Tiffany rings inspire the dream proposal
‘Do you know how many times a woman looks at her ring in her life? On average, a million times,’ says Tiffany & Co.’s Marc Jacheet. ‘That’s more than you see your kids!’
Something bold, something new, s ome thing borrowed, something blue.
You read that right. A few months before the landmark US Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, legendary jeweler Tiffany & Co. had already released its “Will You?” campaign, a bold ad in which a number of modern couples — among them partners of the same gender and mixed race — propose marriage to each other.
It was a daring move, perhaps, for a 178-year-old company (Tiffany was founded in 1837) but a necessary one, according to Marc Jacheet, Tiffany & Co. group vice president for the Asia-Pacific region, who was in Manila recently to launch Tiffany’s diamond solitaire collection.
“Our origin is in New York, a melting pot, a city of energy and trends,” Jacheet says. “On one side we’re timeless and classic, but also boldly presenting our core essence. All love is worth celebrating, and our job is to celebrate the biggest love stories.”
Though they have no special rings for same-sex male couples, for instance, Jacheet feels they have a wide enough variety that every couple will find their perfect engagement or wedding ring.
“The choice of solitaire diamond ring is very intimate and symbolic, so we are experts at understanding the true needs that our customers have,” he says. “We’re not in the diamond business, we’re in the happiness business.”
As to why the diamond solitaire collection is only being launched now, he says the booming Philippine market is finally ready for Tiffany’s rigorously selected class of diamonds, of which a mere 0.04 of the world’s diamonds are eligible.
Tiffany sources only from the best — countries like Botswana, Namibia, and Australia for yellow diamonds — and maintains a strong stance against conflict diamonds. It was the first jeweler in the world to initiate the Kimberley Process, which eliminated blood diamonds from the trading market. “So when you buy a diamond you also buy ethics and environmental friendliness,” Jacheet says. “For example, in Africa we have the first cut done on-site because we want to bring employment there. The same in Thailand — we have 1,000 employees there with better benefits, salaries, and working conditions.”
He says they have to be that strict because the choice of a solitaire diamond ring is such an intimate and symbolic one. “Do you know how many times a woman looks at her ring in her life?” he asks. “On average, a million times. For people who have kids, that’s more than you see your kids! So it’s a very important choice.”
Nowadays, it’s not just love-struck fiancés planning to propose on bent knee who shop for the ring, he notes; it’s also the fiancées accompanied by women they seek advice from — their moms or their friends — or couples shopping together.
The first design they usually consider is the iconic Tiffany setting, which company founder Charles Lewis Tiffany invented in 1886. “The idea was pure genius at that time: let’s elevate the diamond and mount it on six prongs that magnify the 57 facets of the diamond,” Jacheet says. “It makes the diamond brilliant like no other mounting, so it’s our most popular style.”
The smallest solitaire size is 0.2 carats, set in your choice of precious metal, though Tiffany is known for its sleek and icy platinum settings. For those who want something different, rose gold is an emerging trend, as are collections like Harmony, a subtle design symbolizing two hands clasped that Jacheet says works nicely when stacking rings, and Fancy Shapes, which features diamonds hand-cut into hearts, pears, squares, ovals, and rectangular emerald cuts.
Bridal accounts for a significant chunk of Tiffany’s sales, between a quarter and a third for most countries, and up to half in Korea.
Jacheet definitely knows his Asian markets, and finds the Philippines particularly fascinating. “You have 550,000 weddings per year, which puts the Philippines in the top three in the biggest number of weddings in the world.”
Immortalized in movies like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Tiffany & Co. has become not only a fabled jeweler but also the site of many a marriage proposal. Jacheet recalls an Italian gentleman who bought a ring and proposed to his future wife in the Champs-Elysées store: “He said, ‘I’m going to come back tomorrow and could you please set something up for me?’ We privatized one of the salons for him, bought Champagne, petits fours and macaroons.” When the gent came back the next day with his girlfriend, he proceeded to get down on one knee and asked her, “Will you marry me?”
“The whole staff was standing around and applauding. We closed the doors to the salon, and they spent an hour there together,” Jacheet says. “That’s the type of proposal any woman would dream of.”
***