The soaring gold price has been causing headaches in the jewellery industry this month, with volatile price changes causing problems for suppliers and retailers, and confusion among consumers.

Philip Newman, director of research at precious metals consultancy GFMS, said the constantly changing price is likely to cause pricing dilemmas for retailers. He said: “One of the big problems for independent retailers is the volatile price. Items bought at different times could have different prices, or customers may return to find they now have to pay a higher price for the same item. This all causes confusion and the retailer has to either pass on the cost to the customer or decrease their margins.”

Places can now be booked on the Assay Office London’s Fakes & Forgeries Seminar.

The event, which takes place on November 22 in the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, is relevant for silver collectors, dealers, auction houses and anyone with an interest in silverwear.

Educational lectures will be combined with firsthand contact of examples of authentic and counterfeit objects. The keynote speaker is leading antique silver dealer and advisor to the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow Alastair Dickenson.

The seminar will also include insight into a famous conviction for silver forgery. Places are limited and by reservation only.

For more information, click here.

Jewellery retailers reported increased takings in September as high street sales continued to rise for the third consecutive month.

This follows figures revealed in the Confederation of Business Industry’s quarterly Distributive Trades Survey, which found 60% of its surveyed retailers said sales rose in September, against just 11% who said they fell, giving a positive balance of 49% on its scale. This was above the expected figure of 39%, and the highest since May 2004’s positive result of 51%.

British jewellery brand Jersey Pearl has announced it is financially backing the Longwangtan Hydro Power Project. The project provides a clean energy source to the Guizhon province in China, and this move highlights Jersey Pearl’s green credentials.

Designer Watches and Jewellery are official UK stockists of Jersey Pearl jewellery for men and women.
http://designerwatchesandjewellery.co.uk/ladies-jewellery-jersey-pearl-jewell...

Yes you read it right. iPod watch. With the launch of the new iPod Nano 6, you can 'convert' the iPod into a watch. How? Well get a Maratac strap from countycomm and fit it on the clip on the back and you have a watch. The strap is the 22 mm ZULU strap.

 

The watch brand currently has 3,700 outlets in 81 countries across the globe, but plans to increase this by more than 3,000 stockists next year. Founder and CEO Jean-Pierre Lutgen said the company is currently stepping up its rate of production from 250,000 watches per month to 500,000 by next October to keep up with demand.

He said: “My aim for 2011 would be to sell between three and five million watches, and we hope to increase our distribution network to have a presence in more than 100 countries, with more than 7,000 outlets.”

The brand’s watches are currently being designed in Belgium and produced and assembled in Shenzhen, China, but it now has plans to compete in the premium Swiss-made end of the market. Lutgen said: “To reincorporate the Swiss aspect, we have registered another brand called Ice-Swiss so that we can unveil a new product in a top of the range segment.”

He added that the company’s success has been down to cashing in on demand for affordable fashion watches. He said: “Our success is growing because a watch is a fashion accessory, a badge of identity and an impulse buy and ours appeals to large numbers of people.”

The full range of Ice watches for men and women is available online now from The Watch and Jewellery Shop. Free UK delivery.

There isn’t enough alluvial gold at the moment to cope with demand; you need tonnes of it,

Chaos ethical jewellery made from re-cycled gold for people who care where there trinkets come from.

So you've got a Rolex but you don't wear it every day. You're going to need a watch winder. No problem, Rolex will sell you one for $795. Just one thing though, it's not made by Rolex. It looks nice though and keeps your Rolex wound up just like any other watch winder you could buy for less than 10% of the price.

 

For the terminally paranoid here is the definitive guide to un Googling yourself, scrubbing your Facebook and emptying your MySpace.
What goes on the internet usually stays there, somewhere, but if you really try hard you can make yourself virtually invisible.

The positive mood was backed up by results from the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly Distributive Trades Survey (DTS), which revealed the volume of high street sales had risen for the second consecutive month in August. The survey found 53% of businesses reported that sales had increased, against just 18% who said sales had fallen, leaving a positive result of 35% on its scale. This was an improvement on July’s result of 33%, and the fastest rate of growth since April 2007.