Astronomically expensive watch
Astronomically expensive watch
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The "Little Gems" bulletin board is filled with weird and wonderful snippets about the world of jewellery.
Astronomically expensive watch
BusinessWeek magazine has named the Louis Moinet Meteoris, valued at over $US4.5m, as the most expensive watch of the year for 2010.
Meteoris is actually four watches – Asteroid, Rosetta Stone, Mars and Moon – presented together on a giant fifth watch, Planetarium. Each watch features part of a particular meteorite from which their names derive.
The dial of Asteroid comes from Itqiy, an asteroid that was formed near the sun.
Rosetta Stone features a fragment of its namesake, the oldest known meteorite ever found on earth, while Mars features a tiny Martian meteorite inlaid into a hand-engraved dial, and Moon presents a lunar meteorite.
The collection is a world first, as no stone from Itqiy, Mars or the Rosetta Stone had ever yet been used in watchmaking.
Meteoris took 14 years to create, and is based in the Watch Museum in France.
Yellow stone park
A Pennsylvania woman went from riches to rags when she discovered a flawless, 3.17-carat canary-yellow diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas in April. Patti Kubli had been searching the surface for about 30 minutes when she noticed the diamond shining in the dirt next to a quarter coin.
Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the general public, and all visitors are allowed to keep whatever they find.
In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Arkansas’s 37 ½-acre diamond site since the first diamonds were found there. Diamonds at the park come in all colours. The three most common colours found at the park are white, brown and yellow, in that order. Kubli named the stone The Dorie Diamond, after her mother.
High-tech proposal
Online retailer KJ Global has released the ultimate bridal geek gadget – a high-tech ring box containing a 2-inch LCD display and a built-in speaker. The video-display and music in the Ivy Carat jewellery case can be changed via a laptop and a USB connection, allowing any potential groom to personalise his proposal.
Tiny treasure
A diamond manufacturing company in Surat has cut and polished the world’s smallest diamond, weighing just 0.0003 carats (0.00006 grams).
“Surat has always had the expertise to cut smaller stones, but it is a wonder how the person managed to cut and polish such a small piece. It is the smallest diamond polished in the world,” said International Gemological Institute (IGI) CEO Roland Lorie.
The hand-cut stone has 57 facets and yet it is barely visible to the naked eye.
The company is planning to approach the Guinness Book of Records for official recognition.
“Polishing a stone of this size is an art,” said Tehmasp Printer, managing director, IGI India, adding, “It would feel like a tiny grain of sand when held in one’s hand.”
La Toya launches diamond hand-cream
La Toya Jackson has teamed up with German skincare brand Alessandro International to launch a luxury hand lotion named Dream Cream in May. The cream contains diamond dust and comes in a case that features a luxurious Swarovski-encrusted lid.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, only about 1500 units of the cream will be available, carried exclusively at Alessandro counters.
Alessandro founder Sylvia Troska said that Jackson was very involved in the creation of the product.
“La Toya kept me focused on the product. She called me at 3am because she wanted to talk about the samples that I sent to her.”
Gold headed for the scrap heap
More gold jewellery was scrapped in 2009 than made, according to US industry magazine Professional Jeweller, and the industry could be faced with another spike this year as gold prices are forecast to hit $US1,300 ($AUD1,400) an ounce.
Precious metals analyst GFMS has forecast a peak in gold prices in the second half of 2010 as investors return to safe-haven buying. This price spike could reignite the trend towards scrapping of gold through pawnbrokers, jewellers and newly set-up cash-for-gold companies that the industry saw in 2009.
“For the world to be scrapping more gold jewellery than it was making shows that the market was under extreme stress conditions last year caused by the global financial crisis,” GFMS chairman Philip Klapwijk said.
A call from Calypso
Luxury mobile-phone accessorising firm Givori has released a new marine-themed collection of Nokia handsets designed with 18-carat gold and mother of pearl.
The collection is composed of gold-plated handsets with fish scales in mother of pearl, and is inspired by sea-nymph Calypso from Greek mythology.
“Each mother of pearl element is individually hand-fitted and grouped together to form one seamless surface reflecting heavenly hues,” Givori brand manager Nader Mikhail said. “It’s a true piece of jewellery and the ultimate fashion accessory”.
Public display of affection
An American man has used a Manhattan jeweller’s display window to stage a memorable wedding proposal for his girlfriend.
According to NYDailyNews, Tom DeBourcy placed a 2-carat diamond ring on Alex Routenberg’s finger during a stroll past Jeri Cohen Fine Jewelry, where he had arranged for a “Will you marry me Alexandra?” sign to be displayed.
The bride-to-be regularly walked past the store after seeing it featured on the hit reality TV show Real Housewives of New York.
Posted May 25, 2010