If you’re a watch enthusiast who owns one or more high-end timepieces, you’ve likely experienced some stress when you have to travel. How can you safely transport your collection without your watches being damaged? Additionally, if you leave some watches at home, how can you properly store them without them winding down? To answer those pressing travel concerns, here are some helpful tips.
For Watches on the Move
You may have different reasons for needing watch storage when you travel. Perhaps you have a favorite watch in your collection that you’d like to rotate out to protect it against loss or theft while going from place to place. You might also like to wear several timepieces over the course of your trip. Maybe you’re planning on shopping for some new designer watches while you’re away, as well.
For these reasons and more, you will need specialized storage to safely transport your watches. An ideal case should feature a hard outer shell that is capable of guarding against impact, abrasion, and other points of contact. However, just because you need a good layer of protection, doesn’t mean that the travel case needs to be bulky or cumbersome.
There are many types of box-style cases on the market that are effective enough, and you can store other pieces of jewelry in them if need be. A single-watch case is a good idea if you want to stay compact, and you have only one watch to carry. Another popular design is the watch roll, which usually can carry a couple of watches. These types of cases are nice and compact and they provide ample interior and exterior protection.
Material Considerations
Leather is typically used on many watch case exteriors because of its durability and luxurious appeal. As with this outer layer, closures are vitally important for ensuring quality. Consider cases with folding covers and brass clasps for longevity. You should also think about the interior materials: extra padding and microfiber lining are great for holding your watches and ensuring that they don’t suffer oxidation, which dulls the metal.
Additional Travel Tips
If you are a U.S. traveler and you do decide to pick up some watches abroad, it is a good idea to declare any valuable items that you are bringing back. This can also apply if you buy a high-end watch case, depending on the price. Most of the time, you won’t actually have to pay taxes on the items you pick up, thanks to CBP exemptions. However, it is a good idea to declare anything you pick up abroad in order to avoid fines. USA Today provides additional tips for declaring watches and jewelry.
For Watches at Home
Even if you aren’t bringing your favorite watches with you when you travel, there are still some things to consider while you’re away. Most modern mechanical watches are self-winding, which means that you don’t have to wind them manually. These timepieces are wound by tiny weights that move with your body movement, an ingenious feature that keeps a watch wound as long as it is being worn. For the specifics behind this design, How Stuff Works has a fascinating article on the subject.
According to Wikipedia, the typical self-winding watch contains enough energy to keep it running for two days. If a watch stays stationary for longer than this, you will have to set the time again after it is wound up, which can be a real pain if you own multiple watches. If you are leaving watches behind when you travel, you will definitely have to set their times again.
When you store your collection, it is a good idea to put timepieces in a watch winder. These devices automatically move your watches in specific ways to keep the self-winding weights in the watches moving. Ranging from single-watch units to large, multi-watch units, collectors with any number of watches can maintain their pieces’ long term accuracy easily.
If you travel regularly and have a couple watches that you want to leave at home for safe keeping, a watch winder is a must.
Invest In Your Collection
Now that you know what kind of travel cases and watch winders to invest in for your favorite pieces, you should have no problem when you are traveling. Your watches will stay safe, in pristine condition, and wound up. All of your essential watch storage cases can be found wherever fine watches for men and women are sold. Just remember to declare any watches or cases that you pick up when you are abroad. Safe travels!
