Storage ideas for when you have a lot of watches...

[inboost]

OK, I'll start by flat out stating I don't have a lot of watches. However it's clear I am on my way to having a lot of watches.

I started with a six bay watch box in June of 2021 - this became my Wife's only 6 months later

I was given a very nice leather 24 bay double-decked watch box for Christmas by my Son and future Daughter-in-law December of 2021. It was supposed to carry me for 'years'.

We're 10 months on and I'm now over by at least ten...

If you're up for it, please share how you store your watch collection. I'm not asking for pictures of your collection, just suggestions how you've tucked away your wearable watches that wait for the moment you'll pick one of them up to wear for the day.

If you have links to your organizational system parts that would be great too.

I have a lot of ideas, clouded by bad ones and overly difficult ones. This thread is meant to leverage your experience to advise people like myself who want to start out right and not have to start over. I'm interested in visibility, accessibility, presentation, and security. Yes, that includes what you do to secure your collection when you leave your home for extended periods of time (your definition). I've been burglarized once in my life so when I have things of value laying about I get stressed out when we leave for more than a day or two.

So put simply:  How do you organize and store a large collection of watches without losing access to any of them?

Inboost

[dapellegrini]

Hmmm.  I am also curious.  Currently I am this many "over" in terms of storage space (I stopped counting)...  My solution - buy more boxes!  So, I have two more 12x boxes in bound.  

EDIT: (removed unhelpful photos of my own mess) - and ... 

inboost - you could do something cool in a drawer like this guy:

www.thetimebum.com/2013/10/how-to-make-watch-drawer.html

[dapellegrini]

Oh, I should add (I realize these are not for watches themselves), for bracelets and other parts I use a bunch of these Jewelry boxes from WOLF - their "Vault" line.  You buy the boxes (3 different depths, 4 different colors come in and out of stock) then different tray inserts.  I get them from GILT.com for like 50% of retail:

[victor]

I go on Amazon every few months and buy another six-bay box.  They use black leatherette (vinyl?).  They're cheap but don't look bad, and go for less than $20 bucks a pop.  I recently bought a 12-bay box. I'd post a picture, but there are a ton of them on Amazon if you search for watch boxes, so you can pick your fav. 

[inboost]

Thanks to you both for your quick replies on thoughts of storage! Can I push you a little further and ask what you are doing with all of these watch boxes? The link dapellegrini gave to the Time Bum Watch Drawer is exactly the kind of creative problem solving I am after.

For your collection of watch boxes,

• Do they go on a shelf or countertop?
• Are they stacked in drawers of some kind/type of furniture that displays or hides the boxes to your liking?
• Do you keep your multiple watch boxes readily available, or do they rotate into 'cold storage'?

Perhaps an explanation of my current overflow problem would help:

In my current scenario I have the 24 bay bi-level watch chest sitting on top of my clothing dresser, which has a flat 24" x 36" (60cm x 90cm)  top surface that doubles as my nightstand a few steps away form my bed. The watch chest is 15 x 9 x 7 in (38 x 23 x 18 cm) so it easily fits atop the dresser, but I have to give up the space in front of the watch chest as the drawer must be able to pull out.

My routine is generally to open the glass lidded top and slide out the drawer to expose all 24 time pieces and then enjoy a few moments picking and preparing one to wear before my day accelerates into mayhem. I quite enjoy the experience.

If I added a second watch chest, it would just fit to the side of the first and the pair would dominate the dresser top such that the nightstand function (keys, wallet, flashlight, tabletop clock, book I'm reading, etc) have no place to go. I think it would fail my Wife's "clutter" test as well even though she is encouraging it at the moment. Worst of all, this bad trade-off is obviously a very temporary fix. I've got roughly half of it filled up and I haven't even bought it yet! I'm already thinking, "Where does the third one go?" and oh yeah, maybe I should hang a cool lamp over it all

So that's why I'm trying to figure out how to manage the watch and watch box storage here.

Please do keep the suggestions coming in, I'm most grateful!

Inboost

[dapellegrini]

I really like the idea of a custom drawer insert - you need a couple nice large and shallow drawers - or you could do some kind of a double depth with sliding top shelf if you wanted to get fancy. 

This got me inspired to measure one of my office drawers - and it looks like I could do 80 slots with a custom insert, using 1/4" thick partitions - trouble is I don't have the tools or patience for that - I would need to make a carpenter friend.  The other consideration is the cushions - If you are going to do a custom insert, might as well make it nice and do something a little classier than pipe insulation.  And your watch spaces will need to fit whatever cushions you end up with.

Two other "in drawer" options would be - find something like this that fits close enough:

www.ebay.com/itm/194886357430



Or, do a custom foam insert - like this in the drawer

[victor]

I'm a little bit silly about changing watches some days - I might switch once or twice each day.  So I have a couple of boxes on my desk - one for divers and one for dress watches.  I have a couple of boxes in the nightstand in case I wake up in the middle of the night and need to swap a watch (kidding).  And I have the 12 slot box in a closet in my office. 

I try to kind of organize what type of watches go in each box (divers in one, Vanac in another, LM in this one, quartz in that one, etc..) but they tend to get jumbled over time.  Having the boxes with the glass display top makes it easier to look and decide what I want to put on.  Generally, I quickly cycle through the watches following an arrival of multiple ones from Japan when I'm excited about playing with my new precious-es  - but sometimes I feel like a kid swapping toys throughout the day, which tbh is pretty accurate. 

So it goes - as hobbies go, this one isn't too extreme.

My watch maker keeps a 30 slot display box mounted to his office wall with his favs.  He says he limits himself to 30 watches in his personal collection so that he has some kind of limit on the madness.  The hanging box makes a very nice display - it is essentially a very large watch box screwed to the wall - worth considering if you want to display your collection.

[inboost]

I think a DIY setup is quite possibly the answer for me. Watch cushions (nice ones) are easy to buy at $1 or so apiece which is what I'll do for sure. The company that produced my watch chest sells them separately on Ama$on in two different sizes:

TAWBURY Small Bayswater Watch Box Pillows - To Suit 12 & 24 Slot Watch Boxes and 6 Watch Jewelry Box - Pack of 12

I'd consider this the pinnacle of watch storage but I'd rather buy a car than a watch box : casorojewelrysafes.com

Inboost

[peterr]

Oct 14, 2022 6:06:57 GMT -8 victor said:

I'm a little bit silly about changing watches some days - I might switch once or twice each day.  So I have a couple of boxes on my desk - one for divers and one for dress watches.  I have a couple of boxes in the nightstand in case I wake up in the middle of the night and need to swap a watch (kidding).  And I have the 12 slot box in a closet in my office. 

I try to kind of organize what type of watches go in each box (divers in one, Vanac in another, LM in this one, quartz in that one, etc..) but they tend to get jumbled over time.  Having the boxes with the glass display top makes it easier to look and decide what I want to put on.  Generally, I quickly cycle through the watches following an arrival of multiple ones from Japan when I'm excited about playing with my new precious-es  - but sometimes I feel like a kid swapping toys throughout the day, which tbh is pretty accurate. 

So it goes - as hobbies go, this one isn't too extreme.

My watch maker keeps a 30 slot display box mounted to his office wall with his favs.  He says he limits himself to 30 watches in his personal collection so that he has some kind of limit on the madness.  The hanging box makes a very nice display - it is essentially a very large watch box screwed to the wall - worth considering if you want to display your collection.

Thirty watches was what the late great Randall Benson advised is the best number for a collector,
because the best thing for any watch is 1. to get regular exercise once a month, to keep the oils fluid,
and 2. to let the watch rest for a good stretch too, this essentially means not wearing the watch out.
He detested watch winders, likened it to idling your car in your garage, and also something that would
create unnecessary wear & tear.

I have 4 trays that could easily hold 12 watches each, but i have 7, 8, or 9 in each tray, which makes
me feel less greedy, that there's space there that i don't have to fill.  These trays are lined with velvet,
i just glued it down on the wood, and they slot into sort of dados in the wall, a dado being a groove, 
these were made of 1"x2"s that were screwed to the wall, and the boxes were made of 1"x2"'s as well,
so it essentially looks like a modern building. they're easy to get to, and they're at eye level.

No one seems to want to detail how they hide their watches, and neither do i but with four trays
hidden in 4 different spots, i feel like that would make it harder for a thief to find them all. I wouldn't
want all my watches in one basket

Spare parts/bracelet/straps i put into shoeboxes that go into my high closet shelves, they're easy to 
get to, but out of sight when i don't need them. I am happier with this diy solution, i have spent enough
money on watches, i don't want to get even deeper into storage, and something about these fancy
solutions would make me feel like imelda marcos

 

[saldog]

I lined a drawer with adhesive backed “velvet” like this
Mesheshe 2PCS Self Adhesive Felt... www.amazon.com/dp/B07YWFSBRX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

and bought a bunch of watch “pillows” like these:
sansheng 10PCS Velvet... www.amazon.com/dp/B07QBK697N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I also have a couple of Tech Swiss 8-bay boxes I got cheap.

It’s probably not sustainable but neither is my accumulation rate!

[earthphase]

I've been kicking around not just storage idea for my watches but also displaying them.  I don't like them all tucked away in storage cases.

[Solotov]

I don't have a fantastic solution, but currently i'm using that same style open top watch case, with a chest for overflow. I tend to have phases where I care more about a lot of watches vs others so I dont mind putting away stuff that's not as fresh for awhile

[endy]

I may have just repurposed this dusty old bamboo teabag storage box. Just needs some cushions!

[trilo]

This is our coat hanger.



At the beginning I hanged my watches on it, but then my wife got fed up with them.

I'm definetly going to get one for my watches when we have a bigger flat. So easy, trouble free and it looks good.

[camrok]

This is a cheap option if you don’t have much space.
I hang it in my wardrobe but can stores rolled also.

It’s an artist pencil or brush roll. I just had to unpick a few lines of stitching to make the sections bigger.

Only cost about 20 Aussie $1 coins with the queens head on it.

Edit: Just realized it’s not a great display option.

[endy]

I love it, it looks like they're tucked up ready for bed

[inboost]

camrok - fantastic idea for valeting them off to safe storage, allowing easy and efficient packing in a tight space. I think the majority of my watches would store perfectly this way. The harder rubber dive strap guys wouldn't fold up for this method, but they are few in number and would just get chucked in on top of the heap. I like it, thanks for the tip!

[ouroboros]

I've got some utility similar to what endy is using. I'm not greatly partial to bracelets unless the watch has an integrated one or a NATO won't do.
The latter is especialy pertinent as I dislike seeing the space between the case and the bracelet between the lugs.

I'll put some pictures on as soon as. I prefer to keep the collection away and out of sight. I also pack in some of those silica beads in 200g bags just to suck out any humidity in the vicinity.

[peterr]

Nov 21, 2022 23:02:45 GMT -8 camrok said:

This is a cheap option if you don’t have much space.
I hang it in my wardrobe but can stores rolled also.

It’s an artist pencil or brush roll. I just had to unpick a few lines of stitching to make the sections bigger.

Only cost about 20 Aussie $1 coins with the queens head on it.

Edit: Just realized it’s not a great display option.

This looks like the most efficient and cheap way to store watches, you could slip 18 watches into a space
that few people would have the patience to find...18 is about half my collection, i'm tempted to put half 
my watches away each month, but i'm committed to exercising each one, each month.