Christies prepares for bumper jewellery sales day

Christie’s will hold two sales of exceptional jewels in New York on December 10, which are expected to realise a combined amount of more than £9m. The sales will feature more than 180 pieces of jewellery from rare and important diamonds to period jewels, plus designs by brands such as Buccellati, Boucheron, Daniel Brush, Bulgari, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, David Webb, and Tiffany & Co.

The first sale will be New York Jewels, a selection of jewellery ranging from £600 to £1.2m. This will be followed by a Magnificent Jewels sale of 10 jewels from a private collector that includes the rare and important 39ct D-grade Evening Star diamond, which is expected to fetch more than £6m.

Pictured: The Evening Star diamond

Swatch accused of price fixing in Australia

Swatch Group has been accused of price fixing in Australia by the brand’s former Australian general manager Mark Watson, as reported by Australian trade publication Jeweller.

Watson claims that he was dismissed from the company in November 2008 after refusing to enforce Swatch’s preferred retail prices. He is now suing the watch company in County Court in Australia for loss and damages.

The price fixing allegations are reported to affect Swatch’s premium brands including Omega, Breguet, Tiffany & Co and Tissot. Watson has accused Swatch of indulging in price fixing to maintain its exclusivity of these top-end brands.

To read the full story on Jeweller News Magazine, click here

Pictured: Omega gent's Constellation Skeleton self-winding watch

European sales sparkle for Tiffany

Luxury jeweller Tiffany recorded double-digit sales growth in Europe in the three months to October 31, driven in part by the opening a store in at Selfridges in Manchester. European sales rose 12% to $65m (£39.2m).

However, the retailer struggled in the US, which accounts for more than half of its total sales. Like-for-like sales dropped 10% and total sales fell 9% to $303.5m (£183.1m).

Tiffany chairman and chief executive Michael Kowalski said: "We were pleased to see that the rate of sales declines in the US lessened as the quarter progressed. At the same time, many countries in Asia-Pacific and Europe achieved considerably better-than-expected sales. These results, combined with ongoing expense restraint, contributed to earnings above our prior expectation."

In the UK, Tiffany has eight stores in London in addition to the newly opened Manchester boutique. It also has a concession in upmarket department store Brown Thomas in Dublin.

Pictured: Rings by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co with diamonds, green tourmaline, tanzanite and pink tourmaline