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10 Things You Should Consider Before Purchasing A Diamond
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
diamonds have long been used in fine jewelry designs and are treasured today, especially in our most coveted type of jewelry - the engagement ring. This precious gem is expensive, and there are many things to consider before buying any type of diamond jewelry.
Here are 10 things you should think about before purchasing a diamond:
1. Finances. Before you buy a diamond, think about if you really can afford it. Even though every man wants to buy his fiancé a 5 carat diamond ring, it would be unwise to charge it on his credit card if he does not have the means to pay for it.
2. Determine the kind of diamond that he or she wants to purchase. Is a small one ok, or is it size you are going for? Remember a smaller diamond of better quality may be worth more than a larger diamond of less quality.
3. Choose the store. To be sure that you are getting what you pay for, it would be best if one purchases their diamonds from known dealers of gemstone jewelry. Since online purchases for diamonds are available, check first if they are real dealers.
4. Certification. Real diamonds are certified. Make sure to look for a certificate before buying one.
5. Determine the carat of preferred diamond to be purchased. Most jewelry stores offer the most sought-after carat, from 0.5 to 2 carat ones. Also they are priced according to such standards.
6. Determine the color grade. If one wants to purchase a bigger diamond at a much lesser price, one only has to choose those that have much lower color grades.
7. One or several stoned ring. A 1.5 carat solitaire diamond is more expensive than another one that has 6 stones at 0.25 carat each. This is due to the fact that larger diamonds are much harder to find.
8. The shape. diamonds are cut in square, marquises, oval or pear shaped ones. The last three shapes are the ones that make a diamond look much larger than it actually is.
9. Choose the color. A colorless diamond is much more expensive than one that has slight colorations. Some prefer slight colorations to give it a more subtle touch of flair.
10. In the end, what really makes a purchase satisfying depends on ones standards. If an individual would be much happier with a 0.5 carat diamond than a 5 carat one (for the simplists), go ahead purchase one, even if he or she can afford 5 carat ones.
Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.artisan-jewelry-online.com where you can learn more about jewelry of all types as well as what to look for when buying a diamond.
Some Helpful Tips To Help You Choose The Perfect Watch For The Man In Your Life
Exactly how casual is your husband, boyfriend, or other man in your life? The watch you choose for him should reflect who he is as a person. If the man in your life is stylish and trendy, you must pick a watch that follows suit. If he is casual at both his job and at home, choose a watch with an informal look. If he is heavily into sports, pick a watch that suits his needs. Regardless, you must choose a watch that is both a match to his personality and a match to his desires.
Any man should have a watch suitable to work and home environments. If the man in your life works in a casual environment, one watch will usually suffice. You may find he wants two regardless in case one watch becomes damaged.
Sports watches are generally lower in cost than casual or formal watches. The design on this type of watch is also different. For the most part, sports watches are all about function. They need the stop watch for timing, and often have other functions such as diving depths, a compass, temperature reading, and even pitching speed readers. The Omega Seamaster is perhaps the fanciest of the sports watches. With night vision, tachometers, compass, and other fancy tools, it is a watch for any aspiring super sleuth.
When shopping for a classy watch, look for stainless steel straps. They are stronger than a traditional leather strap. Additionally, they are dressy enough for the office, but casual enough for home. Stainless steel does not rust, and it is water resistant. Speaking of water resistance, waterproof watches are also popular. However, only divers will really swim with their watch on, so this is an option you may not need.
If you have the money, gold or gold plating is an option. Gold watchbands are extremely expensive, however, and may attract unwanted attention from thieves.
The actual part of the watch that contains the digital or analog time reading can come in all shapes and sizes. Large men need to don a watch that does not appear too tiny compared to their wrist. For this reason, smaller watch faces can look rather feminine on plus sized men. Many watch faces are oversized, a new trend, and can actually be very suitable on most men. You must base the size of the watch face on the span of the wrist for a watch to look good.
Finally, watches and their bands come in a variety of colors. Some even come with favored sports teams, cartoon characters, or car manufacturers. Choose a color that is suitable to your needs. Obviously, a cartoon themed watch is not going to be appropriate in a corporate setting, save a watch of this nature for home use.
By following a few simple guidelines, the watch that you pick out for the man in your life will give a lasting impression. Think of his likes and personal style when making your selection.
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as designer diamond watches at http://www.only-watches.com
Should You Give Her A Diamond Ring For Christmas?
diamond rings are the most intimate gifts men can possibly buy for their women. The phrase diamonds are forever holds. diamonds, birthed in fire, in the molten rock in earth's core were formed millions of years ago. The diamond set in that diamond ring is millions (possibly billions) of years old. That's as close as forever as you can get.
The heat that creates the diamond can even exceed 1,200 degrees Celsius. Anything less than 400 degrees Celsius results in graphite, not diamond. Talk about heat. It corresponds to the heat, the passion in a romance. The heat of love. Hence, that diamond set in a ring given by a man to his woman expresses his love, his passion for her.
If those are your intentions, go ahead and buy the ring. If she is a platonic friend, think twice about it as she might get the wrong message.
Basically, when a man gives a woman a diamond ring, he is telling her he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. That he loves her. So if your intention is to propose marriage to her and you are sure she loves you too, then please, do buy her a real diamond ring. Anything less would disappoint her once she finds out. It would seem like a fake diamond to her, implying your love for her is false. She might still accept your proposal and shrug off the fact that the rock in the ring is an imitation diamond, but it would probably make her feel less than the best.
If you are married treat your spouse to a diamond ring for your wedding anniversary. That is, if you can afford it. She wouldn't appreciate it if you land both of you in huge debt just to get her that ring. For a special wedding anniversary gift, nothing beats one of these rings.net/3-stone-diamond-princess-cut-ring.htm>3 stone diamond princess cut ring for oomph, if you have the money for it, that is.
Another way is to choose a loose diamond and have it set. That's a popular way to go when you pick a diamond engagement ring. This way, you can tailor the ring the way you want it to be. Pick a diamond within your budget and a setting she would love. Since the price of a diamond is determined by the four Cs, carat, Color, Clarity and Cut, by playing around with these factors, you get maximum bang for your buck.
Let's start with carat, or the weight (size) of the diamond. Typically, women like their engagement rings to hold diamonds as large as you can afford. If she's not a perfectionist, you can compromise slightly on clarity and color to get a larger diamond. You might even get an SI1 diamonds with a J color so you can afford a higher carat diamond.
Now here's a trick you can use to get the best in terms of carat weight. There is a price jump at every 0.5 carat increase in weight. It is all to do with marketing. A 1 carat stone sounds more impressive than a 0.93 carat stone, so although visibly , you can't tell the difference, the 1 carat diamond would cost a lot more than what that 0.07 carat increase might be worth. Likewise, the jump between a 0.49 carat diamond and a 0.5 carat diamond is substantial. A 2.4 carat diamond might look as big as a 2.5 carat diamond yet the price jump is more than linear. Instead of a 2.5 carat stone, you could pick a 2.4 carat stone which looks at big but costs a lot less.
Next decide on the clarity of the diamond you want. diamond Clarity indicates the extent of flaws, if any, in a diamond. If she is a perfectionist, she might prefer a smaller diamond with highher clarity. If she wants it as large as possible but is not too concerned about the flaws in the diamond, you could compromise on the clarity to get a bigger diamond.
The cut of the diamond also affects its worth. http://www.alljewelry.info/diamondcut.php tells you what the cut of the diamond is all about.
An Online Jewelry Shop is One of the Best Ways to Purchase an Engagement Ring
Not everyone has the balls to buy an engagement ring from an online jewelry shop. After all, there are some sacrifices that must be made when shopping online versus a brick and mortar store. Not to mention, a little faith and some good luck.
When you buy an engagement ring at a brick and mortar store, one of the biggest advantages is that you get to actually see the selection of rings in person. You can examine them up close and personal as well as make comparisons between various rings. Typically there will be a salesperson providing you with some knowledge and information about the diamonds, so you don't feel like a fish out of water. Once you select a ring, you can have it in your grubby little paws just minutes after putting it on your charge card. Should something go wrong with the ring, you can make a fast trip back to the store to get it examined and possibly repaired.
So given all these advantages, why would anyone buy at an online jewelry shop? The biggest reason to buy online is that you will save thousands of dollars. online jewelry shops don't have to pay for expensive overhead and are able to pass the savings on to you. Also, you don't pay for taxes on the ring, which will save you hundreds of dollars. If you're like my husband, you don't want any salespeople around putting undue pressure on you to make a purchase beyond your budget. You can avoid having to interact with others, by shopping online.
As with shopping at a brick and mortar store, one make still take precautions. Read the fine print and carefully review the return policy. Make sure they offer a long enough period (i.e. 30 days) for you to know whether the ring is a keeper. Purchase diamonds that are GIA or AGS certified and avoid ones that are not. Check out the ring retailer on the Better Business Bureau. Look at whether anyone has made complaints against the retailer and whether the complaint has been resolved. Finally, make sure the online ring retailer offers a sufficient method of insurance to ensure that you will be covered, should the ring get lost on its way to you.
For great deals from reputable online jewelry shops checkout Blue Nile, one of the best online jewelry stores out there. Also look into Mondera, which has earned rave reviews from customers and those in the know.
The author just celebrated her one year anniversary and sports a beautiful ascher cut ring. She and her husband put together the website: http://www.ultimate-engagement-ring-guide.com to help you find the perfect ring.
Vintage Watches: How Conservation, Restoration or Refurbishment Affects Values
There's an ongoing debate in museum circles about the ethics of conservation and restoration of what is categorised as Technological Heritage. watches fit into this category, and while we may scoff at armchair academic pronouncements on how we should go about maintaining our collections, it's worth more than a thought.
The vintage watch market seems to operate not so much on the ethics of conservation, restoration and preservation of historical integrity, but on the economics of supply and demand as it applies to conserved, restored and indeed refurbished technology. In many cases it's 'opinion' that informs the choice of what to do with a vintage watch and while there are as many opinions as there are people, some opinions carry more weight financially than others.
Perhaps not so strangely, the high end of the market, often represented by prices fetched at Antiquorum, Christies, Sothebys and others, reflects a decided bias towards conservation and restoration over refurbishment. On rarer high-end timepieces originality attracts premium prices, while refurbished high-end watches are much less in demand.
So first let's arrive at a working definition of conservation, restoration and refurbishment so as to at least have a set of benchmarks upon which we may base our restoration decisions.
conservation
A concept of conservation emerged about a decade and a half ago in respect to vintage technology and is beginning to have an impact on the serious horological markets. It basically argues that emphasis should be placed on preservation of originality for the future and that making vintage technology appear pristine and never used is analogous to vandalism.
The idea behind conservation is that all changes to the object should be reversible. Take dials for example: If one was to take the conservation line when working on a vintage dial, refinishing the dial would be out of the question, but stabilising it with a protective layer of lacquer would, as long as the lacquer could be removed at a later time.
The same logic applies to movements. The conservationist would argue that parts should not be replaced because having the technology operating is far less important than preserving its originality.
Here's an example that places technological conservation into a broader context. The Australian War Memorial has a collection of WW2 German military aircraft, and when experts conducted their pre conservation condition survey they identified a grey blue oxide coating on the aircrafts' aluminium. They conditionally identified the type and constituents of the coating and devised a conservation strategy that ensured the original coating was not destroyed.
On similar aircraft in the United States, however, preservation work resulted in the removal of the oxide coating, thus destroying the originality of the technology and giving cause for confusion in scholarly investigation of the future. Many in the field of technological conservation would argue that removing an original coating in order to make the aircraft look new is unethical – same thing for watches and clocks of historical value.
restoratioN
restoration is not identical to conservation. restoration is a process that attempts to return a piece of technology, in our case a timepiece, to a previous state that a given restorer, complete with prejudices, assumptions and opinions about what the object should represent, imagines to be original. restoration is personal to the restorer and that should never be forgotten.
However, in respect to technology, restoration is controversial, since it often involves irreversible changes to the original technology in order to make it work and function as it was meant to function.
With watches and clocks, for example, worn parts are removed, rust is treated, damaged or faded dials are replaced with genuine factory dials, hands are either re-plated or replaced, cases are polished, crystals are changed, seals are replaced etc., etc. Prejudices, assumptions and 'shop practice' come into play here as the restorer applies both an aesthetic logic (visual appeal) and a functional logic (keeping the watch going to a factory standard) when deciding what parts to replace during the restoration.
But if the parts are factory specified, the surfaces of materials are not changed (eg removing some of the copper coating on a 500 series Omega movement through improper use of solvents) and the work carried out on the watch is done according to factory recommendations, then many people would say that is a reasonable standard on which to base restorations of mass-produced watches. Clearly, you would not have an 'original' as defined by conservationists, but you would have preserved the 'integrity' of the piece by keeping it to specifications.
Another aspect of restoration practiced by some restorers is to focus on functional rather than aesthetic restoration. An example of functional restoration is to replace worn parts and stabilise the condition of a watch while maintaining the patina of the piece. This may include a very light polishing of the watch and the use of treatment techniques to arrest further deterioration of the dial and other non-mechanical parts of the watch. This more fully complies with those who argue the ethical and monetary benefits of restoration over refurbishment.
REFURBISHMENT
Refurbishment is the practice of taking a complete piece, or part, of old technology and making it look brand spanking new again. Refurbishment involves removing an object’s past in the belief the new looking is best or that new looking sells.
We see much evidence of refurbishment wherever we look. Old houses rebuilt to look faux grande with more ornamentation than displayed originally; furniture in the brassier antique shops that appears as smooth and new as the IKEA competitor's product down the street; cars of the 50s and 60s chromed to the hilt and modified to reflect modern concepts of a bygone era, and so on.
Like the examples above, a refurbished watch often goes beyond the original factory brief. We see countless examples of Omegas, for example, with all traces of their former lives obliterated by excessive polishing; refinished dials completed with varying degrees of competence and unoriginal dial patterns fresh from the overactive imaginations of dial refinishers; so-called new-old stock beads of rice bracelets (as opposed to originals that have been restored); sharp and shiny crowns replacing otherwise functional and nicely worn ones; the dressing up of some models to look deluxe rather than standard; wrong movements (but, hey, who cares no-one buying a new-old watch will probably look under the bonnet) and numerous other touches that compromise the integrity of the original model.
SO WHAT IS THE STANDARD FOR watches
Let's return to the earlier point on opinion and acknowledge that opinions are simply an expression of personal preference. If we are to build up a reasoned argument that favours one opinion over another in respect to the conservation, restoration or refurbishment of mass-produced watches, then we can choose to look at where opinion converges into a body of knowledgeable practice.
First, there is a market for new-old in any stream of collectibles, and, judging by the mountain of literature written about the new-old segment of various markets, it's usually where intrigued amateurs or freshly minted neophytes land. Refurbished collectibles are generally a sellers market rather than a buyers market, because buyers do not make distinctions other than visual appeal and mythical investment value of vintage collectibles, thus placing themselves at the mercy of sellers - same thing with vintage watches.
In reviewing a large range of books and magazines on horological restoration and analysing academic pronouncements on the conservation of our technological heritage, I believe the following points are worthy of consideration:
conservation is the preferred option for important watches and clocks, particularly those that embody technological innovation. restoration amounts to wanton destruction of heritage.
The more rare the object, the greater the case for conservation over restoration.
In the case of mass-produced watches, restoration is favoured by both the ‘expert’ and the knowledgeable ends of the market. Values are higher for working models that meet fully a manufacturers specifications. In some cases, a watch that has retained all of its original factory assembled parts, even though regulated to compensate for wear, will fetch more than a restored watch that has had replacement parts.
As the vintage watch market has grown both in size and breadth, there is a growing segment that values 'functional' restoration – replacement of worn movement parts and conservation that stabilises non-working parts of a watch.
Refurbishment of part, as opposed to the whole, of a watch is generally preferred by all ends of the market except the new-old segment. Refurbishment is generally seen as an option when there are no other options.
Refurbishment to create a new-old watch has a market for newbies. The prices paid can be high but re-selling values can be severely discounted.
So where do I stand? Put me in the Functional restoration group!
(c) 2006 Desmond Guilfoyle
Desmond Guilfoyle in an award winning commentator on influence, persuasion and charisma. He has written three books on those subjects and his book 'The Charisma Effect' has been published in seven languages around the globe. For further articles, tips and information visit his blog at http://charismacom.blogspot.com/ He also collects vintage Omega Constellations to remain sane, and his comprehensive blog on Constellations can be found at http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.com/
Omega The First Watch Preferred By Astronautians
The most prestigious watch company omega has evolved and sought after brands in the world market. The omega has countered at other companies who boast of delivering timepieces that last a lifetime in the market. The mind-blowing services of omega since 15-year, has been immeasurable. There is in-disreputable service guarantee on repairs and the delivery of spare parts for its watches from the date production is indeed unmatchable. Swiss company is developed in loyalty to its high quality and creative design procedures for each time pieces.
The promising 23-year-old Louis Brandt who assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen at Switzerland in 1848. This made the origin of the Brand watch omega. After terminated from that company, he traveled throughout Europe selling his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way of England, his chief market place Bienne. His two sons Louis-Paul and Cesar controlled over assembly workshop system in favour of in-house manufacturing and total production control after the death of their father. Aftermath Bienne become the headqurter of Omeag and still is there. Their first series-produced calibres, Labrador and Gurzelen, as well as, the famous omega calibre of 1894, would ensure the brand's marketing success.
It makes new history in 1903. The omega Company was able to produce 240,000 watches annually and employing over 800 people. This ensued was truly incredible. Paul-Emile, also known as the great architect and builder of omega, established the company as a world leader by initiating the merger between omega and Tissot within the group SSIH, Geneva, shortly after the First World War.
By the seventies, SSIH had become Switzerland's number one producer of finished watches and number three in the world. Coming out triumphant from the 1975 recession, the two Swiss giants SSIH and ASUAG (House of brands such as Longines, Rado and Swatch) merged to form the Holding ASUAG-SSIH in 1983. Barely two years later, was the holding company taken over by Nicolas Hayek, who renamed it as SMH. In 1998, the company was christened once again as The Swatch Group.
In addition there are several features that help make a watch water-resistant. The most important is the gaskets, or 0 rings-made of rubber, nylon or Teflon which form watertight seals at the joints where the crystal, case back and crown meet the watch case. if the watch is a chronograph, the chronograph pushers will also have gaskets.
The thickness and material of the case is also a big factor in determining whether a watch can safely be worn underwater. The case must be sturdy enough to withstand pressure without caving in. In general, this means steel or titanium case or a steel case plated with gold, manufacturers say. Solid gold cases can be water resistant provided they are sufficiently thick.
NASA supplied each of the Apollo astronauts with a standard issue omega Speed master Professional manual-wind wristwatch together with Velcro strap. The omega Speed master Professional Chronograph was the first watch to be worn on the Moon, and is a NASA favorite. So also the glamour industry too eying omega watches in high esteem.
In addition, omega has often been one of the best Official timekeepers for the Olympics since the 1932 Summer Olympiad. The same tradition follows for both the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics in Germany.
George Wood is a successful webmaster of many popular sites including music players and blog site. If you want to read more about watches, click over to George watches site.
