We have all heard the old adage “Time is money.” For thisContents Claims Solved, we may need to change that adage to“For some people, it takes a whole lot of money to keep time.”

A leading insurer consulted contents claims specialists on aclaim regarding a very rare watch made by a renowned Swisswatchmaker. The carrier wrote an agreed value policy for $611,000with a provision that it would cover any appreciation in valuebeyond the agreed amount if market conditions caused anincrease in value. The watch was involved in a loss and theinsured's jeweler located a duplicate of the watch that had beenpre-owned with a price of $750,000. The carrier needed to know ifthe $750,000 claim was reasonable and accurate.

Case Background

Contents claims jewelry experts determined the watch was veryrare. In fact, they found that only six watches of that kind wereever made. Objects with very low production numbers presentunique challenges to appraisers, namely a lack of comparablesales to form an opinion of value.

Faced with this scenario, most appraisers would accept the$750,000 used watch offered for sale as an appropriate comparableitem and call it a day. This particular contents claims team,however, went one step further, applying their knowledge ofpolicies and coverage, claims situational awareness, and subjectmatter expertise to reach a different conclusion.

After exhausting common avenues, the jewelry experts used theirtrade contacts to identify a well-placed employee of thewatchmaking firm in Switzerland and telephoned him directly.Contents specialists determined from the conversation that therewere indeed only six of these watches ever made, however thewarranty registration records only accounted for five of thewatches as having been sold at the retail level. Next, the contentsteam identified and tracked down the jeweler in Switzerland who wasthe last known owner of the unsold watch.

Click to find out what happened next!

The Result

Overcoming language barriers, the contents team negotiated an“out-the-door price” for the last (new) example of this watch forslightly less than the agreed value policy amount. The result was apayment to the policyholder for the agreed amount of $611,000, asthe additional $140,000 value appreciation claim was found to beunwarranted. In addition, the carrier had provided the valueadded service of locating the last remaining new watch of this kindfor the policyholder.