Jewelers Circular Keystone articles from February 2008

Jewelers Circular Keystone archives from February 2008

Full Spectrum.
February 1, 2008... Staff AGTA celebrates the richness of colored gemstone jewelry with its 2008 Spectrum Awards. The 2008 AGTA Spectrum Awards competition, hosted by the American Gem Trade Association, has announced this year's winners. The awards will...

Merge Right.(Company overview)
February 1, 2008... By Hedda T. Schupak, Editor-in-Chief Two venerable jewelers challenged by shifting markets join forces and build a cohesive, vertically integrated brand. Every upscale jeweler wants to be the 'Tiffany of its town.' But when...

The Watch Company. Reinvented.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster, Senior Editor Concord's revamped marketing strategy includes a fresh ad campaign, a new tagline, and a single line of luxury watches. Luxury watch brand Concord has repositioned itself to be an even more...

Intergem 2007: The Wild Bunch.
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA, Senior Editor Idar-Oberstein's 23rd annual Intergem fair in October was again the place to find extraordinary colored gems for this year's push to sell more color. The gem artists from Idar-Oberstein,...

Lightning Ridge Opal in High Definition.
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA, Senior Editor A fun festival Down Under is also a serious celebration of a gemstone worthy of higher praise. For more than a century, the landscape of Lightning Ridge, Australia, has been...

Palas Jewelers.
February 1, 2008... By Glen A. Beres Palas Jewelers is a full-service jewelry store in Atlanta's upscale Buckhead neighborhood. The retailer carries a range of diamond and colored stone jewelry in 14k and 18k gold, platinum, and sterling silver. The company...

Passages to India.
February 1, 2008... By Rick Bannerot I've traveled to India three times recently as I became engaged in several jewelry marketing and promotional projects. These include rough diamond sourcing challenges and helping guild independent Indian jewelry retailers...

Holding Employees Accountable.
February 1, 2008... By Glen A. Beres Brian Cole Miller is the principal of Working Solutions Inc., a Dublin, Ohio-based management training and consulting firm. Miller spoke with JCK about his latest book, Keeping Employees Accountable for Results: Quick...

Plateau Jewelers: High-Tech Custom Jewelry.
February 1, 2008... By Mark B. and Lainie Mann For this Washington State jeweler, computer-aided design became a key tool for creating one-of-a-kind pieces. This design article is sponsored by Gemvison Corp., Davenport, Iowa. For information related to...

Gem Pricing Report.
February 1, 2008... Staff A soft economy and record gold prices have spawned caution in the gem market. But while the holiday season was marginal for many jewelry retailers, those near tourist destinations reported better sales, which apparently were fueled...

Setting Inventory Levels and Controls.
February 1, 2008... By Wayne Levy The old days of hanging a sign over the door, filling the cases, and waiting for the cash register to ring are gone. The game has changed and there are new ways of doing business. Companies that adapt to the changes will...

To Catch an Internal Thief.
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates, Senior Editor Employee theft can be a serious problem for jewelers, yet it's often an unacknowledged one. Internal theft is a problem for any business, but particularly so for jewelers, whose product is small, easily...

Wedding Band Design.
February 1, 2008... By Mark B. and Lainie Mann [Part two of a three-part series on manufacturing seamless tubing and design and production methods for palladium wedding bands made from it.] Novell Design Studio is a jewelry manufacturing company in...

Missed Opportunities That Cost You Money.
February 1, 2008... By Martin C. Shanker I recently returned from a countrywide swing visiting luxury retailers and observing sales associates, noting what I consider missed opportunities. Here are the 10 most common and how to address them. Beginning...

That Time of Year-Again.
February 1, 2008... By Frank Dallahan frankdallahan@comcast.net The Pennsylvania Dutch have a wonderful expression that goes something like, 'So soon old, so late smart.' I use this to begin the column this month because of the ever-present problem of too...

Leaving the Comfort Zone.
February 1, 2008... By Hedda T. Schupak Last month, this page examined the cost of gold today compared with 1981 and argued that the sky is not falling. Shortly after our January issue went to press, bad news-OK, terrible news-tumbled forth from the economic...

Branding: Where to Now? Part 2.
February 1, 2008... By Ben Janowski benjanow@gmail.com Central to the success of big brands has been the ability to endow a product with psychic values that touch consumers emotionally. These values transcend the mundane components of the product. Armani...

A Collective Held Breath.(Column)
February 1, 2008... By Mark Smelzer It's been a fascinating start to what promises to be an eventful year. The January jewelry whirl (all the activities surrounding the 24 Karat Club annual black-tie event) has come and gone, and once again it provided...

De Beers Trims Sightholder List.
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates De Beers' Diamond Trading Company has announced a drastically reduced sightholder list. The number of clients is now 75, down from 93. Six new companies were added, and 24-or approximately one in four-were dropped. The...

De Beers Opens Fifth U.S. Store.
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates De Beers Diamond Jewelers has opened its fifth store in the United States, at Tysons Galleria in the Washington, D.C., area. The store covers 2,082 square feet and features open spaces, ebony walls, etched glass paneling, and...

May to Head NCDIA.(Natural Color Diamond Association appointed Robert May as new executive director)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates Robert May has become the new executive director of the Natural Color Diamond Association, the industry group that promotes colored diamonds. He replaces Sam Merksamer, who resigned to pursue opportunities in the for-profit...

Maks Birnbach Dies.
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates Maks Birnbach, chairman of Fullcut Manufacturers, died recently. A committed Zionist, he was a member of the international board of governors, Weizmann Institute of Science, and a board member of the Tel Aviv Foundation.

Get to Know...Boaz Kashi.
February 1, 2008... By Jennifer Heebner Boaz Kashi is keeping his family's goldsmithing tradition alive and exciting. The Kashi family, of Tel Aviv, Israel, has been designing jewelry since 1889, primarily classic styles like four- and six-prong gem-set rings...

From the Philippines to Paris.(Perles exhibit)
February 1, 2008... By Jennifer Heebner At the Perles exhibit at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, Philippine pearl producer Jewelmer showed how to present the significance and impact of jewelry within the cultural context of a people. ...

H.Stern Gives You the Choice.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By Jennifer Heebner With shows like Project Runway gaining popularity and celebrity after celebrity coming out with a vaguely manifested idea of a jewelry line, it seems everyone wants to try their hand at being a designer these days. ...

Gemmy Serenade.(jewelry designers uses unique and unusual gem materials)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA Jewelry designers like to use unique and unusual gem materials, including assembled stones, cubic zirconia, and 'ornamental' stones, and they're not shy about asking for more margin than you'll ever make on a...

Germans Honor Dyber.(Michael Dyber)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA Michael Dyber, Rumney, N.H., won Honorable Mention in the 38th Annual German Award for Jewelry and Precious Stones 2007, in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Dyber's entry, an 89.91 ct. aquamarine titled Ice to Water,...

Grading Fluorescent Diamonds in a New Light?
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA When the Accredited Gemologists Association hosts its annual conference in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 6, one of the most controversial questions in diamond grading will be on the agenda: How do you accurately grade...

NC&C Madagascar Ruby.
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA Stuller has announced the availability of natural ruby, untreated for color or clarity (NC&C), from Madagascar. Joe Orlando, vice president of the company's gemstone business unit, says there are 'thousands of...

AGTA Rehires Doug Hucker.(American Gem Trade Association )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By Gary Roskin, G.G., FGA The American Gem Trade Association board of directors has reappointed Douglas Hucker as chief executive officer of the organization. Hucker had resigned in June 2007. During Hucker's absence, president Rick...

2007 Ends on Sober Note for Many.
February 1, 2008... Staff For many retailers, the 2007 holiday selling season wasn't jolly-and jewelers were among those taking a hit as consumer spending tightened up from the previous year. Not all was doom and gloom, as a significant number of jewelers...

Zale Replaces CEO: Goldberg New Head.
February 1, 2008... By Rob Bates Neal Goldberg, former president of the Children's Place, has been named president and chief executive officer of Zale Corp., replacing Mary Elizabeth 'Betsy' Burton [pictured above], who is stepping down from her management...

Owner of Boston Jeweler Can't Be Located.
February 1, 2008... Staff The owner of Boston's Alpha Omega chain has reportedly fled the country, and his chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly afterwards, reports say. According to a report on Boston magazine's Web site, Raman Handa,...

Suspects Arrested in Distraction Thefts.
February 1, 2008... By Anthony DeMarco Quality work by the Maryland State Police led to the capture of two alleged thieves believed to be responsible for jewelry store distraction thefts in at least eight states over several years, according to Jewelers'...

From the JCKonline.com Blogs.
February 1, 2008... Bacilio Mendez II Tour of A. Jaffe Continuing my quest to visit every manufacturing facility that will have me, on Thursday I was taken in by the good folks over at A. Jaffe. Now, I love my job, don't get me wrong, but after walking...

'Swiss-Made' Proposal Needs Reworking.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster Aproposal by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH to toughen Switzerland's 'Swiss Made' watch ordinance must be revised to comply with European trade treaties and a Swiss government plan to protect the...

Antiquorum Old, New Management Trade Accusations.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster The past and current operators of watch auctioneer Antiquorum held competing press conferences Nov. 30 in Geneva to denounce each other and reveal that each is suing the other. The events stemmed from the August...

TAG Heuer Launches Largest-Ever Online Ad Campaign.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster Swiss luxury sport watchmaker TAG Heuer in November launched what it called the industry's first extensive online ad campaign to reach consumers who spend, on average, three hours online daily. The project,...

Movado Launches Tom Brady Chrono.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady displays Movado's recently launched Series 800 limited-edition Tom Brady Automatic Chronograph. Brady-only the fourth quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to three...

Glashütte Original and Audi Exhibit Similarities.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster Carmaker Audi and luxury watchmaker Glashutte Original recently presented an exhibit titled 'Watches and Wheels: Precision German Engineering,' which emphasized similarities between the two German brands,...

Seiko Aims at Luxury Level.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster Seiko is expanding into the luxury watch segment of the U.S. market, supported by a new global $20 million ad campaign dubbed 'Me.' The effort uses print, TV, and the Internet to promote new lines including luxury...

Rolex Honors Bebe Neuwirth.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster Dancer and actress Bebe Neuwirth was awarded the Rolex Dance Award at Career Transition for Dancers' 'Dance Rocks' event in New York City in October. Dancer and choreographer Tommy Tune presented her with a...

Newswire.
February 1, 2008... By William George Shuster PK Time Group LLC , North American distributor for Swiss watchmakers Aquanautic , Clerc , and Dubey & Schaldenbrand , has added high-end Swiss-made Russian-style VOLNA timepieces. Each collection is named for a...