Properly storing your watch is essential to maintain its condition, accuracy, and value over time. Based on expert recommendations, here’s how you should store your watch.
Storing your watch correctly involves more than just placing it on a shelf. It requires attention to preparation, the storage environment, and protecting your investment.
Preparation Before Storage
Before tucking your watch away, especially for an extended period, a little preparation goes a long way in preserving its condition.
- Clean Before Storing: Make sure your watch is clean first. Gently wipe away any dirt, sweat, or oils from the case, crystal, and strap/bracelet. This prevents grime buildup that can damage the finish or material over time.
- Consider Battery Removal: If you are storing a quartz watch for a significant duration, consider removing the batteries first. This is crucial to prevent potential battery leakage, which can cause severe damage to the watch's internal components.
Creating the Right Storage Environment
The physical location and conditions where your watch is stored significantly impact its longevity.
- Store Face Up: When placing your watch in a box, on a tray, or in a drawer, store your watch face up. This position can help reduce stress on certain components of mechanical movements and prevent the watch from resting on and potentially scratching its side or crown.
- Leave Space: If storing multiple watches together, always leave space between them. Watches bumping into each other is a common cause of scratches and dings on cases, bezels, and bracelets.
- Keep Away from Magnetic Items: Store your watch away from magnetic items. Strong magnetic fields, commonly found near electronics like speakers, motors, or certain closures, can magnetize the hairspring in mechanical watches, affecting accuracy. While less of a concern for quartz watches, it's a good general practice.
Physical Protection
Protecting the physical watch from dust, moisture, and impacts is fundamental.
- Use Soft Pouches or Boxes: Use soft pouches to protect it when traveling or storing it outside of a dedicated watch box. For home storage, a lined watch box or roll provides individual compartments and padding, offering superior protection from physical damage and dust.
Protecting Your Investment
Beyond the physical watch, the associated documentation and value need protection too.
- Secure Essential Documents: Keep your certificate of authenticity, warranty cards, and original purchase receipts in a safe place. A home safe or a safety deposit box is ideal for storing these important documents, which are vital for proving provenance, warranty claims, and establishing value, especially for luxury or vintage pieces.
- Consider Insurance: For valuable watches, insure your watch. Adding your watch to your homeowner's or renter's insurance policy, or obtaining separate jewelry/watch insurance, provides financial protection against loss, theft, or damage, offering peace of mind.
Watch Storage Quick Checklist
Here is a summary of key actions for proper watch storage:
| Action | Importance |
|---|---|
| Clean watch before storing | Prevents damage from dirt and oils |
| Store watch face up | May protect movement and finishes |
| Ensure space between multiple watches | Avoids scratches and physical damage |
| Store away from magnetic sources | Protects accuracy of mechanical watches |
| Utilize soft pouches or lined watch boxes | Provides physical protection |
| Remove batteries from quartz watches | Prevents leakage damage (for long-term storage) |
| Store certificate of authenticity safely | Protects proof of ownership and value |
| Insure valuable watches | Provides financial security against loss or damage |
By following these guidelines, you can ensure your watch remains in excellent condition for years to come.
