The Power of Love

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Love in the Time of Covid

Far from being dimmed, the desire to commit, to wed, to express love and devotion has intensified over the past two years. Long may the celebrations continue.

01 Betts Metals

02 Continental

03 River Mounts

04 Diamnet

05 Hockley Mint

06 Unique & Co

07 Matt Aminoff O nce we can look back with some objectivity at the effects of the pandemic on our industry, interesting statistics and observations will doubtless emerge. The trade’s resilience, ingenuity and optimism have been tested… and not found wanting. And among customers, the demand for fine jewellery – diamond, wedding and commitment jewellery in particular – has never seemed stronger. From plain gold bands to statement engagement rings and striking bridal jewellery sets, the sector is booming.

Gareth Thomas of Brown & Newirth, who saw a ‘let’s get on with it’ attitude, is optimistic. “Various reports indicate there were around 350,000 weddings postponed due to the pandemic and that it will take two to three years for these to filter through,” he says. “On top of the average 250,000 weddings per year in the UK, we’re looking at a market somewhere in the region of 400,000 weddings in 2022 and 2023. The bridal market is going to be robust for years to come, especially as we’ve seen an increase in engagements (and probably break-ups!) as a result of lockdowns.”

The ethical jeweller Ingle & Rhode has produced analysis around key moments, from the first cases of Covid to today, providing revealing trends in consumer behaviour across the UK. “The data is interesting,” says a spokesperson, “and what we have seen so far is when the country unlocks from a lockdown, we experience a big bounce. During lockdowns, people deferred their spending, so over the course of the last 12 months we have experienced our best year.”

Betts Metals, which specialises in Single Mine Origin Gold for its wedding bands, observed “a groundswell of interest in provenance, coming from consumers as well as retailers. It’s not an option to not know where your metal is coming from,” says Charlie Betts.

Nathan Warburton of River Mounts adds: “After the turbulence of the 2020 lockdowns, the market rebounded and sales not only resumed but increased. With many expecting pent-up demand to last only a short time, it came as quite a surprise for most to find that demand continued strong through 2021. We experienced an increasing demand for bridal jewellery – primarily with people having shorter engagements and buying both their engagement and wedding bands together.”

“The bridal market is growing very nicely,” adds Howard Levine of Diamnet. “It seems there were loads of people waiting for the lockdown to finish before getting engaged, just as we hoped. This is not a surprise, but what is a surprise is how it continued past the initial reopening. Things keep getting busier!”

Nikita Hornzee of Continental also experienced an increasingly buoyant bridal sector. “With couples ever surer of their commitment to one another, we’ve seen a lift in bridal sales and an increased average spend, with clients looking for quality, individuality and elegance,” she explains. “Also, we’ve seen a lift in eternity rings sales, in particular set with ruby, emerald or sapphire, celebrating wedding anniversaries.” She also points out that lockdowns have offered time to pause, reflect and evaluate… across the sector, for a variety of reasons.

Hockley Mint saw increased demand for multi-stone rings. Wedfit six-claw styles were also “extremely busy” in the lead up to Christmas. “We’ve seen product demand increase during the pandemic; being UK-based meant we had shorter lead times compared to overseas suppliers,” says Gary Wroe. “We hope that support for British-made jewellery continues as worldwide restrictions lift and more retailers, designers and brands appreciate domestic craftspeople, fast lead times and talent… like those found at Hockley Mint.”

“At Allied Gold, business has been stronger than we could have ever wished across all aspects of the business, setting new records month by month,” says Robert Day. “All product ranges and collections are performing strongly in all alloys, and the bespoke side of our offer has doubled year-on-year again, and we’re about to launch our diamond engagement ring collection, which is new for 2022.”

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08 London DE

09 Andrew Geoghegan

10 Charles Green

11 Gemex

12 Andre Michael

13 Wedds & Co

14 Tankel

Trending Now

Bespoke designs performed well at London DE, which also sells loose gemstones and finished jewellery to the trade and direct to consumers. “Currently solitaires, trilogy and halo rings are our bread and butter – they still remain highly popular and our most requested of designs,” says Phil Spencer. Coloured gemstones for engagement rings are becoming increasingly popular, with more demand for them now than there ever has been.

Gemex’s bestselling engagement ring styles this year are “easily” solitaires and three-stone rings, especially those set with fancy cuts, such as ovals, pears and emeralds. “We’ve seen a resurgence in yellow gold, including platinum head with yellow gold shank,” says Lee Ruben. “Alternating coloured stones combined with diamonds for eternity bands is also increasingly popular.”

“Tankel has seen huge demand for coloured three-stones and coloured clusters,” adds Tony Tankel. “Coloured centres that have been very strong are emeralds; rubies; blue, pink yellow and fire orange sapphires; aqua, mint tourmaline and tsavorites. Demand for all diamond rings and earrings and pendants has been buoyant for a long time.”

Oliver Sutton at Charles Green anticipates the key trends experienced over the last couple of years to continue at the luxury end of the market: “In bridal jewellery, we expect platinum to remain overwhelmingly the most popular choice and the average spend to increase, and we anticipate demand for bespoke bridal jewellery to grow further,” he explains.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in engagement rings from consumers and stockists,” explains designer Andrew Geoghegan. “The wedding bands we’ve seen movement in have been plain, with perhaps some subtle stone set detail and a movement away from super fine. Our interlocking Costeira micro-set diamond ring has seen a terrific uptake, not simply as a wedding band – its versatility as bridal stacking bands and its add-to style placed it as a firm favourite for 2021. We’re confident this will increase in 2022 as we introduce bangles and unset rings.”

Andre Michael expects smaller diamonds, say 0.50-carat, to become increasingly sought-after this year as “polished diamond prices are likely to rise further due to tight supplies of rough diamonds. Platinum is expected to continue to offer good value relative to gold, especially if inflationary concerns persist into 2022, which will underpin the yellow metal seen as a hedge against rising prices.”

At Brown & Newirth, retailer demand “is of course driven largely by what the consumer is asking for. We’ve seen halos and fancy cut engagement rings – ovals and pears have done especially well over the past few years, and we don’t see this slowing,” says Thomas. “While classic round brilliant diamonds remain the biggest volume style, we’re seeing some interest in fine emerald and princess cuts. Designs tend to be fine and decorative. Men are definitely choosing narrower bands,” he adds. “For a decade our best-selling width was 6mm, but in 2021, it was 5mm by a large margin. Gents are also selecting more decorative bands – there’s a significant upturn in demand for repeated and geometric patterns and diamonds seem to be back. There may be something in the water due to next year’s jubilee – platinum sales have wiped everything else off the board. We have enjoyed around 85 per cent platinum orders (taking away jewellery).”

Laboratory Grown Diamonds

“For me, the introduction of laboratory-grown diamonds has really helped keep the wedding jewellery push alive,” says Levine. “Customers have been educated enough now to understand the value proposition presented by these diamonds, and they’re embracing the choice. Notwithstanding the controversial ethical and sustainable status of these gems, the public is open to this message and bringing the conversation to the fore. In turn, this is bringing the customer into the shop and allowing retailers to present the choice in the best way they see fit. We are booming with both types of diamonds and long may it continue.”

“We’re watching with interest to see how the lab-grown diamond jewellery market fares in 2022,” adds Sutton. “There’s certainly been a lot of coverage in the recent months, not only in trade press publications, but we’ve noticed features across more and more luxury print media publications. Will it make a big splash in 2022, and how will the luxury market react?”

“Last but certainly not least,” Hockley Mint now offers a collection of laboratory-grown diamond jewellery, comprising single and three-stone rings as well as earrings and pendants. “Laboratory-grown diamonds have shown they are here to stay, increasing in popularity over the last decade,” says Wroe. “We aim to stay at the forefront of innovation with this new collection. We also understand many customers remain apprehensive regarding quality and source, that’s why all stones above .3ct are International Gemology Institute certified.”

Henning (left) and Dustin (right)

STERNGLAS – the one to watch

Based in Hamburg, Germany, Sternglas is fast becoming the timepiece name to reckon with. We learn how one man’s passion became a watch market winner.

In 2007, when he was just 16, Dustin Fontaine landed himself a student job with the high-end German watch manufacturer MeisterSinger. Until that moment, he had no real interest in watches and certainly no close connection with them. The experience, however, was to change his life. Almost immediately, he developed a passion for timepieces, a passion that took him from one-man-band entrepreneur to head of a Europe-wide business employing 20-plus people. That early love for the high-end watches Fontaine was working with sparked a particular ambition. These watches were wonderful… but expensive. Was it not possible to make a watch with a similarly clean design but was affordable? In 2016, he opted to crowdfund and received encouraging support on Facebook for his idea and so produced his first watch. It was a case of trial and error – problems with the glass led to lots of early failures and redesigns. Persistence eventually paid off.

Although the initial thought was to produce just one watch – forming a company was never part of the plan – the following year, he tried crowdfunding again and this time was able to create a collection. This time he used sapphire glass for each watch… a practice that continues today, along with quick-release, no-tools-needed straps as well as screwback cases for each model where possible. Affordability, however, remains key to the Sternglas ethos, along with the minimal, clean lines.

By the end of 2018, the company was growing, but selling online only. Fontaine and his co-founder, Henning Haberkamp, decided that they needed to follow B2B channels in order to broaden their market and support brand awareness. Sternglas needed to be in jewellers’ windows. Sales reps were established and, within a year, there were 100 accounts in Germany. Then Covid struck… but not before the brand came to the attention of Hans Brandt of watch distributor TickTockDepot based in the UK.

“At the end of 2019, my father sent me a cutting from the local newspaper of my hometown, Hamburg – it was an article

regarding the success of the Sternglas start-up,” Brandt explains. “Initially I was attracted to the simplicity of the designs. Then, at the start of 2020 I met the Sternglas management and team (a great young crew) and was convinced of the level of craftsmanship, as well as the reasonable prices (£139 to £399 at retail) of this largely unisex collection.

“I could see that it would make a perfect line extension for our UK distribution of German watches. Now we are covering the vintage, aviator and, with Sternglas, the timeless ‘form follows function’ sector,” he adds. He’s certain that the brand is perfect for the UK market: “the Scandinavian school (Hamburg is just one hour’s drive from the Danish border), combined with German impact, is a popular British lifestyle look,” he explains. “And the good priceperformance ratio goes fantastically with the German name. It’s a winner.”

The timing for Brandt, as we now know, was not great. “It couldn’t have been worse – I started as an agent to promote the range a couple of days before the first lockdown,” he says. “However, we ended the year with a handful of new retail partners and a stunning turnover.” The other issue to deal with was Brexit. “In April 2021 TickTockDepot decided to invest in stock to become the Sternglas distributor to make the import and supply process safe and easy for our customers.” It was a good move. “The number of accounts is continually rising and sales are going up, whether online or high street,” he adds.

“The customer feedback is promising. They benefit from the exclusive limited editions that I could get my hands on for the UK contingent. Plus, Sternglas provides first class images and videos and stickers to use on social media.” Customers also appreciate the good-looking, high-quality window display material as well as the packaging – a contemporary style cube made from quality card. The manual for every watch is available by scanning the QR code that comes with the warranty card in the box.

While TickTockDepot welcomes multiples, their numbers are necessarily restricted by the current customer map. “Our philosophy is to create a long-lasting partnership with independent, family-run jewellers; this way we can guarantee an exclusive sales area,” Brandt says. The partner profile also includes selected online dealers, “but to keep it fair and successful, we don’t want our partners to sell on third-party platforms,” he adds.

So, what in the Sternglas line-up is exciting Brandt right now? “Definitely the new diver’s watch. It still has the brand’s signature design quality… it’s the most Bauhaus-like diver’s watch on the market.”