Welcome to this Watch LIVE. Hi, I'm Lydia Winters. And I'm Boo Booy. OK so I have the best story. It is unrelated to watches, but I I can't not tell it. You haven't even told me this story yet, so I'm very curious. Ask me about my day yesterday. How? Was your day yesterday. It was a dumpster fire. Wait, wait, hold on, wait what? Maybe I have heard the story then. You have not. OK, I turned the corner with my mom as we were running to the convenience store. OK, and what did I see but a
literal dumpster fire? A fire in a dumpster. Wait, really? Yes. Like just an uncontrolled dumpster fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The, the. So my mom ran in to tell the people who run the store so they could make sure they had already called 911. I was sitting there waiting for her. And then I was like, wait, it's a literal dumpster fire. So I jumped out of the car and took a photo of it because it
was like. Wait, it took you to realize the joke before you even went to take a picture of this fire? That's interesting. People just. Go to take pictures of everything these days. Yeah, but I would have to get out of the car. So it took that. It took that extra thing, but OK. So all I've been thinking about since then is like the firefighters who I also helped flag down, American Hero. You are a hero.
You saved that dumpster, although probably not That dumpster pride needs to be replaced. But the best part is I just thought about how if you were the firefighter that was called to the scene and you got home, you could say today was a dumpster fire and it would literally be true. And I just can't stop thinking about it. But you get to say the same thing. Yes, and I will. Dumpster fire photo OK, It's a like a big dumpster fire OK. We're not talking about a little bit of smoke.
No, no, no. There were flames. Like, like flames. Wow, about like. OK, well how well did this happen after I already went to sleep? Yeah, you were already asleep. And my mom and I were on a mission to get some whipped cream for Key Lime Pie. This isn't very Florida. Yeah, you were going to the convenience store to get some Key Lime Pie and there was a dumpster on oh of whipped cream for your Key Lime Pie. This. Is a very. Florida story. Yeah, yeah, it is a very Florida.
Story. Well, I, I'm, I'm impressed that you were able to hold this story from me so that we could record it live. Yes. Good. Job because it's it's one of my favorite things. Now I'm going to tell everyone. So Adrian PT asks, would love to hear your thoughts on watch storage both at home and on the road. What are your go to boxes, rolls, wallets, etcetera and how do you handle security? Well, I'm glad we started with the simple question of a dumpster fire.
This is this is, this is a really tough one. And I think, I mean, especially because it's like so terrible. We've had lots of friends who have been robbed of watches. I guess being robbed is typically being armed, stolen, burglarized. And it's just, yeah, it's a scary. It's a scary topic. It is a scary topic. And there's also lots of news, you know, and the news like their whole deal is to get people watching. And so they're incentivized to
also blow things up sometimes. So sometimes things might even seem worse than they really are. But like, it's just terrible that we have to talk about this. But it is a thing. It's it affects a lot of. People. But I guess we're talking about the security side of it and the watch storage side, not? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not. Going into debt. Side, there are two things to talk about that are related.
Like you said, storage and security, they're separate, but the way we do it at least they become quite related. So and also I'm not going to talk about insurance or any of that kind of stuff. Like great, it's a good idea get insured, you know, like that, do that. But that's not what this is about. The question was more about security and about storage. So we'll start with security as like there's OK, there's so many things to worry about when it comes to storing your watches at
home. Like the big ones though are probably burglary and environmental damage. And of course there's robbery. But in that case, give them the watches. Like if someone comes to rob you, then give them the watches and leave with your life. And you know. Yeah, I've always been a big proponent of that. Like, what do you want? I I said I was going to be like, oh, the pin is this. Like, yeah, also, hey, I have a cake in the fridge if you're hungry. Like, have it and then please go
be on your merry way. Like, what can I give you to make you leave? You know, it sounds like we're joking, but no, this is actually like our mentality is stuff is stuff. Versus life, yes. Exactly. So the only thing that will keep your watches safe in that case, if you have the mentality that we do that just like give them whatever they you have to do to get rid of them, is like, if those watches aren't at home at all, like they aren't with you, right?
And like, OK, so this is all we're going to talk about robbery. But it brings us to our first piece of advice, which is off site storage. Like at any given time, I think it's a good idea to have at least part, if not most of your watches at off site storage. And usually that means like a bank or other safety deposit
box. But like there are different options out there that you can look up for off site storage that is secure and also insured and that you will have Peace of Mind when your watches are there. But it it adds and this is going to be the themes or this whole talk, it adds inconvenience, right? Because isn't it? The more difficult it is to steal, the more difficult it is to wear right. Basically like that is kind of the theme here, right?
Like, so if you, OK, if you have valuables, you know, jewelry, watches, you put them in a safe deposit box at the bank. Actually, I'm going to specific use bank in the in this example, because banks have such limiting hours, right? That's why there are also other options. But like if you do that, then the only time you get to to interact with those things is if you plan ahead, go there during bank hours and get them out, right? So like that feels very inconvenient, incredibly safe,
incredibly inconvenient. So then you have to balance things out, which is why usually I'd say most people would keep part of their collection at these safety deposit boxes so that it's it's more convenient that you have a couple options.
But then you never have everything at home all at once where it could be in danger because, you know, burglary is not the only way that things go. But like, you could have a fire at home, There could be flooding, there could be, depending on where you live, tornadoes, hurricanes. Like, you know, there are other ways that that your watches could be damaged. Although I, I feel like when you get to these certain levels, it's kind of like, yeah, OK,
things have gotten really bad. And maybe the watches won't be your first thing to think about in that in that case. But we're not talking about that. We're just talking about watches. And I think the biggest thing that we do ourselves is to keep watches off site. Like the priciest ones are usually the ones that are there. And then you know that at any given time, if anything happens, that some or if not most are safe. Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's just like to me, I think it's funny when I think of safety deposit boxes because I always think of like a little old lady going to get it or like someone you know, trying to figure out. It's like always sort of a thing in a movie of like you have to go. It's like one of the. Clues and then. You go there and you open it and there's like another clue. In the safety. But it's much more simple than that. Real life is is at least not
that inconvenient. It's not a series of clues that you have to go through. So that brings us to our second piece of advice, splitting up your storage. So even if you keep all of your watches at home, like it's best not to keep them all in one place, right? Obviously, Because if someone does, if we're talking about burglary, which I do think is most people's main fear is burglary. It's what we've thought about
the most, right? And so having multiple storage containers and then keeping those containers in different places makes it less likely that you'll lose everything. So even the watches that you do have at home, don't just keep them in one nice easy to take package that's in one place, right? Like and you just put a bow on it and you say like, have a great day. I mean, unfortunately that is what it could feel. Like that is. What happened?
And so like, it's like it's just the fact that security is inconvenient. It is a trade off. Like that is just a fact. And so you have to decide what level of inconvenience is worth it to you, I guess. But like you could, OK, you could, you could go spend a bunch of money. Like if you, I mean, hey, we're collecting watches, we have at least some kind of money, right? You could go and spend a bunch of that money instead of buying watches and have like convenient and attractive storage.
However, most of us are not going to like get like some super high tech safe that's built into. Like you know how many? Watches exactly that's. High tech, safe cost. Just have a regular. I'll just have a few regular safes. Yeah, I mean this is, this is also part of the trade off when you look at the safes that will actually really do a good job of
keeping your valuables safe. I'm not just talking about fireproof safes because you can get relatively affordable safes that would keep your watches from like too much damage in a home fire, but like safes that will keep people out of them. Like you have to go pretty high end to get to safes that are and everything you know, all of this is like it's all on a scale,
right? O the third OK third piece of advice, use hard to find places and that is not what most people think it is. I've done so much research on this over the years and it's very funny because. It sounds like you. Yeah, but most people think the same way. Like, so they're like, I know where I'll put it. No one would ever think of this. I'm going to put it in the toilet, you know, like. The water. And it's like, Nope, unfortunately, so many people do that that it becomes.
Freezer too. The freezer is also at like a horrible place because watch very often cash and jewelry in the freezer. Yeah, I guess watch people aren't probably going to put their. Watches in the. Freezer, but cash and jewelry are often stored in freezers or in like literally cookie jars like these. Unfortunately, thanks to movies, I think a lot of these things sound like a good idea but are also so common that burglars know these places.
Your clothes closet. Like that's where most people store store a lot of value. If I saw a cookie jar on a on any counter, I would. In this day and age, I would be like, oh, they got their money in there. It's their watches. It's just a bowl of watches. Who keeps just a cookie jar? Full of cookie jar but also a cookie jar. So, okay, also, well, the most obvious is don't keep it out in the open, right?
Like sometimes you may want to display something that's cool for when you have guests, but then just put that stuff away, right? It's always scary because you know, I have my watch on my night stand. But then there's. More fun times. No, but I'm saying then there's been times when we leave home and all of a sudden I realized that I have a watch just sitting. Out. Yeah. And and then I'm like, hey, we have to go back because I. Decided to wear. Something else or like, I can't, you know?
And so I'm always like every day now I just no matter what I'm doing, the watch goes straight back on the wrist. Yeah, exactly. That's what you got to do. And then under the better mattress. It's like the the most common place to hide valuables. I don't like that 'cause I'm like the Princess and the pea who, like, can't sleep if there's like a tiny thing. So I'd be like, Oh no, the watch indent.
OK, but like good ideas are like, how do you find places that are hard to even find or see, let alone like that they would be obvious. So false walls like this, this is stuff you do see in movies, but it's not actually that common that you're going to come across it so. But they have to go quick. So that's the thing. Yeah. Yeah, it's again, it's back to that being inconvenient for both them and you, everybody.
'S in exactly, exactly so false walls, false floors that false drawers different things like yeah, you if you get creative, you can actually have quite good storage at home. The end of course, the downside to you is inconvenience. You have like multiple places across your house that you're keeping different watches and you have to keep track of it all and you have to, like you said, remember to put them there and not just leave something sitting out.
But like the and the reason I'm not talking too much about safe, there's like too many variables when it comes to safes. Like we have a garage and I have tools in the garage and you could use my angle grinder to get into a safe. Like most safes you can cut into with fairly basic tools. Not like super high end hard to get tools like basic. That's cool. It's cool though that you provide the tools on. I know.
What a guy. This is one of the things when you look into security, they're like, look, if you have a garage and you have tools like angle grinders, these types of things, then you have to think different about security because you can't just throw a safe in there and think everything's going to be fine. You're going to need multiple levels of security because you're providing the tools to break into your own security. And even if you don't, people. Throw a safe in. There and just.
Throw everything will be safe. OK. So bottom line, and then we'll end the security part is that aside from off site storage, right, every other tactic, you're just using time against these burglars, right? Usually, like especially if you have an alarm system, like they know they have a limited amount of time. If you have an alarm, they have a limited amount of time. And So what you're really trying to do is place more time between them and your watches. So the harder they are to find,
the harder they are to cut into. You know, if you are using a safe, like the more secure your safe is, the more split up your collection is. That means you're putting way more time in between them and the watches. And that's the most likely thing if they're not off site to keep them safe. It's just. Like how hard? It is to find. And that's the part that you have to remember to like do it
all the time. I think that's the hard thing because I know for my parents, their house was burglarized years ago. And it was like the one day my mom didn't move her jewelry into like the place that she typically moved it. And that's what happens is like, you go quickly and leave. But it let it not only took away like the safety, but then it also made her feel so much regret like. For yourself and that's. Such a hard, like, it's such a terrible, like, terrible,
terrible thing to happen. And then if you feel like you could have prevented it, it's even worse. And that's, yeah, that makes it really sad. OK, let's let's transition into happy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then let's talk about storage, cause storage is way more fun. So I prefer and I know you prefer the deluxe zip cases. I bought you one a couple of years ago and. For my birthday.
Yeah, for your birthday, it held eight watches or it holds 8 watches and like in love like, yeah, beautiful, convenient, easy to use, fantastic. Like, yeah, what what is there to say about them? There are plenty of other options as well. Like I like that leather case because I also own hard ones. So I bought a wooden one on Etsy. This is before I had my own workshop and couldn't build my own.
And so I, I bought one that someone had built in Poland and it's really beautiful, but it's hard and it's just a pain because I don't leave it out. I think if you're going to leave it out, which again, if you scroll back in the in in this episode and you can hear how we say don't do that. But if you were going to leave it out, then yeah, these wooden boxes can be beautiful and very easy to use. But since I don't leave things out, then it becomes a little
bit more of a pain. I also have some of my watches in a like this super heavy duty like worn and wound metal case that you gave me and I like, I, I think it looks cool. It feels cool. But again, it's a pain because it's heavy and it's hard. And so when I am putting that away, it's just a little bit annoying. Yeah, it was a free gift when I bought my Auris bronze in the US and then I left it at my sister's house 'cause I was like, I cannot bring this. Like too big, like way too
heavy. And then when Mindy came and visited us, she's like, here it is. And you are so excited. You were like I want. Here's the thing. I love that thing. I I just for the way I use it. It's not perfect. Yeah, I prefer like a bunch of small cases, like 3 to 8 versus even though I think it's so cool when I see a photo where it's like everything I don't know, I, I'm always, I feel I feel like I'm more of like a squirrel type store store.
I want to make sure there's like little watches like hidden. The The thing is also like actual squirrels, you sometimes forget where some of your watches are because you have even more security spots than I do. You know what my theory is? If I can't find it, a burglar can't. Well, that's a pretty good that's a pretty good theory. I'm. Not sure. If that's true, I would I would say. But also the other thing that I
love is we have. We have watch pouches from watch pouch and I bring those like on this trip I only wanted to bring a Nomos and I bore my Tudor BB 54 and it was like that was all I had and it was so easy to just wear that. And the watch pouch. Like bring wear one, bring one. Yeah, wear one, bring one. Then Something like a watch pouch is nice. You can Stow it very easily. You can hide it in a hidden pocket in your bag while you're traveling. It makes it a little bit more secure. I get.
In bag pockets is a whole, and traveling with watches is another. No, no, well, we don't have time to get started on that, but OK. The last one, the one I've used the most actually, 'cause I used it for years and years before I ever found Watch Pouch. Like was this flat heavy canvas roll that I got when we just stumbled into Warren and wounds wind up watch fair in Chelsea market in 2016. And I just bought this canvas roll that holds 2 watches completely flat. I used it for like 5 years.
It it was great. Holds 2 watches, super compact. So like there are a lot of options out there, but I would say that for travel, keep it small. That just makes it easier to manage. I mean, I guess this is then then we're rounding back out to security. We used to travel with way too many watches. Oh. For sure. But then what I found is all the time I'm just thinking about watches like where they are and knowing that like a hotel safe, isn't it?
So it just now I'm very minimal. I'm just like, look, I love all my watches. I'll get to go back to them. Yes, I just need to bring one or two on my trip and not like spot makes. The heart grow fonder. Yeah, exactly. I would love to know what your security and storage is. What are your best best tips, best tips so we can all use them? Yes, bye everyone. Bye, stay safe.