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The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red.  The colour of a ruby is due to the element of chromium.

Rubies are red version of the mineral known as corundum.  Pure corundum is made up of aluminum and oxygen and is colourless!  In a ruby, about 1% of chromium replaces aluminum.  When chromium replaces aluminum in corundum, the chromium absorbs certain wave lengths of light and reflect light in the red part of the visible light spectrum.  This reflected red light is what yours eyes see and gives rubies their distinctive red colour!

Colour is the most significant factor affecting a ruby’s value.  The finest ruby has a pure vibrant red to slightly purplish red colour.  As the colour becomes too orangy or more purplish, the ruby moves down the quality scale. In some areas, light pink rubies go by the name pink sapphire.  A ruby is a hard stone which ranks 9 which is subsequent to only a diamond.   Diamond is the hardest on the MOHS scale rating 10.

Ruby is also used to Celebrate 40^th Year Wedding Anniversary.  Red ruby is known to be a protector from misfortune and ill health, ruby is also used to open the heart and promote love.  Given as a gift, ruby is a symbol of friendship and love.

Whether a Ruby is your Birthstone oryou just love the colour red, it is truly a beautiful Precious Gemstone.

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What type of watch do you use to keep track of your time? 

Automatic, Spring Drive, Quartz, Kenetic?  What are the differences?

Automatic watch is a mechanical watch with a self-winding mechanism.  The self-winding mechanism winds the mainspring with the movement on the wearer’s wrists.  

Spring drive is powered by a mainspring, no battery, one second a day accuracy, extended service intervals.

Quartz was invented by Seiko in 1969, quartz watches take the predictable movement of a synthetic quartz crystal and using integrated circuitry translates the osolation into hours, minutes and seconds. 

Kinetic is powered by human movement, the watch runs entirely on self generated energy from the natural movement of your wrist.  The energy can be captured and stored for up to six months. This technology was first produced in the late 1980’s by Seiko.

Now that I have my new watch, what do some of the other terms mean?

Chronographis a stopwatch that can measure up to 60 minutes in 1/5 second intervals.

Perpetual, once set, the calendar automatically adjusts for odd and even months including February of leap years until the year 2100.

Water Resistant DOES NOT MEAN WATERPROOF, be careful.  Read your manual and some times watches are marked with water resistant symbol with the depth ie 20m 30m etc .  Make note if your watch is water resistant or waterproof.

Face of your watch, one of the best is Sapphire Crystal which is the most durable of all crystals and is three times harder than hardlex or mineral. This is important as not having scratches accumulate on the face of your watch, keeps it clear, crisp, and easy to read.

Crown is the outer head attached to the stem, this is on the side of the watch and is used to pull out to stop your watch if you have a battery and can also be used to set different features of your watch.

Not wearing your watch?   Pull out the stem as to not run your battery down.  Not wearing for a long length of time?  Consider having your battery removed by a knowledgeable jeweller, as battery will leak into your watch mechanism and you may require a complete overhaul to repair it.  

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Opal is the birthstone for the month of October, along with tourmaline. It is also the semi-precious stone given to celebrate the 14th year of marriage. More than 90% of the world’s opals come from Australia, and the rest can be found in other parts of the world such as Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Ethiopia and the United States.  Opals from Mexico are called “Mexican Opal“.

There are many different types of natural opals. To name a few, there are black, white, crystal, fire, hyalite, water, hydrophane and honey opal. Black Opal is the most valued of Opals.

Apparently the inner “fire” or play of the colors in opals attracts forces that bring money $$$! Some believe the darkness of the black opal can hold and release power!  Of course this can be good or bad, up to the beholder of the opal. Remember to use your power for good and not evil!

Wearing opal as jewellery is relatively modern practice. In ancient times, people wore opals to cure eye diseases, it is also believed if opal was wrapped in fresh bay leaf’s it would keep others from seeing you! This superstition earned opal the popular designation of patronus furum, Latin for “patron of thieves.”

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One of the most important differences between 4 and 6 prong rings is in their appearance.

If you are more concerned about how much of your gemstone will be visible, getting a four-prong ring is one option.  A ring with four prongs leaves a bigger part of the gemstone mounted therefore it is more visible.  If you have a diamond set in your ring, the fewer prongs it has, the more the stone will show.  Four-prong rings also make diamonds look bigger.  Six-prong rings, on the other hand, make a stone look small as more of its surface is covered by the prongs and block more of the stone, however as the stone reach proportions of typically large then 1.50 carats it would be prudent to consider a setting with six prongs.

Six prongs setting can be harder to clean at home especially the lower part where dirt tends to accumulate, however at José & Co. we use our ultra-sonic cleaner, high pressure steam for fantastic results on any setting.

Four prong settings are less safe because prongs wear down with time, they can bend or break.  With six prongs, if one breaks you have more prongs left to hold your stone in place until it gets repaired.  With only four prongs you are a higher risk of your stone coming loose and fallout out.

Six prongs offer better protection from accidental hits.  Since a stone mounted in such a mounting is covered by more prongs, the gemstones is at a lower risk of chipping or breaking if you accidentally bump your ring which odes happen more often than we notice. 

If you want the best of both worlds and have a mounting that makes your stone more visible while being safe, consider a four-prong setting made of platinum.

This metal is very durable and wears a lot more slowly than gold or silver, so you won’t have to worry as much about bent or broken prongs.

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Long fingers

• Princess-cut and round stones are especially flattering.
• Wider bands tend to complement the length of your fingers.
• Long fingers can carry a bold more chunky style— but only if that suits you. Remember it is all about YOU!

Slender fingers

• Smaller stones can help make thin fingers appear wider.
• Thicker bands work well to widen the look of your finger.

Short fingers

• Oval, pear or marquise stones help lengthen the appearance of your finger.
• Rectangular emerald-shaped stones can lengthen short fingers, as long they aren’t so big they overwhelm.
• Slender, narrow-width bands create the illusion of length.

Wide fingers

• Go for a wide oval, marquise, rectangular or emerald shape — narrow stones will make wide fingers look even wider.
• Cluster styles and round stones in larger settings flatter wider fingers.
• Choose a medium to thick band.
• Angular shapes and asymmetrical designs both minimize the width of the finger.

Scarred Fingers

• Should you have a mark or a scar on your finger there is a way to design a custom ring to cover that mark or scar.  We have done this for our clients!

Big knuckles

• The right ring will draw attention away, not toward your knuckles.
• Look at thicker, heavier bands — this style of ring will draw attention to the ring instead of the middle of your finger.
• Not just your finger and knuckles but the size of your hand you need to keep in mind.

Small hands

• With small hands, it’s best to keep the over all proportion of your ring small.
• Small round, princess-cut, oval or heart-shaped stones work especially well and a thinner more delicate band.

Large hands

• Try larger rings that suit your personality –you have room to get creative!
• With larger hands, you can easily get away with bulky, chunky styles.  The style of ring that you can see from across the room!

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Before we can started, firstly the Pearl symbolizes wisdom gained through experience and gives the wearer a sense of inner confidence & serenity.  “Pearls of Wisdom” as they say.

A natural Pearl begins inside an oysters shell when an “intruder such as a grain of sand, piece of food etc and this “intruder” slips in between the shells.  In order for the oyster to protect itself from the “intruder”, the oyster will start to cover the irritant with Nacre, layer upon layer, upon layer.   Nacre also known as the Mother of Pearl is secreted by cells of the mantle tissue of molluscs.  Cultured pearls are formed the same way, the only difference is that instead of accidentally there being an“intruder”, a Pearl Farmer embeds a grain of sand into the mollusk. 

Some Types of Pearls:

Akoya Pearls: Grow naturally white in colour.  For over 100 years Akoya Pearls have grown off the coast of Japan.  These are the classic Pearls that you typically see on a magazine cover, they are usually Akoya Pearls.  Range in size: 4mm  to 10mm.

Freshwater Pearls: These pearls are known to be white and also come in a variety of pastel colours. Also the shapes range from naturally round to baroque.  Range in size: 5mm to 12mm, some as large as 20mm.

Tahitian Pearls: Grown in French Polynesia, these are the only naturally dark Pearls.  These Pearls come in a range of dark exotic colours and can be referred to as Black Pearls.  Range in size: 8mm to 15mm.

Golden Pearls:  South Sea Pearls which are the largest saltwater Pearls grown today, the range in colour is from white to gold.  Grown in Australia, Philippines, Indonesia.  Range in size from 8mm to 18mm

Few tips to take care of your Pearls! 

“Last thing you put on, First thing you take off”….store your pearls in a soft cloth or satin bag…remember, lotions, potions, perfumes etc will harm the nacre of your Pearls….remember nacre? The nacre is the layer upon layer the oyster used to form your Pearls!  See your Jeweller for complete Pearl care.

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A Goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with Gold, Platinum and other precious metals. Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal through filing, soldering, sawing, forging, casting, setting stones, and polishing.

Goldsmiths also excelled in using innovative techniques such as enameling which allows glass to be fused with a precious metal like gold, enabling the creation of a highly colourful gold-made piece of art.  Other medieval techniques used by medieval goldsmiths included basse-taille which allows them to create low-relief gold patterns to be filled by enamel, engraving and embossing.  This was used on items such as golden scepters, crowns and textiles with gold lining.  

Goldsmiths Manuscripts:

Manuscripts in medieval Europe were one of the most widely employed artisans. Typically, Goldsmiths were commissioned by rich nobility. During the medieval period, illustrated manuscripts were produced in Europe, Goldsmiths were the ones who used their high technical skills to adorn the covers, pages, bindings, very intricate gold work was achieved.  Nobles, monarchs, monasteries and clergymen commissioned illuminated manuscripts to be made. 

Emperor:

Goldsmiths were occasionally commissioned by the Emperor when gold or other precious metals were needed.    The Byzantine Empire mosaic was one of the key genres of Art during the medieval period. 

Bankers:

In most major medieval European cities, Goldsmiths often acted as bankers since they had a stock of well-secured gold.

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The term Hearts and Arrows, also known as H&A…refers to round brilliant diamonds that have been cut to a very high degree of three dimensional symmetry, also referred to as “optical” symmetry”.  When looking through a special reflector device you will see a distinct pattern of 8 arrows when viewed from the TOP (the Crown) and 8 hearts when viewed from the bottom (the Pavilion). 

The benefits of H&A diamond is optimizing the light handling capabilities to the extent that the diamond is proportioned and polished correctly, aligning the facets precisely in three dimensions enables each facet to do its specific job completely. Brightness, contrast and dispersion are optimized.  Excellence in craftsmanship, owning an H&A Diamond gives you pride knowing the diamond display’s tiny hearts and arrows that can be seen with a special viewer.  Your special someone will be thrilled!

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