Terms of Service & End-User Licence Agreement

Watch Vault Archive · Last updated 20 October 2026

1. What you are licensed

Licensed, not sold. Watch Vault Archive is proprietary, closed-source commercial software. Subject to these Terms, Aveneg Technologies, LLC ("the Company") grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the Application on computers you own or control, for your own use. Where these Terms require a licence to be purchased, it is purchased through the app store you obtained the Application from.

What is licensed. This licence covers the distributed build — the compiled, signed, packaged Application and the updates released for the major release of the product you purchased. It does not grant any right to the source code, which is not published and remains the Company's exclusive property. See §4 for what this does and does not permit.

Prior versions. Versions v1.0.0 through v1.29.0 were previously distributed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. That grant is not revoked for copies already lawfully obtained under it. Effective with v1.30.0, all new versions are proprietary and licensed only under these Terms; the PolyForm licence does not apply to v1.30.0 or any later version.

Use without a licence. You may install and use the Application without paying a licence fee for thirty (30) days, beginning when you accept the notice about these thirty days that the Application shows as you add your first watch record, and running to the end of the thirtieth day, on computers you own or control, for your own use. During that period the number of watch records is not limited and no feature is withheld — encryption, the recovery key, provenance, service and timing history, valuations, attachments, and every document the Application generates are available in full. Except for the fee, all of these Terms apply to use under this grant, including the restrictions in §4.

After the thirty days. Adding new watch records after the thirty days requires a licence. A version of the Application that offers no way to buy a licence is licensed in full, and the thirty days do not apply to it. Nothing else requires a licence, and nothing is taken away: opening and unlocking your collection, browsing, searching, editing and deleting records you already have, every document the Application generates, exports and backups all continue to work permanently, without a licence fee. Records already created are never removed or made unreadable by the Company.

Opening and continuing an existing collection. The limit applies only to adding a watch record. It never limits opening, restoring, browsing, searching, editing, printing or exporting an existing collection. A collection restored from a backup is fully accessible regardless of how many watch records it contains, whether or not a licence has been purchased and whether or not the first thirty days have passed. Restoring a collection is never blocked.

Licence duration and updates. A purchased licence is perpetual for the major release of Watch Vault Archive for which it was issued. The licence includes all updates, improvements, maintenance releases and fixes made available within that major release.

A subsequent major release may be licensed and sold separately. Purchase of a subsequent major release is not required to continue using the major release already licensed.

Termination. The licence terminates if you materially breach these Terms and do not remedy the breach within 32 days of written notice. Termination does not affect data you have already created — your vault files and collection remain yours, and remain readable by any build you hold that is at least as recent as the one that last saved them.

2. Local-first architecture, and what that means for you

Your collection cannot be transmitted. This is not a promise of restraint; it is an architectural constraint. The part of the Application that holds your collection runs under a Content Security Policy that sets connect-src 'none', which disables fetch, XMLHttpRequest, WebSocket, EventSource and sendBeacon at the engine level, and the Application contains no code that opens a network connection of any other kind. So there is no path in the Application by which your watches, values, photographs, documents or passphrase could reach anyone. There are no servers, no cloud accounts, no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting and no update checks.

The collection is air-gapped; the Application is not the same thing. These are two different claims and only the first is absolute. Where the Application is obtained from an app store, it may communicate with that store about your licence — whether it is owned, what it costs, and any purchase or restore you confirm — and for nothing else. That exchange carries no part of your collection, because the part of the Application that holds your collection cannot open a connection at all. What we promise is not that the Application is silent; it is that the Application never sends your collection anywhere.

No personal data is collected. The Application sends the Company nothing about you, your collection, your usage or your device — not in aggregate, not anonymised, not at all. What the Company receives is what an app store reports to every publisher — download and sales totals, and usage and crash reports only from people who chose to share them with developers — none of which names you, and the email you choose to send it (Privacy Policy §§1–5). Of your collection there is no data controller, no processor, and nothing to subject to an access or deletion request, because none of it is ever transmitted or held.

Where your data lives. Your collection is stored encrypted on your own computer, in two main places: the application's local database and a file at register.vault in the Application's own folder on your computer — the live collection the Application reads and writes as you use it. A few encrypted earlier copies are kept beside it: the version before your last save, and the earlier versions listed in Data → Earlier versions. Full-resolution photographs and attached documents are stored beside it as separate encrypted files, one per item, in a blobs directory; small preview images remain inside the collection itself. Every part is sealed with the same master key. Encryption is AES-256-GCM via the platform's WebCrypto implementation; a random master key encrypts your data and is itself wrapped by keys derived from your secrets — your passphrase with Argon2id in the installed application (a collection made by an older version is brought up to Argon2id the next time it is unlocked with the passphrase), your recovery key with PBKDF2-SHA256 at 250,000 iterations.

Two ways in, both yours alone. Your collection can be opened by your passphrase or by the recovery key shown during setup. Neither can be derived from the other. The Company holds neither, can reconstruct neither, and has no mechanism to recover either.

Your responsibilities. You are solely responsible for choosing and safeguarding your passphrase, for storing your recovery key somewhere safe and separate, for the security of your device, and for maintaining your own backups — including any encrypted .vault.json files you export. A .vault.json file is a backup you create yourself and choose where to keep; it is a separate file from the live register.vault described above.

Automatic backups. If you choose a folder for automatic backups, the Application writes an encrypted backup there on the schedule you choose, but only while it is open and unlocked. It is a convenience and not a guarantee: it does not run while the Application is closed, it cannot write to a folder it cannot reach, and it keeps only the newest four. The backups in that folder are files you hold, as any backup you export is; erasing your collection does not remove them, and keeping them, and any copy a cloud service makes of them, is your responsibility.

Unencrypted files you create. Some things the Application makes at your request are not encrypted: spreadsheet exports, the sale dossier, documents opened for printing, photographs or attached documents you save from a watch's record, and the archive export and the file for Watch Vault Tracker when saved without a password. Each can be read by anyone who can open it, and the Application asks you to acknowledge that every time one is made. The archive export and the file for Watch Vault Tracker may instead be locked with a password you choose for that file; a locked file is protected only as well as that password, and the Company cannot recover a forgotten one. You may instead choose to be asked less often: until the Application locks, for 24 hours, or for 30 days, and never for longer than 30 days at a time. That choice applies on that computer only, and your acknowledgement then covers every such file made in that time. The sale dossier always asks. Once such a file exists, where it is kept, who it is given to and any copy made of it, including a printout or a PDF, are your responsibility.

Unrecoverable loss. If you lose both your passphrase and your recovery key, your collection cannot be opened by anyone, including the Company. This is a deliberate property of the design, disclosed to you before setup completes and repeatedly in the Application. Likewise, hardware failure or deletion without a backup is unrecoverable. The Company accepts no liability of any kind for data that becomes unrecoverable for these or any other reasons.

3. Valuations, insurance and financial figures

Every figure originates with you, or says where it came from. The Application does not appraise, does not fetch market prices, and does not connect to any pricing service — it cannot, per Section 2. Market values, purchase prices and insured values are values you entered. Totals, gains, losses and coverage warnings are arithmetic performed on your own inputs. The few figures that are not — a launch price restated in current money using a published U.S. consumer price index or an assumed inflation rate the Application carries, or a default such as the 5-year service interval used when you have not set one — are labelled as such where they appear.

Informational only. Those outputs exist for personal record-keeping and organization. They are not an appraisal, a valuation, or financial, tax, legal or insurance advice. The Company is not a licensed appraiser, broker, adjuster, fiduciary or advisor, and no professional relationship is created by your use of the Application.

What the Application is. A tool for organizing, totaling and presenting information you enter about what you own. Everything it shows depends on the accuracy and completeness of what you entered. Where it has to assume something — a default, or a starting point you have not recorded — it says so where the result is shown. It checks nothing against the outside world and applies only its programmed calculations.

What it is not. Nothing the Application displays or prints is financial or investment advice, a recommendation to buy, sell or keep any item, insurance coverage advice, legal advice, estate-planning or inheritance advice, tax advice, or a professional valuation.

Estate records have no legal effect. Beneficiaries, directives and instructions you record, and documents such as the estate register or legacy folio, are notes for the people you choose. They are not a will, trust or transfer of ownership and create no legal right. How your property passes is governed by your estate documents and the law where you live.

Calculations can be wrong. The Application is software and may contain defects, including errors in calculations, totals, dates and warnings. Such an error is a software defect, not advice. Do not rely on the Application as the sole basis for any financial, legal, insurance, estate or other important decision; verify important information and consult an appropriate professional.

Your use is at your own risk. By using the Application you accept these limits and the risk that what it shows may be incomplete or wrong.

Insurance figures in particular. Coverage indicators — including whether a piece is flagged with a coverage gap, and any coverage limit calculated from the scheduled value and coverage percentage you recorded — are estimates derived from what you entered. They do not reflect your actual policy, your insurer's terms, or how a claim would be settled. Printed schedules and reports are working documents you produce, not certified appraisals.

Verify before relying on any of it. Confirm valuations with a qualified appraiser and coverage with your insurer or broker. The Company assumes no liability for denied or disputed claims, coverage gaps, valuation discrepancies, tax positions, or any financial outcome connected to figures displayed by the Application.

3a. Website content — the same disclaimer, for a different surface

Section 3 covers the Application's own outputs — figures you entered and arithmetic performed on them. This section covers watchvaultarchive.com itself, including any guide, article or reference material published on the site (for example, on insuring a collection, estate documentation, or provenance).

General information only. Anything published on the website is general information, not insurance, legal, tax or financial advice, and is not tailored to your circumstances, your jurisdiction, or your policy. Reading it creates no professional, advisory or fiduciary relationship between you and the Company. Nothing on the website should be relied on in place of a licensed insurance broker, attorney, or tax professional in your own jurisdiction — consult one before acting on anything you read there.

No warranty on accuracy or currency. Laws, insurance practices and market norms vary by jurisdiction and change over time. The Company does not warrant that website content is complete, current, or applicable to your situation, and assumes no liability for outcomes connected to reliance on it.

4. Verifying our claims, and permitted use

You do not have to take our word for it. The architectural claims in §2 — that the Application cannot transmit your data, that your collection is encrypted at rest, that no recovery path exists — are all things you can verify yourself, at runtime, without reading any source code. The Security Overview describes exactly how: open a network monitor, use the Application through a full session including saving, exporting and attaching a document, and confirm nothing about your collection is ever sent anywhere. That the Application never sends your collection anywhere is independently observable by anyone, on any computer, in a few minutes.

Reporting a vulnerability. Security issues may be reported by email at support@watchvaultarchive.com. Findings are welcome, including ones that contradict the Company's own claims.

What is restricted. The source code is not published. You may not decompile, disassemble, or reverse-engineer the Application, or attempt to derive its source code, except to the extent such a restriction is unenforceable under applicable law. You may not resell, sublicense, rent, lease, or redistribute the Application or a modified version of it, and you may not use the Application beyond the scope of the licence you have purchased. Branding, name, logo and documentation remain the Company's property.

5. As-is delivery, liability and governing law

As-is. The Application is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. The Company does not warrant that the Application is free of defects or that it will meet your requirements.

Distribution and signing. Builds are produced by an automated pipeline on GitHub's hosted build servers. Copies from the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store are signed through those stores; other downloads are not code-signed by the Company. You are responsible for obtaining the Application from the official distribution channel; the Company is not responsible for modified, repackaged or third-party-hosted copies.

Limitation of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages, nor for lost revenue, lost or corrupted data, loss of physical assets, or legal expenses, arising from use of or inability to use the Application. Where liability cannot be excluded, total aggregate liability is limited to the amount you paid for the licence in the twelve months preceding the claim.

Capacity. You must be of legal age to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction.

Successors and heirs. The Application is intended in part for estate records. Anyone you grant access to — an executor, heir or advisor — is bound by these Terms when using the Application. The Company has no role in your succession arrangements, holds no keys, and cannot grant access to anyone.

Changes. These Terms may be updated for future releases. The version accompanying the build you have installed governs your use of that build.

Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, USA, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in force.

Watch Vault Archive · watchvaultarchive.com · published by Aveneg Technologies, LLC. Legal: legal@watchvaultarchive.com