You’re excited; it’s finally time for the big night on the town. Your wife looks like a million bucks in her best dress. And you’re looking fresher than a billionaire in your suit or tux. Of course, your timepiece matches your outfit perfectly to upgrade your look even more. You and your friends may be telling stories about this night for years to come. However, all too often, the stories from a night like this include the tale of a stolen watch. If you own a luxury timepiece, you are at risk of this happening to you. However, there are several steps you can take to mitigate that risk. 

We recently published an article about insurance for your watches. We won’t rehash that topic here, but insuring your watches is of the utmost importance. Truth be told, it can turn the story of a watch theft from a horrendous travesty to a frustrating annoyance. You never want your watch to be stolen, but it’s much worse if you are uninsured.

So let’s talk about ways to reduce your risk of watch theft. The first tip is to be discreet. We get that you’re proud of your new luxury timepiece; we’re right there with you. The problem comes in when you brag a little too much on social media, followed by a description of where you’ll be for an event. Or worse yet, you highlight your watch in posts from the event while you’re still there. A very simple way to exercise discretion is to post about the event you attend with your luxury timepiece after you leave the event. 

Going along with discretion on social media, you should also be discreet while wearing your timepiece. This means that, if you have sleeves, you might want to roll them down and cover your watch when you’re in certain areas prone to crime. What are those places? We have all been somewhere that made us feel unsafe, whether or not you were even wearing a timepiece. Those would be the places you would want to cover up your watch. Sometimes though, watch theft can happen in broad daylight and seemingly safe areas. That leads us to our next tip to help prevent watch theft.

When you’re out and about with your watch, whether or not you’re in an unsafe place, you should make a habit of paying close attention to those around you. Some safety experts called this situational awareness. Are you paying attention to what’s going on around you in public or are you “doom scrolling” on your phone? Staying at least semi-aware of everything around you can help prevent watch theft as well as enhance your overall safety. If someone around you is acting strange, stay away from them. Distance yourself from those exhibiting erratic or unusual behavior. Sometimes this can be a distraction technique so that the strange-acting person’s buddy can swoop in and steal your watch.

Speaking about “swooping in” leads to the next tip about watch-wearing safety. While we all know that a timepiece has the highest value in its original condition with the original strap, a criminal may be okay with only making off with the watch case and movement and losing the strap as collateral damage.  One method of watch theft is for a thief to quickly swoop in, take a knife, and slice your watch strap so the remainder of the watch falls free. To reduce the risk of that happening, you might want to opt for a timepiece with a built-in bracelet instead of wearing one with a rubber, leather, or NATO strap. It’s much harder for a thief to quickly remove the bracelet from your wrist than it is for them to cut the flexible strap and run.

Sometimes your night on the town happens out of town. Keeping your watches safe while traveling is a challenge and deserves its own safekeeping tip. Some people will say that you should only travel with one watch to prevent the theft of, or worry about, the other watches when you’re not around. That is an option, but let’s be honest: if you’re a watch addict like us, you NEED to have at least one or two watches available for each day that you’re gone. If that’s you, we get it. But make sure that you have a plan to protect your other watches while you’re not wearing them. If you’re traveling to a hotel room or a cruise ship stateroom, is there a safe in the room? Can you lock it up in a way that employees of that establishment cannot access it? Do you have a small safe or lockbox of your own that you bring with you when you travel? These may not be details that are as fun as planning your experiences on the vacation itself, but as the adage goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” As a side note, a safe may also be a wise investment for your home to prevent watch theft on an everyday basis.

One final note about traveling: you may have heard or read stories about some unfortunate men who have had their watches stolen after bringing an “adult companion” back to their room. We’re not going to get up in your business about this one; we will simply say that if you want to bring someone back to your room, make sure you know who they are and that they’re trustworthy. And it doesn’t hurt to lock up your timepieces before they get there too.

Talking about watch theft is not fun, but it is a necessity in today’s world. Taking some simple precautions and attempting to remain situationally aware at all times will minimize your chances of adding this chapter to your story.