Jewelry & Watch News

For this article, I'd like to show you how to sweat solder 14kt gold jewelry soldering ornaments onto sterling silver blanks. Sweat soldering is a wonderful technique to learn. When you sweat solder you have more control of the solder, the heat, and there's less clean-up. This technique will quickly become a favorite of yours if you're just starting out. Note: Adding 14kt gold soldering ornaments really will make a sterling silver piece stand out! Let me first start by saying, that we've recently added dozens of soldering ornaments to our inventory. Since normally I work almost exclusively with sterling silver, it has been a lot of fun adding 14kt gold soldering ornaments into the mix. Now, there are many positive benefits to adding these gold findings. The mixed metals look beautiful, it also adds value to your jewelry designs while at the same time, the ornaments are inexpensive to purchase. The combination of these benefits truly makes it worthwh...

An elevator pitch is the cornerstone of jewelry sales that every small business owner needs. If you missed out on the binge-watching era of Shark Tank and other business competition TV shows this may be a new term for you. Fear not, this article will take a deep dive into pitching concisely with a compelling call to action. You’ll be a jewelry sales pro before you know it! What the heck is an elevator pitch? The proverbial elevator pitch gets its name from the dream scenario of starry-eyed entrepreneurs for decades. Imagine you land an entry-level job at a huge investment firm and you have a million-dollar, brilliant, world-changing business idea. If only you could get it in front of the bigwig decision-makers in the c-suite you would be in the money. You suffer the daily grind for months until one day opportunity leaps in front of you. The big boss races to catch the elevator you just stepped into on your way to work in the 3rd-floor mail room. She hits th...

Alex and Ani has agreed to a new debt structure with its syndicate of lenders led by Bank of America, the company said in court papers filed Aug. 30. The assertion was made in a court filing that was part of the charm brand’s ongoing legal battle with KJ Brands, its former distributor for Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Alex and Ani’s income averages around $15 million a month, according to an affidavit from chief financial officer Andrea Ruda. The brand declined comment to JCK . Last month, Lyndon Lea, a founder of Lion Capital, the private equity firm that owns 40% of the company, voiced his support for Alex and Ani in an email sent to JCK by the brand’s public relations firm. “ Alex  and  Ani  is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any private equity firm,” Lea said in the statement. “It’s a brand with roots, with story, with principle, and with pride. It’s an American-made, female-founded company—honestly and humbly bo...

Bergdorf Goodman has had an action-packed fine jewelry events calendar since Labor Day. Starting Wednesday, the New York City luxury department store will welcome London-based designer Sarah Ho. Daughter of the late-’60s model and “It girl” Suki Potier, Ho grew up in Hong Kong and Macau before settling in the U.K. Those looking to shop and/or connect with her will have the chance to do so at Bergdorf’s through Friday, Sept. 20. Creating only a limited number of pieces per year, Ho has historically operated her business exclusively on a by-appointment and bespoke basis for international private clients, and she recently opened a showroom in London’s Mayfair district. Her Bergdorf’s engagement will be the first time she has presented her jewels directly to customers within a retail store.  As such, she’s packed her treasure chest with mounds of feminine, one-of-a-kind masterpieces featuring stones such as vibrant tourmalines and...

SPONSORED October always reminds me of love, new beginnings and weddings (my wedding was on October 21, 2015). This time of year I always like to revisit engagement ring styles, scoping out the latest trends and seeing what brides are wanting. Just as much as ring selfies were so very popular a few years ago, they still are even more today. If you’re thinking about ring shopping, you know how important that will be when your time comes to say yes to the proposal. I’m learning how a variety of styles suit all personalities out there. If there’s one suggestion to make, I would say to find a designer that creates many unique engagement rings so you can find one that speaks to you most. Sylvie Collection has been creating designer engagement and wedding rings since 2007 and offers over 2000 different styles to choose from. I find her designs to speak toward femininity and elegance, as every design is made by a woman for a woman. Sylvie is involved in every aspect of the ri...

Los Angeles–based designer Ariel Gordon is a household name among those who wear, appreciate, and covet delicate charm jewelry, stacking rings, and infinitely layerable chain necklaces, so it may come as a surprise that her jewelry business is just 10 years old. Over the years Gordon has worked to delight her fans with a steady supply of new, and enticingly droll, options, from colorful enamel toadstools and fruit, to pricier, yet still this-side-of-playful, diamond and birthstone jewels for customers who are growing with her and are ready for pieces with more substance. Recent additions to the line have an undeniably vintage vibe, so it’s only fitting that Gordon has just launched Heritage by Ariel Gordon in honor of her 10th anniversary in the business. Comprising more than 225 vintage pieces she has personally collected and sourced one by one, her picks touch the Victorian, mid-century, and contemporary eras. All of the p...

Your mother is a woman like no other. She’s given you life, nurtured you, protected you, fought for you and has been the only one person in the world to love you unconditionally. With mother’s day right around the corner, you’ve finally got the chance to thank her by showing her just how much she means to you. A gift that is precious, special and lasts for a long time is what she really deserves. And what could be more precious and beautiful than jewellery? We have designed some special jewellery just for mother’s day. Pendants with carvings of the word ‘mom’ or tiny gold sculptures of a mother holding her child are some of the best in our beautiful mother’s day jewellery collection. And along with that, our collection has a host of pearl necklaces, finger rings and earrings that are all gorgeous enough to melt the heart of your mother. Here are a few of those beautiful pendants for you to check out… A heart-shaped pendant to win your mother’s heart This gorgeous ...

When we think of pearls, the first thing that comes to our mind is white. Even though white pearls are among the most popular gems in the world, black pearls too have gained popularity and are now a trendsetter. Here are some things you should know about black pearls! What are black pearls?   Black pearls also appear colourless at times, but they are not really colourless. They are produced very rarely, and this makes them expensive. These days, they are available at a relatively lower price, so more people have started to wear black pearls. How can you wear black pearls?   Black pearls are unique and can help you create a new fashion statement. They are however, not for daily wear. Being bold, they are recommended for the serious trendsetting go getters. Just make sure your dress is not too flashy. Black pearls look best when you wear something more dignified and alluring. Black pearls and symbolism   The mysterious and beautiful black pea...

When I first started selling gemstones 10 years ago (blimey) one of the first stones that I focussed on was London Blue. It was reasonably priced, plentiful and the colour was like no other. Before I started my journey into gems, blue topaz to me meant swiss blue; bright, vivid cornflower blue. I’m not really a bright and vivid kind of girl (!), or at least, the colours don’t look good on me, so it wasn’t a stone I was interested in selling. London Blue, however was a different story. Prussian blue, petrol blue, I had so many names for this distinctive and elegant shade of greenish blue. No other stone could touch it, except perhaps blue tourmaline (indicolite) but you needed deep pockets for that. And my customers appeared to agree! They couldn’t get enough so I started cutting it in all shapes and sizes. However, around 2015 something unpleasant started to happen; the price started jumping up, the quality began to waver. What could be happening? Well, there two main...

I’ve decided to do a series of posts on inclusions, as it is simply one of the most frequent topics that comes up with customers. Everyone knows the value of a nice, clean gemstone: no-one wants a diamond with a dirty great fracture, or a ruby with a big black crystal under the table. However, the search for a perfectly clean stone is a bit of a fool’s errand. The GIA no longer uses the term ‘internally flawless’ to describe diamonds as there is simply no such thing; with increasingly powerful microscopes, if you magnify anything enough times, you will find something. But above all, I think we need to reconsider attitudes to inclusions. The GIA doesn’t call them inclusions; preferring the term ‘clarity characteristics’, and if you believe that the very words we use are instrumental in influencing how people feel about a thing then we can see that this is a much less judgemental term to use. They describe clarity characteristics in a stone as ‘the eyewitnesses to its b...

Many years ago, shortly after I started out, the price of prehnite went shooting up. It was one of those odd things, where I had to do a bit of a double take. What could be going on? I was told, it was because it was being used as a jade substitute for the Chinese market. I did another double take, because I just couldn’t see it. Prehnite is so commonly pale, fractured, full of wisps and veils that I just couldn’t see how it could possibly substitute for jade. And then they brought out the good stuff; deep green, clean and glowing with an unearthly, dreamlike lustre. Ever since, I’ve tried to stock the better stuff, because when prehnite is good, it’s very, very good indeed. You might never even have heard of it. The GIA thinks not, as they have included it in their ‘Hot Gemstones’ round-up, but that makes it an excellent choice as you are not likely to run into it in your local jewellers. It’s a bit different, unusual and the prices (except for the really fine ...

  Aquamarine is a really great choice of stone; it’s pretty gemmy without being insanely expensive, it cuts well and takes a really high polish. In its transparent form, it’s more pricey but I just love the milky variety; in lovely shades of pale blue to sea-green, it is misty, hazy and dreamy. It’s common to find this material full of fractures and veils, but when it comes clean with a lovely translucency it is a beautiful, glowing stone. It is named after seawater itself: aqua = water and marina = of the sea and it is in fact a form of beryl, the same mineral as emerald.  Unlike emerald, it grows in large and frequently clean crystals so it’s relatively easy to find it in large sizes and in fact can be exceptionally clean. Top colour is a moderately strong blue to greenish-blue. It’s a great jewellery stone and versatile as it’s also exceptionally hard – so a good option for a ring stone. The gemstone for March, aquamarine is offer protection in battl...

Here is what you need to wear with the new Comme des Garçons Play T-shirt you just bought in the basement of Dover Street Market: a textured gold Bulgari Tubogas bracelet watch to coil up your bare arm (because you’re wearing short sleeves!); a Victorian micro-mosaic brooch of St. Peter’s Square to pin opposite your tee’s winky little heart; and—why no t? A blindingly bright ruby-and-diamond ring to light up your finger. These vintage jewels are among a carefully curated selection at DSM on display until Sunday, stars of a stunning partnership between the gang at CDG and the eminent auction house Sotheby’s. Works by artist Sammy Slabbinck have been commissioned to accompany the jewels, and these witty collages further enhance your viewing pleasure. If the installation seems to break new ground in the world of high/low—the estimate for one pretty thing is a cool $125,000 to $175,000 (girl, it couldn’t get much higher)—not everything here takes itself so seriousl...