Security & Privacy
Your collection. Your evidence. Your control.
Watch Trust is designed with privacy in mind. Your information remains private by default and is shared only when you choose.
What we do not claim
No platform can promise absolute security. We do not hold a formal security certification and we will not tell you your data is 100% secure. What we can say is that we design the platform to protect your information using the controls described on this page, and we review and improve them as the product evolves.
How your information is protected
Private by default
Your watch records and documents are private the moment you add them. Nothing is visible to anyone else unless you actively choose to share it through a Watch Passport link or an ownership transfer.
Serial number protection
Full serial numbers are stored for your records and duplicate checks, but they are masked in shared Passports, public verification pages and the professional view by default. Only the last four characters are shown unless you decide otherwise.
Document protection
Invoices, warranty cards, service receipts and appraisals live in private storage. They are not reachable through a public URL. Access is granted through short-lived signed links generated only after the server confirms the viewer is authorized.
Controlled sharing
When you share a Watch Passport, you decide which sections are visible. You can set an expiry, protect the link with a password and revoke it at any time. Once revoked, the link no longer opens the record.
Ownership privacy
Ownership history is represented as a chain of events, not a list of personal identities. Previous owners are not exposed to the public or to the next owner unless they explicitly choose to include that information.
Verification transparency
Every claim in a record is labelled by its source: owner reported, document supported, professionally reviewed or AI assisted. We never present owner input or AI output as if it had been reviewed by a professional.
AI assistance
Our identification assistant may suggest a brand, model or reference from the information you provide. Those suggestions include confidence and source metadata, and remain suggestions until you confirm them. AI does not create professional verification.
Security principles
We design the platform to protect your data using a set of practical security principles:
Authentication
Sign-in is handled through secure, industry-standard identity providers: email with a confirmed address, or Google. Passwords are never stored by Watch Trust in readable form, and passwords known to have appeared in public breaches are rejected at sign-up.
Multi-factor authentication and passkeys
Two-factor authentication and passkey sign-in are not available yet. They are planned, and we will state clearly on this page when each becomes available rather than implying protection we do not offer. If you sign in with Google today, any two-factor step you have enabled on that account already applies.
Authorization
Every request to view or change a record is checked against your relationship to that record: owner, recipient of an active grant, or platform administrator.
Row-level access controls
Sensitive data tables enforce access rules directly in the database, so the boundary does not depend on the interface alone.
Private storage
Files are kept in private storage buckets that cannot be browsed publicly.
Signed access
Documents are opened through time-limited signed URLs generated only after an authorization check.
Audit logging
Record creation, uploads, sharing, transfers and verification actions are written to an append-only audit trail used for support and review.
Least-privilege access
Professionals, administrators and automated processes receive only the permissions their role requires.
Secure secret handling
API keys and service credentials are handled server-side and are not exposed to the browser or stored in client code.
Your choices
You stay in control of your data. You can:
- Control sharing: choose what each Passport link reveals, set expiries and revoke links.
- Remove shared access: revoke active grants and shared links when you no longer want them to be used.
- Request account deletion: contact us to delete your account and associated records.
- Manage your profile: update email, preferences and notification settings from the account page.
- Manage document visibility: decide which documents appear on shared Passports and which remain private.
Reporting a concern
If you believe you have found a security weakness or a record that misrepresents a watch, use our contact form with enough detail to reproduce it. We investigate reports and do not pursue researchers acting in good faith. Please do not access or modify data belonging to other people while testing, and give us a reasonable window to fix the issue before disclosing it.