A “Class B” rated home burglary safe for watches, designed and built in the USA, with a ½” thick solid steel door and a long list of other security features, specifically designed for concealed mounting in cabinets and walls, with available fireproofing, and storage capacity for 18 watch winders, jewelry and other items — for $6,000 to $7,000? Meet the BlumSafe Professional. But first some background.
History.
BlumSafe started in 2016 as a watch collector’s hobby — a passion project for Rob Blum, who had been looking for a reasonably priced wall safe that was deep enough to hold winders for his growing watch collection, was easily concealable (Rob believes the best form of security is for your valuables never to be found), and could be mounted in his dressing room — the best place to choose his watch for the day, to match his mood and clothing. The product he wanted really did not exist, so he sketched out ideas, and after over a year of research and design the first BlumSafe was born in 2017, followed two years later by a display door version. Both original BlumSafe models are highly modular and can be easily configured — both before and long after installation — to suit the owner and hold up to 12 watch winders, plus drawers and shelves.
The reception given to the BlumSafe by watch collectors greatly exceeded Rob’s expectations. Soon, client feedback had Rob and his growing team thinking about a bigger and higher security safe, one that retained the BlumSafe’s “between the studs” fit into in a wall or cabinet, with high quality and affordability. The new safe had to be manufactured in the US, as all BlumSafes have been since 2021. These priorities framed the development of the BlumSafe Professional, which launched in Spring 2023.
Basically, if a watch collector finds the BlumSafe alluring but seeks more storage or a higher level of security and/or fireproofing, then the new BlumSafe Professional is probably the answer. The Professional offers the same modular flexibility of the original BlumSafe, allowing the safe’s interior to evolve as the owner’s collection grows. But the Professional offers more storage in a more secure package, along with higher end safe “cosmetics” such as available internal wood veneer paneling and customizable paint treatments.
Essentially, with its increased capacity and protective ability, the BlumSafe Professional can serve as your main house safe, with greater locational convenience. And the BlumSafe Professional has all of these features at the outstanding value-for-money ratio that BlumSafe customers have come to expect — and at less than the cost of a mid-priced watch.
Accessibility.
The BlumSafe Professional gives you easy access and robust security in one efficient installation. It is designed for mounting in a wall or cabinet, preferably in your bedroom, dressing room or closet — because these are places you will visit every day to select the “right watch” (the big conventional safe in your safe room or basement, on the other hand, is the place beloved watches often go to never be worn).
Storage.
At approximately 14 1/4” wide, 36 ¼” tall, and 12.8”” deep (without extra fire cladding, and not including the outside surface flange), the BlumSafe Professional is about 10” taller and 5” deeper than the original BlumSafes. Because of its somewhat increased height, if you configure it with two columns of winders (for 12 winders), instead of three (18 winders), the BlumSafe Professional can even store an AR-15-type rifle or folding-butt shotgun for home protection. And the back of the door is configured for a variety of modular storage — it can be outfitted with knobs for hanging necklaces with either a mirror or black velvet backing, a tactical grid for storing handguns and other accessories up to 2 ½” deep, a file folder holder, or some combination of the above.
Security.
The BlumSafe Professional is a “B Rated” Safe — What Does That Mean? Weighing in at multiples more mass than that of an RSC safe, Class B security safes are a vast step-up in protection. This Class B high-security safe is equipped with a heavy, pry-resistant ½” solid steel door (not including fireproofing) and ¼” solid steel walls on all five sides. All else being equal, more steel means more protection, period. At approximately 300-450 pounds (depending upon fireproofing configuration) the Professional’s mass and weight target a sweet spot — representing serious security against penetration or unauthorized removal, while not being too heavy to require significant structural changes for ingress and support.
The Professional also has a number of advanced, anti-penetration features exhaustively detailed on its website (Rob is clearly proud of his latest baby), things like hardened steel and ball bearing double hardplate protection to protect the locking mechanism, relockers, a unique cam-over-center drive mechanism, a slip clutch feature, UL-listed locks, etc., but at its core, this is a sturdy safe capable of resisting hours of brute force abuse.
And if done right, BlumSafe believes the concealability that is facilitated by a wall safe or cabinet-installed safe in a luxury home is the best form of security, especially when one considers the likely range of risks. In fact, the lion’s share of actual burglaries — estimated at well over 90% — are committed by low-tech, low-skill crooks, who move in and out of a home in less than ten minutes and are rarely armed with more than a hammer and screwdriver (but the Professional is designed to absorb appreciably more punishment, of course).
Watch Winders.
For winders, instead of the all-in-one built-in approach used by most safe makers, all BlumSafes incorporate modular cube-shaped stackable Boxy® winders with connection nubs (think: Legos). This is a well-regarded, patented, affordable and modular design with a high quality, belt drive Mabuchi motor that won’t magnetize your watches (a risk with cheaper brands). Each watch winder is individually programmable for three direction and speed settings. One winder per watch offers improved reliability, serviceability, and the ability to easily add more winders to any BlumSafe as your collection grows.
Fireproofing.
Fireproofing for watch safes is a tricky and often misleading thing, because while a normal residential safe’s fireproofing provides some protection of its contents against heat, typically designed to protect to the char point of paper, 350 degrees Fahrenheit, they are not designed to protect to a temperature low enough (below 185 degrees) to shield your watches from damage in an intense fire over a period of time. That being said, all BlumSafes benefit over most other safes in that they are primarily installed in the master bedroom area — which in a typical luxury home is located away from the prevalent sources of house fires, the kitchen and utility room containing heating and similar equipment (i.e., where a floor standing safe is often located). And since BlumSafe’s are installed behind a wall or inside cabinet space, this wall material provides additional protection/time against fires. All of this buys time for the fire to be detected and be brought under control before a BlumSafe’s contents are put in harm’s way.
Further, with the Professional, BlumSafe listened to its customers’ desires and offered the option of a significant level of active fireproofing around all hidden sides of the safe. In addition, the doors on all BlumSafe Professionals (whether or not the fireproofing option is selected) include one inch of ceramic fiber fireproofing insulation and a gasket of Palusol® two-stage expanding material with a cold smoke seal.
Unlike most fireproof safes offered to consumers today, the fireboard fireproofing of the BlumSafe Professional’s walls is on the outside, the way a bank vault is constructed, protecting watches (and other contents) inside the safe from the corrosive effects of vapor and steam off-gassing that may occur with many other safes that have the fireboard inside. And for further protection against off-gassing vapor and steam damage, as noted above, the inside of the BlumSafe’s door is ceramic fiber, which does not create these hazards to your secured valuables.
Price and Comparison to the Original BlumSafe.
The BlumSafe Professional, equipped with a maximum of 18 winders, is priced at $5,999. The original US-built steel door BlumSafe, equipped with a maximum of 12 winders, is currently priced at $2,479. For that extra money, the Professional provides 50% more winder capacity, additional storage and amenities, and Class B Rated security and fireproofing.
Comparing features to other manufacturers, the BlumSafe Professional is thousands of dollars less expensive (in most cases, MANY thousands of dollars less expensive) than most “luxury” watch and jewelry safes with similar functionalities, which all too often lack the BlumSafe’s unique, built-in wall or cabinet safe concealable form-factor and are not built in the USA (with the quality that this implies).
The Verdict: We believe that both the original BlumSafe and the BlumSafe Professional provide exceptional value and features. Depending upon your needs and budget, either can be a great solution for your watch collection’s secure storage and protection. Essentially, as compared to other safes on the market, the BlumSafe Professional gives you similar (or better) security, storage, functionality and fireproofing, combined with the concealability and locational convenience that no other manufacturer provides, with a bit less of the superficial “luxury” cosmetics of some others – but for much less money. Sounds like a winning formula to us!
Pricing for a BlumSafe Professional ranges from approximately $4,599 to $7,699 depending upon configuration, with more information available, here. Isn’t your beloved watch collection worth the cost of this protection?
