Can you Wear your Watch Through Airport Security? [Complete Guide]

If you have been to an airport, you have probably taken off your watch through airport security.

But for anyone who is wearing a nice watch, the idea of taking it off in a public area and losing sight of it is not a nice thing. Not only are you leaving it out of sight, but you may also scratch and damage your watch with the way the staff is handling the trays.

This begs us to ask the question: can you wear your watch through airport security?

The short answer is that in most cases, yes, you can wear your watch through airport security. But it also depends on various different factors and the answer isn’t always clear-cut. If you wear your watch on the wrist through the whole process, you’ll be able to keep it from getting scratched, damaged – or even lost or stolen. It does happen that people place their belongings, in particular valuables, on the trays and then when they have passed the security check, someone has stolen them.

When you have passed the metal detector, you often have to wait for the tray to come. Or, the tray may go through the x-ray before you. This leaves your precious watch unattended for some time. If you have a nice and expensive watch, you want to keep it close to you at all times to keep it safe and secure.

Can you wear your watch through a metal detector?

In most cases, yes. For writing this article, we experimented by wearing many different types of watches through airport security. In most airports and with most watches, the watch did not set off the metal detector. But occasionally, it did. If the metal detector goes off, it will mean a physical inspection.

Whether or not the metal detector will go off from your watch depends on several different factors:

How large your watch is
If you have other metal items on you
The level of sensitivity the metal detector is set to

Different airports set their metal detectors to different sensitivities, meaning that, in some cases, the metal detector will go off when you wear your watch and in others, it won’t.

Bear in mind that in some airports, the staff will ask you to remove your watch before you go through the metal detector, or they may ask you to go through it again after you have taken off your watch. This is not ideal because it means leaving your watch on a tray unattended. It also means that you have limited time to pack the watch correctly and safely. But most airports will just perform a physical inspection and not force you to remove your watch.

From our findings, as well as reports from others, there are a few different scenarios depending on the airport and who is working there:

If the staff sees that you are wearing a watch, they may or may not ask you to take it off before going through the x-ray
If your watch sets off the metal detector, they may or may not ask you to remove the watch and go through it again
If you are wearing a watch, it may or may not (but most likely not) set off the metal detector.

From what we have found, if you wear your watch on your wrist and under a cuff or shirt sleeve so that it is not visible, you will not have to remove the watch, even if the metal detector goes off. The staff will just perform a search and then you’re good to go.

If you wear a large watch with a metal bracelet, the detector will likely go off, but it’s not certain that you will have to take the watch off. In most cases, you won’t have to.

Moreover, bear in mind that metal detectors are meant to detect metal so if you are wearing a watch that is not made in metal, for example, plastic and silicone, it will in most cases not set off the metal detector.

Putting the watch on a tray

Some people prefer to put the watch on a tray for a faster process. Since there is a possibility that your watch will set off the metal detector, you can put the watch on a tray to avoid triggering the detector and thus get through the security control faster.

If you are going to do this, you want to be mindful of the way you place it. This is both to keep it safe and secure so that no one steals it, but also to protect it against scratches and damages.

Use a travel pouch: The best way to protect your watch is to put it in a travel pouch. A lot of people just put the watch on a tray without any protection and this may ultimately cause a lot of scratches to the watch. Even if you place it in a jacket pocket, for example, the bracelet will still rub against the watch and the bracelet which can cause scratches.

Put the pouch in a hidden location: The worst thing you can do is to just put the watch on a tray in the open. But you also want to refrain from putting the watch travel pouch in the open as well. They are small and someone can easily be put in a pocket whilst you are distracted by someone else. Therefore, you want to make it difficult for someone to find it and steal it. Put the travel pouch in a jacket pocket, inside your suitcase, or in any other hidden location that is difficult to access.

Keep an eye on your watch at all times: This can be difficult but you want to make sure you have an eye on your tray as closely as possible. Look at the tray when it goes into the x-ray and try to see when it comes out. Ideally, you want to time the moment the tray goes into the x-ray and the time you go through the x-ray machine but this is not always possible if there’s a long queue. The greatest risk that your watch will be stolen is if you go through the x-ray and your tray has still not gone through the x-ray, or vice versa.

Doing this will minimize the risk of someone finding and stealing your watch. But to be on the safe side, a lot of people choose to just wear the watch on their wrist and accept the fact that they may have to go through a physical inspection.

Can I wear my watch on the plane?

Yes, absolutely! There is absolutely no risk to wear a watch on the airplane. Your watch will be unaffected if it is on an airplane, regardless if you have quartz, digital, or mechanical watch so you have nothing to worry about.

Never put watches in your checked-in baggage

You should never put watches in your checked-in baggage. Each bag that is checked in is scanned and this will reveal that the bag contains a watch. If the wrong person checks it, your watch may get stolen. Moreover, checked-in baggage is thrown around a lot and not handled very carefully. This is of course not ideal for delicate mechanical watches. Therefore, you should never put watches in the bags that you check in.

Be careful with putting watches in your hand luggage

Another thing you want to consider is if you have your watch in your hand luggage. The best and most secure place to have your watch is on the wrist. But if you have multiple watches, you may need to keep them in your hand luggage. The advice here is that you should keep your bag close to you at all times. Whilst there is a relatively small risk, someone may look in your bag if it is far away from you or if you have gone to the toilet. Keep your bag close to you and keep an eye on it.

Can airport scanners damage watches?

If you have a mechanical watch, you may be wondering if the scanners can damage your watch. As you know, x-rays use magnetism and mechanical watches and magnetism is not a good combination.

Magnetism can negatively affect the accuracy of mechanical watches so you want to keep them away from magnetism as much as possible. The good news is that manufacturers and watch brands have consistently worked to improve the anti-magnetic properties of mechanical watches. This is why most modern watches will have no problem resisting the magnetic fields that are around airport security. In other words, you need stronger magnetic fields to negatively affect most modern watches.

However, not all watches have the same level of anti-magnetic properties. In particular older, vintage watches can be very sensitive to magnetic fields.

But if you have a relatively modern watch, you will experience no issues whatsoever in regard to magnetism. You can place it in a tray and put it through the x-ray, or you can wear it on your wrist.

Can you wear an Apple watch through airport security?

The same principles apply to Apple watches as to all watches. Meaning, some staff members and airports may require you to take off your watch if they see you wearing one. But otherwise, your Apple watch will likely not set off the metal detector.

And even if it does, it may just involve a physical inspection. In many cases, Apple watches have less metal inside of them than mechanical watches, so the metal detector usually does not go off for Apple watches. Just remember to put the watch on Flight Mode once you enter the aircraft.

Can you Wear your Watch Through Airport Security? [Complete Guide]