage Protection that is typically included with a new watch, but with this coverage, your watch will function exactly as you left it.
6. Extended Warranty (EW)
If you bought your watch from Hodinkee, you can purchase an extended warranty for up to two years after buying your timepiece. This protects against mechanical damage as well as any damage from accidental damage, such as water and dust.
7. Partial Theft Coverage (PTI)
Partial theft coverage can be added to any watch that is in your collection. The insurance protects you from theft, loss, or damage to a portion of your collection. This type of coverage is typically offered by insurance companies for an additional fee.
Hodinkee customers have access to three different types of coverage: Full Theft Coverage, Partial Theft Coverage, and Replacement Coverage. The first type covers the entire value of your watch if it is stolen.
Advantages of this insurance
1. No need to buy additional insurance
When you buy a luxury watch, there are always places where you can go to get a quote and see how much it would cost to insure it. Selling is one of them. It helps those of us who have sold lots of watches over the years understand how much money they have made on our investments by being able to add these expenses up on paper.
You can also sell watches at auction sites—to help offset your initial investment if you choose not to keep the watch yourself.
2. A chance for a bigger payoff
In the article below, I provide tips for selling your watch on a Hodinkee-branded auction site. It’s of vital importance that you keep track of the time and dates to keep your finger on the pulse of any potential buyers who might make offers. If you have sold watches in the past, then you already have this experience up and running in your memory bank.
3. A less stressful way to sell
Buying and selling watches online can be a stressful process. You have to be able to trust the people you are doing business with. The challenge with this kind of transaction is that you have a lot of responsibility for the safety and security of an expensive timepiece that you do not own in person.
There’s an added layer of stress if the buyer defaults on the sale and doesn’t follow through with payment or delivery. With Hodinkee insurance, you don’t have to worry about any of this.
4. A streamlined method for selling
When you sell your watch online, you sometimes have to go through plenty of administrative paperwork to get the sale approved. You might also have to provide shipping information and pay for that yourself. With Hodinkee insurance, this all gets taken care of automatically.
5. A competitive price
The fine print on Hodinkee’s website states that the price of their insurance is “competitive with similar services.” The reason for this is because they will be able to get you a discount if you are an existing customer who already owns an expensive timepiece.
6. A way to hedge against inflation
You might have noticed that over the last few decades, there has been an inflationary spiral in luxury watch sales. The prices of timepieces have increased in tandem with the cost of living. When you consider that the cost of living has risen twice as fast as the prices for watches, it’s no wonder that luxury watch sales have declined in recent years.
A Hodinkee policy, combined with Hodinkee’s high-end auction services, can help you hedge against inflation. That is why I raised my estimate for Hodinkee insurance to $1,000 when it was launched a few years ago, and it’s still not too far off today.
Disadvantages
1. A new risk for Hodinkee
There is a new risk for Hodinkee in regards to clients that have already sold watches on their platform and then decide to sell them again. They might sell the same watch again and cover it with Hodinkee insurance. Hodinkee has policies to prevent this from happening, but they are not a hundred percent effective.
2. An arbitration clause
Hodinkee does not disclose the terms of their arbitration clause. However, you can read this clause from a third party site. The idea is that you will have to pay a set amount for Hodinkee insurance, but if you do not get the full amount of money that you are owed, then they will take your watch and issue payment directly to the third party seller.
3. A virtual guarantee
It’s possible to lose money on Hodinkee, but the chances of this happening are very small. The site is very popular with some of the greatest watch collectors in the world. It would take a lot of bad luck for you to lose your money on this platform. Especially if you reach out to them when you have concerns and try to negotiate from their end first.
4. Repetitious fees
The final drawback of Hodinkee’s insurance is that it comes with a lot of redundant fees. You have to pay for the policy, but then you also have to pay when you make a claim. If you sell the watch on their site, then you also have to pay another fee when the sale is made. Therefore, that adds up quickly over time and can really add up if your watch collection grows too large for your needs.
5. No coverage for the rarest watches
Hodinkee’s insurance policy covers most of the top-tier timepieces in the world, but it does not cover some of the rarest watches in existence. So if you have a Patek Philippe reference 5004 or an Omega Speedmaster Professional with a black dial, then you might want to look elsewhere for insurance.
6. No coverage for vintage watches
Hodinkee insurance does not cover antique and vintage timepieces that are older than sixty-five years old. In other words, the policy will not cover watches that were made before 1957. So if you have a vintage watch that is over sixty-five years old, then you will have to look elsewhere to get coverage.
Conclusion
Hodinkee insurance is a great way to get a competitive insurance policy for your expensive timepieces. The product has lived up to its claim of providing “high-end online auction services” for the last few years.
The service does have some drawbacks. Therefore, those are necessary for any company that makes a promise to pay the full value of a watch. That is why there are limitations on the value of the timepieces that you can sell on their platform and limitations on the age of your timepieces as well.
If you are someone who has an expensive watch collection. Then Hodinkee insurance will be a great way to ensure. Therefore, they get paid off in full if they go missing or get damaged beyond repair.