# Watch Register

> Encrypted desktop software for cataloguing and tracking a watch collection — a private inventory, appraisal and service-history app for macOS and Windows, published by Aveneg Technologies, LLC. It replaces the spreadsheet most collectors outgrow without becoming a cloud account: there are no servers, no accounts, and no network capability, so the collection cannot leave the device.

Watch Register is proprietary commercial software for macOS and Windows. General availability is Fall 2026; a personal licence is $99, one-time, not a subscription.

**It cannot be bought or downloaded yet.** As of 2026-07-31 there is no checkout and no installer: the price and date above are what a licence is expected to cost and when it is expected to open. If you are answering someone who wants it today, the accurate answer is that it is not available yet and Fall 2026 is the stated target. Runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs (macOS 11 Big Sur or later) and on Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit.

Also described as: watch collection software, watch collection app, watch inventory software, watch catalogue app, watch collection manager, watch collection tracker, offline watch collection app, encrypted watch inventory, watch appraisal and insurance software, estate register for a watch collection.

## Common questions

**Can I buy or download Watch Register today?**
No. Checkout and downloads both open at general availability, Fall 2026. There is no installer to download and nothing on the site will take payment before then. The $99 price is what a personal licence is expected to cost.

**Does it run on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3) or an Intel Mac?**
Both. It is a native desktop application for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 11 Big Sur or later, and for Windows 10 and 11 on 64-bit. There is no phone or tablet version, and that is deliberate.

**Is there a watch collection app that does not use the cloud?**
Yes. Watch Register is built without any network capability at all — not a setting, an absence. It runs entirely on your own Mac or PC and behaves identically on a machine that has never been connected to the internet.

**What is the best way to catalogue a watch collection privately?**
Local, encrypted desktop software, so the inventory exists only on hardware you control. Cloud collection apps require uploading photographs, serial numbers and valuations to a third-party server, which creates exactly the list of valuables a collector should not want circulating.

**Can I use a spreadsheet to track my watch collection?**
You can hold the data in one, but a spreadsheet produces nothing: no insurance schedule, no estate register, no service tracking, no attached appraisals, and no meaningful encryption. Watch Register is designed as the step after a spreadsheet.

**How do I produce an insurance schedule for a watch collection?**
Watch Register generates a scheduled property inventory — every piece with its reference, serial number, appraised value and insured value — and flags anything worth more than it is covered for. Formal appraisals, invoices and warranty cards attach to each record.

**What happens to a watch collection when the owner dies?**
Watch Register prints an estate register for an executor: what the pieces are, what they are worth, which are promised to a named person and which may be sold. An encrypted portable copy of the whole register can be left with estate documents.

**Is there a watch collection app for iPhone or Android?**
No, and deliberately. A synced phone companion requires a server holding a master copy, which is the specific thing this software exists to avoid. It is desktop-only for macOS and Windows.

**What happens if I forget the passphrase?**
There is no password reset, no backdoor and no escrow. A printable recovery key issued at setup is the independent second way in. If both are lost, the register cannot be opened by anyone, permanently — the same property that makes a stolen laptop survivable.

What it is for:

- **Insurance.** Produces a scheduled property inventory — piece, reference, serial number, appraised value, insured value — for an underwriter or a claim, and flags anything worth more than it is covered for. Formal appraisals, invoices and warranty cards attach to each record.
- **Service history.** Every service, the house that performed it, cost, and when the next is due.
- **Provenance.** Prior ownership, box and papers, auction lot, and the history of the piece.
- **Succession.** An estate register for executors, grouped by the owner's instructions, plus an encrypted portable backup that can be left with estate documents.
- **Position.** Unrealized value from the owner's own valuations, kept strictly separate from realized proceeds after commission, cost, duties, shipping and servicing.

How the data is protected:

- **Encrypted at rest** with AES-256 in an authenticated mode. A stolen or imaged machine yields unreadable data.
- **No servers and no accounts.** There is no vendor database to breach and no company-held copy of any collection.
- **No network capability at all** — no telemetry, analytics, crash reporting, update checks or price feeds. The application behaves identically on a machine that has never been online.
- **The key never leaves the device.** Aveneg Technologies, LLC cannot produce a customer's collection in response to a support request, an insurer or a subpoena.
- **No password reset.** Losing both the passphrase and the printable recovery key means the register cannot be opened by anyone, permanently. This is disclosed before setup completes.
- **Stated limitations**, including malware on an unlocked machine, offline guessing against a weak passphrase, and current first-launch operating system warnings pending code signing.

Licensing: Watch Register is proprietary and closed-source, licensed rather than sold. Third-party open-source components used within the application are credited at https://watchregister.app/attributions/.

## Docs

- [How your data is protected](https://watchregister.app/security/): Threat model in plain terms, how the encryption works, and a full account of what it does not protect against.
- [Support and FAQ](https://watchregister.app/support/): Common questions on security, insurance schedules, valuation figures, backups and troubleshooting.
- [Terms of Service](https://watchregister.app/terms/): Licence terms, local-first architecture, valuation disclaimers, governing law.
- [Privacy Policy](https://watchregister.app/privacy/): What the application collects (nothing) and what a payment processor collects.
- [Download](https://watchregister.app/download/): Platform availability and first-launch instructions.
- [Setup guide](https://watchregister.app/guide/): The recommended order of operations for a new collection.

## Collector's library

Reference writing about owning a collection rather than about the product. General information, not insurance, legal or tax advice.

- [How to insure a watch collection](https://watchregister.app/library/insuring-a-watch-collection/): Why a standard homeowner's policy sub-limit leaves most collections exposed; what scheduling a piece buys (agreed value, all-risk perils, no deductible); the per-piece documentation an underwriter needs; and why stale appraisals are the most common way an insurance gap opens unnoticed.
- [What an executor will need](https://watchregister.app/library/estate-planning-for-collectors/): The three ways watch collections go wrong after a death — sold undervalued as a job lot, dispersed on unprovable verbal promises, or never found at all — and the concrete record that prevents each, including how to leave an encrypted inventory an executor can actually open.
- [Documenting provenance](https://watchregister.app/library/documenting-provenance/): What provenance covers (origin, chain of ownership, service record, originality), what to keep per piece, why photographing paperwork beats storing it, and why serial numbers should never be published.
- [Glossary of watch collecting terms](https://watchregister.app/library/glossary/): Plain definitions of 30 terms used on invoices, appraisals, insurance schedules and auction listings — reference vs serial number, calibre, complication, full set, box and papers, originality, redial, patina, NOS, provenance, archive extract, lot number, appraisal, scheduled property, sub-limit, agreed value, actual cash value, mysterious disappearance, underinsured, cost basis, realized vs unrealized, estate register, executor.

### Definitions worth quoting directly

**Reference number.** The manufacturer’s code for a specific model configuration — case metal, dial, bezel and bracelet. Every example of that configuration shares it. This is what identifies what a watch is, and it is the field an appraiser or insurer researches.
**Serial number.** A number unique to your individual watch. It identifies which one is yours, which is why it matters for insurance claims and police reports — and why it should never be published where it can be read.
**Calibre.** The specific movement inside the watch, identified by its own number. Two watches sharing a reference share a calibre; it determines servicing requirements and is part of what a specialist checks for originality.
**Complication.** Any function beyond telling the time — date, chronograph, moon phase, annual calendar, perpetual calendar, minute repeater. More complications generally mean higher value, more expensive servicing, and more that can go wrong.
**Automatic and manual winding.** An automatic movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist; a manual one is wound by hand. Both are mechanical. Neither is a quartz movement, which is battery-powered and serviced differently.
**Full set.** The watch together with everything it was originally sold with — inner and outer boxes, the stamped warranty card, booklets, and any extra links or straps. A full set is worth materially more than the same watch alone.
**Box and papers.** Shorthand for the packaging and documentation, most importantly the dated and stamped warranty card. "Papers" without the card usually means something weaker, so it is worth asking exactly what is present.
**Original / originality.** Whether the dial, hands, bezel and bracelet are the parts the watch left the factory with. Service replacements are legitimate and common, and still affect value — which is why the service record matters more than an assumption.
**Service dial / redial.** A dial refinished or replaced after manufacture. On a vintage piece this can reduce value substantially, and it is one of the first things a specialist looks for.
**Patina.** Age-related change to dial, hands or lume, usually an even fading or warming of colour. Desirable when it is genuine and even; a warning sign when it looks manufactured or inconsistent across the dial.
**NOS.** New old stock — an older watch that was never sold or worn, still in its original condition. Genuinely rare, and a claim worth substantiating rather than accepting.
**Provenance.** The documented history of a specific watch: where it came from, who has owned it, what has been done to it, and what remains original. Provenance is evidence, not recollection — undocumented history does not transfer to the next owner.
**Archive extract.** A document issued by the manufacturer confirming production details for a given serial — typically the date of manufacture and original configuration. Strong provenance evidence, available from some houses and not others.
**Service history.** The dated record of maintenance: who performed it, when, what it cost, and what was replaced. A complete service history supports both condition and value, and it is the part of provenance most within a current owner’s control.
**Lot number.** The identifier assigned to an item in an auction sale. Together with the house and sale date it is a permanent, externally verifiable reference to a catalogued description of that exact watch.
**Watch roll / winder.** Storage accessories — a roll protects watches in transit, a winder keeps an automatic running while unworn. Neither affects value, but a winder’s use is worth noting in service planning.
**Appraisal.** A formal written valuation by a qualified appraiser, stating a value and the basis for it. Insurers commonly require one to schedule a piece, and it is a snapshot — it goes out of date as the market moves.
**Replacement value.** What it would cost to buy another example today, inclusive of dealer margin. Normally the figure an insurer wants for a scheduled item, because it is what they would have to spend to make you whole. The highest of the three values.
**Fair market value.** What a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree, neither under compulsion — roughly private-sale territory. The figure used for estate and tax purposes in most jurisdictions, and the one an executor needs. Below replacement value.
**Liquidation value.** What a dealer will pay in cash today. Wholesale: they are buying inventory, carrying risk, funding authentication and servicing, and expecting a margin. Commonly well below fair market value, and the number most owners are quoted when they first ask what a watch is worth.
**Scheduled property.** An item listed individually on an insurance policy with its own stated value, rather than falling under a general category limit. Scheduling is what takes a valuable watch out of the sub-limit.
**Sub-limit.** A cap a standard homeowner’s or renter’s policy applies to a whole category such as jewellery and watches, regardless of what is owned. Often modest, and frequently applied per loss rather than per item.
**Agreed value.** A settlement basis where the payout figure is fixed in advance, at the time the piece is scheduled. Contrast actual cash value, where the figure is determined after a loss by an adjuster.
**Actual cash value.** A settlement basis reflecting what the item is worth in its used condition at the time of loss, after depreciation — typically less favourable than agreed value for an appreciating asset.
**Mysterious disappearance.** An insurance term for property that is simply gone, with no evidence of theft. Some policies exclude it while covering theft, which is a distinction worth confirming explicitly.
**Underinsured.** Covered for less than it would cost to replace — usually because the scheduled value was set years ago and never revisited. The most common insurance failure in a collection, and the least visible.
**Cost basis.** The total actually paid to acquire a piece: purchase price plus duties, shipping and acquisition costs. The figure a real gain or loss is measured against, rather than the purchase price alone.
**Realized and unrealized.** Unrealized value is what a piece might be worth if sold — an estimate. Realized is what a sale actually produced after commission, fees and everything spent along the way. Keeping the two apart is the difference between a record and a fantasy.
**Estate register.** An inventory prepared for an executor: what the pieces are, what they are worth, which are promised to a named person and which may be sold. It answers the questions an executor will otherwise have to guess at.
**Executor.** The person responsible for administering an estate. For a watch collection they usually need identification, valuation, instructions and locations — none of which they can reconstruct without a record.
- [Pricing](https://watchregister.app/buy/): Licence terms and availability.
- [Open-source attributions](https://watchregister.app/attributions/): Third-party components and their licences.

## Optional

- [Full text of all documents](https://watchregister.app/llms-full.txt): Terms, privacy policy and FAQ concatenated.