There’s a lot in the press about watch theft, and some personal stories that can be truly harrowing.  However, it’s important to also keep an eye on the data to avoid hyperbole.

As a specialist luxury watch insurer, Zing Cover wants to help build confidence in the purchase and ownership of watches, be clear headed about the risks but avoid the sensationalism that can at times prevail.

Data is key, and we have to subject data to scrutiny.  An apparently irrefutable source, such as law enforcement or loss registers, can be still be skewed.  For example, if someone intends to make a fraudulent insurance claim, often the easiest story is to say that they were set upon, it all happened very quickly, then can’t identify any of the assailants.  A crime reference number will be issued, so it’s another luxury watch theft in the police data, even if there is insubstantial evidence for a full investigation.  Insurers may pay the claim, even if they suspect but can’t prove a fraud.  They’re likely to lodge the ‘stolen’ watch on a loss register.  Suddenly those statistics for watch theft on the street are rising at an ever-faster rate.

The stats are the stats, right?

So how do we get a clearer picture of the situation?

At Zing Cover we are unusual in that we only accept our members on the basis of their association with vetted and pre-approved businesses, or by referral from existing members.  This referral method means we suffer from far lower levels of fraud and can therefore keep our terms and conditions broad and our pricing stable.

It also gives us the opportunity to compare our claims data with that of the broader insurance market to try to reach some conclusions on the true scale of watch theft.

At Zing Cover around 53% of all claims paid relate to watch theft outside the home.  This is a good deal lower than the broader insurance market which is to be expected given our more selective approach to customer acceptance.  If our proportion of theft claims were deemed to be an accurate measure across the rest of the market, then it would suggest that 40% of all insurance claims for theft are actually likely to be fraud.  This in-turn means that all that data from the police and loss registers about watch theft is also inflated by around 40%.

Does it matter?

This is obviously pretty bad news for the insurance industry, for watch owners and for the watch market.  

It’s bad news for the insurance industry as they’re paying out for a lot of fraudulent claims purely because they can’t categorically prove that it’s a fraudulent claim.  

It also means that watch collectors are, at best, paying premiums which cross-subsidise all those fraudulent claims and, at worst, can’t get insurance that gives them the lifestyle flexibility and at the values they need.

It’s also bad for the watch industry, with a high proportion of once legitimate watches leaving the legitimate market and heading into the market’s less reputable corners or, worse still, not being registered on watch loss registries and then finding their way back into the legitimate market creating problems down the line for both pre-owned dealers and their customers.

All-in-all, it diminishes confidence in the ownership and purchase of luxury watches.

Zing Cover is pioneering a whole new model for watch collectors and for the watch market.  By only working with vetted pre-owned or authorised dealers, we not only provide higher levels of service with automatic re-valuations and superior access to the market in the event of claims, but we also ensure that we are only accepting the customers of reputable businesses which materially mitigates against our exposure to fraud.  In turn that means that the customers of our network of partner businesses can ensure their customers can have greater confidence in buying and owning watches.