From now till June 1st we are having a little competition.  And it is free!  No need to even come into our stores (not that you’re not welcome), or buy anything…just submit a photo of your engagement!  We want to see some beautiful pictures of engaged couples!  Once you have submitted your photo you will be entered to win one of three gift certificates to Independent Jewellers:

1st Place – $250

2nd Place – $150

3rd Place – $100

How do you win first place? Simple: submit your photo and get your friends to vote to increase your odds.  The more votes you have the more entries you will have in the draw (one vote, per person, per day).  And remember, simply submitting your photo gives you one entry into the draw!

Go to our Facebook page here, and click on the contest tab!

Good luck to all!

We are proud to carry many designers here at Independent Jewellers, but there are a couple that I would like to mention.  Scott Kay engagement rings are very traditional in there look (I have mentioned them before here).  They like to use lots of diamonds on their rings so you will find many Scott Kay rings with micro-set pave on the shoulders of the ring.

Two other designers we are proud to have, that most Canadians have never heard of, are Mark Schneider and Frederic Sage.  Each designer makes incredibly unique pieces, rings that I am convinced you will not find anything like in any other jewellery store.  The quality of their product is superb, and since they are both smaller design companies, it is easy for us to just pick up the phone and talk to Mark or Frederic directly.  That is a convenience that is usually not available with larger companies.

Most of our rings today are stocked as semi-mount product.  What “semi-mount” means is that the ring you see in the showcase is made of gold, all the small little diamonds are diamonds, however, the center stone is a CZ (Cubic Zirconium).  The reason we do this is simple: 99% of the time we have to special order the ring in.  And this is good!  This way we can customize the ring to each individuals preference, and we can order it in the proper size (as most couples shop together, we can get her ring size).  Often the couple will want a specific size diamond in the center, with specific quality characteristics, and if you don’t find the diamond you want in our collection of loose diamonds, we will find the diamond and bring it in.  The perfect ring for the perfect girl!

Today I just got a shipment of Rolex’s.  And in this shipment we received the new Rolex Explorer II with a black dial.  We have had this watch before (and have it with a white dial), but the black dial in particular seems to be difficult to obtain these days.  Probably because the watch is absolutely gorgeous.  When you see it in person it really is a breath-taking piece from Rolex, and I am certain that we will not have it in stock for very long.  I first saw this timepiece at Baselworld in 2011 and I mentioned it here.

Rolex created the Explorer originally in 1953 as a tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary’s climb of Mount Everest; Sir Hillary was the first person to achieve this feat.  Almost 20 years later, the Explorer II was launched in 1971 and in 2011 we received the new Explorer II pictured above.  Since it’s release, we have only received a few of these models as they are quite popular.

Canadian Retail Price: $8200

Diameter: 42mm

Movement: Automatic Mechanical featuring a second time zone indicator.

Available in a black or white dial.  As of this writing both are in stock.  Call 204.774.5544 for more details and ask for Jonathan or Jeremy.

Watch companies love to make incredible intense and complicated watches.  When a watch enthusiast uses the term “complication,” he/she is talking about specific features.  For example, date indicator is a complication, a chronograph, day indicator, alarm, etc. are all complications.  And in mechanical watches, the more complications, the more expensive and impressive the watch becomes.

I was recently in Vancouver visiting the owner of a jewellery store I know and he carries a line of watches by the name of Franck Muller.  He showed me in a magazine the watch that he got to handle when he visited with the folks at Franck Muller.  This watch, which is considered to be the worlds most complicated watch, sells for approximately $2.7 million dollars.  Pictured above, the watch is made in platinum and has 36 complications including a tourbillion and a 1000 year perpetual calendar.  Perpetual calendar’s on mechanical watches are extremely difficult and complicated to design, and every watch brand that I have heard of that makes perpetual calendars are only good for 100 years.  The fact that this is good for 1000 years is incredible!  I know you are thinking that nobody will have a watch for 100 years let alone 1000, but it is more the engineering feat of being able to track time for such a long period that is marvelous.

For more information, click here, or read about it on Franck Muller’s website here.

This will be the third year in a row that Independent Jewellers will be hosting Rachel Tucker from Platinum Unlimited.  We are very proud to have her coming here as her designs are incredibly beautiful the quality of the product from Platinum Unlimited is top-notch.  I have written about Rachel before; last year, and in 2010.

Rachel will be working by appointment only, and you can contact Marissa at 774.5544 or email her at marissa@independentjewellers.com if you would like to set up an appointment to see her.  Appointments are first come first serve and we are almost full as of the writing of this post.  The last two times we did this, Rachel spent a day at our Polo Park location; this year, she will be spending all 3 days at our Notre Dame location only.  Rachel will be here on April 26, 27, and 28 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), from 9am to 5pm.  Appointments are 1 hour time slots.

I am always fascinated to see Rachel work.  Hearing the customer talk and then seeing her sketch the drawing right in front of them is like nothing else; it truly is art.

Scott Kay – Vintage

If there are seasons in the jewellery industry, this would be the “Wedding Band Season.”  And, really, if you think about it, with so many weddings happening in the summer, it makes sense for couples to start ordering their wedding bands.

SK Cobalt – Native

Depending on the manufacturer of the wedding band, it can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to get the band from the time of order.  I would probably say that 95% of the time, we have to special order the wedding band in.  The reason for this is because if you find one in our showcase you like, chances are it will not fit your finger.  And if it has any kind of pattern/brushing/diamonds/or is made of a contemporary metal like Tungsten, Cobalt, or Titanium, then we will not be able to size it.  This is why you will find most of our wedding bands as brass samples.  We do have a lot of “live” bands in stock, however, and if they fit your finger and you like the style, then you are golden!

There are many options today as to the alloy of the band.  You have 10K, 14K, 18K in yellow or white.  There is even 19K white gold now, as well as palladium and platinum.  The newer metals are Tungsten Carbide, Titanium, Ceramic, Cobalt, and Black Cobalt.  With so many options it can be quite hard to decide, but the staff at Independent Jewellers can certainly help you with all your questions.

One of the best manufacturers is Crown Ring.  Feel free to browse some of their collection on our website here, or check out there full collection at www.crownring.com.

I have talked about Scott Kay engagement rings before, but feel as though I should spend some more time on them.  These rings are really quite beautiful; what I really like about Scott Kay is there style and quality.  If you have not seen there rings before, I have posted a few pictures in a previous post, and some more below.

Scott Kay engagement rings are very artistic, with lots of beautiful designs, and often have lots of little diamonds pave set all over the ring itself.  The nice thing about these rings is that they will often offer them in a variety of different options, with or without diamonds on the band, in a variety of metal options: 14K, 19K, Palladium, and Platinum.  Also, depending on what you are looking for, we can order the ring to take virtually any size of center diamond that you wish.

Independent Jewellers is proud to be the only jeweller in Manitoba to carry Scott Kay.  Come see our collection at our Polo Park location (across from Forever XXI), or at our 493 Notre Dame Ave. location.

Recently we picked up a beautiful line of enamel jewellery mixed with silver and diamonds called SOHO.  These pieces are very unique and a lot of craftsmanship has gone into each on; each one is handmade in Italy.

Enamel is a very hard material and extremely resistant to scratching, so wear and tear on a bracelet like this will be minimal.  The colours are vibrant and the smoothness of the jewellery is exquisite.

Available exclusively at Independent Jewellers, 493 Notre Dame Ave.

We have just received a used Rolex Submariner Date, circa 1997.  The watch is in excellent running condition, and has a few minor nicks and scratches.  The watch was overhauled in November of 2009.

Asking price is $4500 plus taxes. *****SOLD*****

One of the most interesting items came from Rolex with their brand new watch, the Sky-Dweller.  Cool name, eh? The Sky-Dweller won’t be available for at least a year, and starts at $40,000 ish (prices haven’t been set for Canada), but is a wickedly cool watch.  42mm wide, 2 time-zones, and an annual calendar (the difference between an annual calendar and a perpetual calendar is that the annual knows the differences between 30 and 31 day months, but NOT February.  A perpetual calendar watch will know the date for approx. 100 years and is therefore even more expensive).

Tag Heuer has a beautiful new lines of Lady Link’s that Cameron Diaz will be sporting in all their advertising.  Really nice watches, a little bit larger, and lots of variations.  I know the ladies will like them so I ordered a bunch.

Omega…they have a ton of new pieces.  So many limited editions that…well…I didn’t order many of them.  I did order, however, a new limited edition James Bond watch in the Seamaster Planet Ocean line (this is different from the 300M line).  Sure to please given the new movie coming out soon.

There is so much more to tell, but what I can say is there is a lot of new products coming from Movado, Citizen, Tissot, Hamilton, and Philip Stein.  It was a very quick, but information filled trip, and next year promises to be even better given the changes they are proposing for Baselworld.

Oh ya, I did meet with a few new brands, which we are seriously thinking of getting.  Still curious to know which ones?