Trend: New conservative style sought in jewelry

Flashy jewelry steps aside for elegance and understatement

When it comes to what executives look for in a fine watch or piece of jewelry, flash is out and elegance and understatement are in.

In the early ’70s, there was a great fondness for semiprecious stones like garnets and onyx. That’s not seen much anymore, unless someone is sporting a hand-me-down.

Instead, you may see diamonds, but probably not flashy and ostentatious.

“Men are not going to go all frilly and flashy in jewelry,´ said Bill Searle, owner of Treat Me Special, a jewelry store in Windsor. “They want something nice and tailored, something that will show off their success.”

Utilitarianism is the watchword of the day. People don’t really have a preference for foreign or domestic brands, just that they do what they are supposed to do or showcase the craftsman’s skill.

Goodbye Rolex?

One sign of success — the Rolex watch — is not as revered as it once was in the upper realms of business and industry.

In the 1980s, Rolex was a big, flashy lump of gold adorning the wrist that announced to the world you’d arrived. Scott Rettmer, manager of Weiss Jewelers in Greeley, said top-of-the-line Rolexes were going for about $10,000 in their most popular era.

The name was so well-known that knockoffs and stolen Rolexes were being sold on street corners for $150. People were paying for the name, not the watch. For many of these buyers, the name was more important than knowing what time it was.

But changing times took its toll on the Rolex. Paying $10,000 for a watch you could have for one-tenth of that price on a street corner seemed kind of silly.

After the dot-com bubble burst and the events of Sept. 11, 2001, times changed again. “Customers are very conservative now,´ said Dotty Crewse of Crewse Jewelers in Greeley. While they still buy watches and jewelry to send that message of success, it’s a little different. Crewse said it’s difficult to find the right word for it, but the closest one might be “cautious.”

A good example of caution in jewelry is the prong. It’s that little piece of metal that holds a stone in its setting. Often seen in women’s wedding rings, prongs hold the stone up a tiny bit so it can be more easily seen and admired.

In addition to prongs there is the bezel, an alternative to the prong. Debbie Miller, owner of Diamond Peak Goldsmiths in Fort Collins, says the bezel is another way of securing the stone in the setting by almost wrapping the metal around the stone. It looks great, too. When jewelers talk about the bezel, they almost always mention its security.

“The advantage to the bezel is that you can do all kinds of everyday things with it,´ said Miller. That’s important when caution is on your mind.

The jewelry and watch business doesn’t change that much over the years, but there are some maxims that could be considered rules for today’s executive.

Mixing metals popular

For one thing, those seeking high-end watches and jewelry now like to mix metals. That doesn’t mean pairing a gold watch with silver cuff links. It means mixing the metals in the setting to create a different look, like combining yellow and white gold or yellow and platinum. It’s a quest for distinction.

“They’ll ask for a platinum or a yellow- and white-gold mix,” Rettmer said. “Each one will have a certain look and they’ll try to get a different look.”

Jewelry and watch customers also try to get a distinctive look from the designer rather than sport an unusual or exotic stone. “You see that a lot,´ said Miller. Customers will come into a jewelry store and try to get the designer to show off a bit. “They really like the idea of having something designed just for them,” she said.

Alterations are also becoming more popular, with increasing numbers of people coming to jewelry shops with family heirlooms and having them transformed into a new piece. “It’s become a lot more important now,´ said Rettmer. Jewelers are seeing customers come in with grandma’s wedding ring, for example, and having the jeweler pry out the existing stone and replace it with one already on their finger.

Large stones are still popular, but not necessarily for wearing. “We still sell large stones,´ said Miller, “but a lot of people are buying them as investments.”

When it comes to watches, analog is back after a digital surge died away. In the late ?70s, digital was looked upon as the wave of the future. Digital is still out there, but there is something about those hands sweeping around on a watch face that’s comforting and appeals to people, including executives.

“Fine watches don’t even deal in digital,´ said Randy Rider, owner of Garwood Jewelers in Fort Collins.

Summing up, executives appreciate fine watches and jewelry but they want them to be utilitarian and understated. They want something unique but not flashy. And they would rather have that uniqueness displayed in a subtle manner rather than an obvious one.

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