Category Archives: Jewelry

Swell talismans and accessories

White Tie, Black Tie, And Watches: Is It Ever Okay To Wear A Watch With A Tux?

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Reblogged from Hodinkee WEDNESDAY MARCH 30, 2016

The trend in men’s style over the last few hundred years has been towards less and less complexity, but every once in a while, one still gets an invitation that says, “black tie.” There’s a tendency to think of the black tie dress code as something rigidly fixed, but despite that, there’s still room for sometimes very varying ideas on what, exactly, is or is not okay for a gent to don at a black tie event – and one of the subjects we’ve seen HODINKEE readers wax right wrathful over, is whether or not you should or should not wear a watch. Let’s get into this delightfully contentious subject and see whether or not, whether pro or stridently con, you’re on the right side of history and custom.

Ralph Lauren 867 Square Model, White Gold

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The Ralph Lauren 867 Square Model, white gold, 27 mm.

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Something Swell from Detroit

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Stainless-Steel-_-Motor-Agate-Fordite-Cufflinks-1132_largeI came across one of the coolest designers this week, If you are a car nut like I am you will agree this stuff is great. A company called Urban Relic Design has created some swell mens and ladies jewelry from what they call Fordite. They do lots of jewelry in gemstones and metals, and plenty of recycled materials, which I really think is pretty swell of them, but what I fell in love with was what they call Fordite. Fordite is kind of a play on words, the root being the Ford automobile and the Suffix “ite” to sound like a natural gemstone, they also call it Motor agate.Sterling-Silver-and-Motor-Agate-Fordite-Ring-1066_large

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The French Cuffed Shirt

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With Pearls

I am a man who like jewelry. Of course I would, I am a gemologist, I run a jewelry store, and I blog about mens fashion and jewelry. Unfortunately there is a limit (contrary to what some men believe) to how much jewelry men can wear. I am not going to lie, there are some days I push that limit, but if you do it right and subtle you can get away with just a little extra. Here is where the french cuffed shirt comes in . Now that is sort of tongue in cheek, I don’t wear frenched cuffs just to wear extra jewelry, that’s a bonus.20121206-182004.jpg Continue reading →

Men’s Jewelry Courtesy of GIA

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Here is an interesting post on gentlemen’s jewelry I “borrowed” it from my Alma Mater, the Gemological Institute of America. The text is theirs, but the photos are mine. You may have seen  one or two of these photos in my post called Real Men Wear Pearls. I wanted to share this with my readers so I am re-blogging it here, because as with all things GIA, it is totally swell. Continue reading →

How to Buy an Enagement Ring

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engagedYou’ve been courting this girl for some time now, and things have progressed to the point where you know what is next… She has probably looking at you with arms folded and tapping her foot in anticipation for some months now. Uh Oh what do you do?! You have been wanting to buy her a ring and make her an honest woman, but where on earth do you begin? Being a Gemologist, I can’t believe it took me this long to post about this. Continuing the Every Swell man should learn series, here it is all you swell gents, a crash course in buying an engagement ring. Now, put on some antiperspirant, and wipe the sweat from your brow, it can be complicated, but I will help you through it. Continue reading →

Louis Cartier XL Slimline-Tank

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The Cartier design house has a long history of serving royalty, stars, and celebrities. The one time Prince of Wales, Edward VII, called Cartier the “Jeweler of the Kings, King of Jewelers”.

Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier when he took over the workshop of his master. In 1874, his son Alfred Cartier took over the company, but it was Alfred’s sons; Louis, Pierre and Jacques, who were responsible for establishing the brand name worldwide. Cartier has since become a world renowned fashion house for jewelry, watches and other goods. Louis retained responsibility for the Paris branch, and he was responsible for some of the company’s most celebrated designs, such as the fashionable wristwatches and exotic oriental flavored Art Deco designs. This year they created this beautiful advertisement highlighting their history and icons, notably in the ad is the journey of the Cartier panther. 

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Wrighteous Jewelry

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Let me introduce you to an awesome jewelry designer. I am really a big fan of Wrightous Jewelry, not only do I like their style and quality, but I also like what they stand for. Their company credo includes vintage ideas of pride and patriotism, faith and love for your country, It is American made jewelry with an American spirit.  They are born in the United States and made in Detroit-the motor city. They follow a similar marketing idea to the Chrysler “Imported From Detroit” theme, which I love. To give you a feel here is a quote from their website:

The Wrighteous Lifestyle is about taking your past and creating renewed vigor for your life with genuine intentions toward your future.  Embrace your life, it’s in your hands, you make the choice on which path you will travel. America has been built on many foundations and principles, hard work, sweat and tears. Grab ahold of that spirit and create with us a New American Renaissance. A renewal in what is the American Spirit.

But, what it’s really about is the style. They have big men’s and a women’s lines, that are both fantastic. The men’s is of particular interest here. The styles are royal, gothic and rock&roll all mixed together. There are some very masculine cues; antiqued silver, crosses, skulls, fleur-de-lis, and the like. All of the pieces are in sterling silver, some have 14 karat gold. Wrighteous makes rings, pendants, cuff links, belt buckles, and a lot more. I think it is one of the best brands in men’s jewelry that I have seen in a long time. They bring back that rugged and bold look to mens jewelry. On top of that it is great to support an American company from a down ,but not out market in Detroit Michigan. As of now Wrighteous Jewelry is pretty exclusive, but I know you can get it at Diamonds & Gold.

Support this brand, They call themselves Wrighteous, I call them Swell.

Real Men Wear Pearls

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Okay, before I begin, I have to say I LOVE PEARLS, and Real Men do wear Pearls. Now I am not talking about your grandmother’s nice white strands. I am talking about masculine,  funky (yes funky), cool, eye-grabbing, and trendy styles.

Steven Tyler wearing Pearls

The other week, I saw a great validation of my belief that men do wear pearls, and make them cool. On American Idol in San Diego, judge Steven Tyler of Aerosmith had on a fantastic leather and pearl necklace with nice big Tahitian pearls.Steven Tyler is a rock icon, so admittedly he can pull off a lot, but, he is also quit the stylish guy. So I have to think if he can wear something hip like a black pearl strand , well then you can too. Weather a rock star or an average Joe, they look great. I have seen them more and more lately in the media and in jewelry, check out what Andre 3000 is wearing in the new Gillette commercial.

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A lesson on How to be Swell

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Welcome to a lesson on “How to be swell”. I am a jeweler, a hopeless romantic, a diehard traditionalist, and a vintage fanatic. This blog is the day to day that I come across about “how to be swell”. Mostly I’ll stick to clothes, watches, music, and style, but I will address almost anything from cars to politics. It is a forum for the things that interest me and hopefully you too. I got the idea from the retro shorts that they used to play on nick at night .  Hope you like it and keep comming back, because…that’d be swell.