Pearls Size
Pearl size is mostly determined by two factors: the size of the implanted nucleus and the thickness of the nacre that grows layer upon layer around the nucleus. A large cultured pearl that lacks nacre thickness has a low value, and tends to discolor and crack fairly easily. A pearl with a thick nacre coating will retain its luster and beauty for a lifetime when properly cared for. For pearls of similar quality, the most important other determinant of price is the size of the pearl. The size is generally measured in millimeters.

Pearls Shape
Perfectly round cultured pearls are the rarest. Although most cultured pearls are nearly round, only about 1% is perfectly spherical. To check a strand for roundness, roll it across a flat surface. The strand should move evenly and smoothly.

Pearls Luster
Luster refers to the surface property that imbues cultured pearls with their shine and beauty. When checking pearls for luster, view them while standing with your back to a source of light. The sharper your reflection on the surface of the pearl, the higher is the luster and the better the quality.

Pearls Color
Pearls come in a variety of shades, with the major classifications being white, pink, silver, cream, gold, and black. Choice pearls also have a secondary color, or “overtone”, around the surface of the pearl. These overtones are usually rose, green or blue. The color should emanate from deep within the center of the pearl. All the pearls in a strand should be consistent in color.

Pearls Surface
Just as with any product of nature, all cultured pearls have minor imperfections. A quality cultured pearl is free of large pits or blemishes.

Akoya Pearls
Akoya pearls are cultivated using Pinctada Fukata oysters. Although most Akoya pearls are cultivated in Japan, they are also cultured in the tropical waters off the coast of Korea and China and southward as far as Sri Lanka. Akoya pearls are from two to ten millimeters in size, and their shape is typically round or off-round. Colors range from pink to white and yellow. Typically pearls are harvested after about eighteen months to three years of cultivation, reaching about 0.5 mm in diameter after eighteen months in the host oyster. Akoya pearls are renowned for their high luster and rich color.

Tahitian Black Pearls
Tahitian Black pearls are cultivated from Pinctada Margaritifera oysters (black lip oysters) found in French Polynesian waters. Black South Sea pearls come in a wide range of colors from silver / gray, blue, and red / eggplant to dark green, with peacock being the most valuable. Cultivation time averages about two years. Tahitian pearls have long been highly prized by many cultures for their exotic colors and brilliant luster.

How to buy a Pearl is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Rolex and other replicas are available throughout the Internet and search on Google, Yahoo, etc. reveals hundreds of websites that sell replica watches. In order to find out if they are legitimate or if they are nothing but scams. Always be careful when buying a replica watch

The easiest way to tell a Breitling Replica from a genuine one is on the movement. Make sure the movement is automatic AND the chronographs work. How do you tell? An automatic movement has a sweeping second hand. In other words, the second hand does not tick once every second, instead, it sweeps smoothly through a series of very, very fine ticks. To look for genuine chronographs, try to operate them by pressing little buttons on the side. The chronographs should be able to act as stop watches, and NOT just keep track of the seconds, hours and day. Fake chronographs either don’t work, or can’t act as timers.

The rest of the watches are very hard to tell apart from their genuine counterparts. It is because genuine Rolex watches are so detailed and distinct that even replica manufacturers miss the fine details. The best way is always to get a picture of a genuine watch from an authorized site or catalog, and compare it to the one you are purchasing from. Chances are, there are some differences. For example, on Cartier Replica, the Roman numeral markers in a lot of cases are larger than on the genuine ones. The SIZES are by far the easiest things to look for. Almost in every replica in the world, you will notice that even if the engravings/markings are correct, the sizes are always off slightly. Either the Roman numeral markers are smaller, the luminescent markers are smaller, or commonly, the minute/hour hands are not the same size and shape.

One major problem found on most replicas is that each replica may be slightly different. This is regardless of whether it is a Swiss, Japanese, or even Asians. Some are made with more markings than others; some are made with more gold plating than others

Fake Rolexes and fake Panerai are very popular currently. I advise all my readers at www.replicawatchesplus.com to do their research before buying. Some of the fake Rolexes are very close, and require careful study to identify. If the price is unrealistically low, buyers beware! Replica Watches shows you the ins and outs of counterfeit watches. No more wondering if that Submariner is real or a replica!

How easy is it to spot a replica Rolex? is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Depending on your age, you may or may not remember seeing your father wind his watch each night before going to bed. If he did not, he would surely wake to a watch that had stopped. Those days became history with the advent of the automatic watch. What makes it automatic? It still has the same basic mechanism to keep the watch working, but how that mechanism is powered changed the way we cared for our watches.

All mechanical watches work in a similar manner. They require a movement of a series of gears to “tick” of increments of time, which in turn registers as movements of the hands on the face of the watch. A rotor in the watch sits on a staff in the middle of the watch’s movement. It rotates in a circular motion and winds the mainspring which is the source of power in mechanical watches. With an automatic watch the winding of this spiral spring is done automatically with any arm or wrist movement.

Self-winding, automatic watches work great for people who wear the watch each day, but if you do not wear the watch frequently, it needs manual winding about twice a week. Even automatic watches will stay working better if they are wound manually about once every two weeks because this helps keep the watch lubricated. It is a misconception that automatic watches never need any winding, since it all depends on the movement of the arm to keep it functioning well.

A power reserve lets the movement of your watch keep time for anywhere between 10 and 72 hours. There is something called a power reserve, and the bigger the reserve, the longer your automatic watch will keep running without further movement or manual winding.

Rolex was the first watch manufacturer to devise and patent the rotor system that is still used today. They called it the Perpetual and it was part of the popular Oyster line created in the early 1930s. Emile Borer was the Rolex technician who came up with the system, but he was not the first to develop a rotor. That distinction goes to Swiss watchmaker, Abraham-Louis Perrelet as long ago as 1770. This was quite the invention because it wouldn’t be until much later in time that wrist watches were worn and there just wasn’t enough physical movement with a pocket watch to make it a feasible way to move the rotor and wind the mainspring.

Automatic watches differ from quartz watches which are powered by batteries and not by either a manual or automatic winding system. Powered by a battery, the quartz crystal inside a quartz watch vibrates nearly 33,000 times per. Watch batteries last about two years, where automatic watches have a never ending source of power: movement or motion.

Quartz watches account for most moderately priced watch sales today, but connoisseurs of watches still like the prestige and elegance of a finely crafted mechanical watch. Automatics have started to regain some of the quartz market in recent years accounting for huge increases (95%) in sales between 1993 and 1995.

Lubrication is essential to keeping an automatic watch running well. Watches can be lubricated by manually winding the watch periodically and taking it in to a jeweler once about every 3 to 5 years. When winding an automatic watch, just wind it about 30 to 40 times or until you feel some resistance. Keeping the watch is a watch winding box is also a good way to keep the watch lubricated.

Automatic watches are also quite affordable. They actually come in every price range. Some economical brands include Invicta watch and Orient watch, and then the price can reach into the very expensive range depending on the embellishments or the prestige of a specific brand.

How Automatic Watches Work is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Everything from a winter sweater to a little black dress can shine with the help of a few select pieces. So what can we expect to see at holiday parties?

According to Ross-Simons Jewelers, long, layered necklaces that hit the waist are a must. Also big are those that can be wrapped around numerous times at varying lengths so that the same necklace can be used for different looks at different times of the day.

Likewise, beads are back and bigger than ever, the jeweler says. You can wrap your neck or wrist in stunning strands and create an eye-catching accent.

Here are some other trends that can be expected this season:

* Green in all shades, especially olive. Yellow gold also is back in vogue.

* Necklaces of different shapes and sizes – worn at the same time. Each “layer” is a different length and of a different type. For example, one necklace might be beaded, another might be longer with charms, and the third might be longer still with a large pendant.

* Cameos that add a level of sophistication to the neutral or natural colors and flowing soft fabrics of this season’s clothes. They can serve a dual purpose by acting as pins or pendants.

* Bracelets, oversized and stacked, that mix and match textures and colors. Charm bracelets also are making a comeback from the 1970s. In fact, the more abundant and heavily charmed they are, the better. Layering different charm bracelets on one wrist is another popular look.

* Rings that are big, bold and accented by diamonds. Stackable rings in tri-gold (white, rose and yellow) can be mixed and matched for an individual look.

* Dangling earrings with beads. In a nod to the ’80s, these accents are bohemian yet feminine and romantic.

Hot Jewelry Trends for The Holiday Season is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Horses symbolize freedom, and pride in freedom. Wild horses come with the connotation of spiritual and emotional independence. Have you ever seen or read “The Horse Whisperer” or “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”? Perhaps the snow-white horse named Shadowfax in the “Lord of the Rings” movies has evoked a sense of unbridled freedom in you? And yet, Hollywood has not even begun to touch on the importance of horses in ancient cultures. Far from being mere beasts of burden, horses were also trusted friends. Native Americans paid great respect to the horses they have domesticated, for they were useful in hunting and traveling.

Wearing horse jewelry is a celebration of independence, a rallying cry to break free from the bonds of society and be graceful, proud and natural.

It is a popular belief that the wild horse chooses its tamer. Alexander the Great’s horse, the celebrated Bucephalus, was known to be the wildest horse in his day: king of horses, unconquered by conquerors. And yet when the young Alexander cautiously approached him, Bucephalus calmed down and allowed the teenaged monarch to climb on his back. Together the two conquered cities, leveled fortresses, and built an empire — kindred untrammeled spirits faithful to each other until the end.

A driven, successful, hard-to-get professional woman may appreciate a gift of horse jewelry — in celebration of her strong, free-spirited nature. A young carefree lad may also benefit from horse jewelry, as an expression of virility and natural strength.

Horse jewelry comes in a variety of forms — from pendants to hairclips, brooches to bracelets, anything that catches attention! The flashier the better, or the more muted the more desirable, for people who gravitate to horses.

Horse Jewelry: Bold and Free is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Using candles marked at intervals, tracking the sun in the sky, oil lamps with marked reservoirs, and hour/sandglasses are some of the ways in which time was measured. Cords with knots were use as well as small metal or stone mazes filled with incense that burned at a certain rate. Water clocks did not rely upon the watching of the sky or of the sun.

Around 1500 B.C. the earliest water clock was found in Amenhotep’s tomb. They were called Clepsydras by the Greeks and were stone containers with sloped sides that allowed water to drip through a small whole in the bottom at a continuous rate. Cylindrically and bowl shaped containers that allow water to slowly fill up with water at a steady pace are also Clepsydras.

Hours were indicated by the markings on the inside of the bowl. This was used predominantly at night but it is believed they were used in the day hours as well. A bowl made of metal with a hole in the bottom was inside a larger bowl filled with water. It would fill up and it would then sink in a certain amount of time. Water flow was unpredictable and difficult to control accurately so timepieces that depended on water were very inaccurate.

People were desirous of developing more accurate ways of measuring and telling time. Creating a frequency was dependent upon the size, shape and temperature of the crystal in the development of quartz crystal clocks and time pieces. Still popular today are quartz crystal clocks and watches.

Most people can afford them and although they tend to be slightly off of the correct time, they work well for the price. No minute hand was on the first watches but they did have natural movement.

Every twelve hours they required winding. Originally watches were worn for adornment rather than functionality. Weights in portable timepieces were not practical. From the beginning man’s goal has been to measure time and a time line will show you how watches have to gottten to be what they are today There are new functions on watches.

They have stop watches, times across time zones, the date and the time. Some kind of an alarm is put in most watches. I can really see the Dick Tracy kind of watch being real, the possibilities are endless. Although some of the years might not be in chronological order but they are as close as possible. Learning how watches have developed is very interesting.

It is incredible when I think of how smart and technical the minds of the people who had their hand in inventing watches. The driving power of timepieces prior to 1600, were balanced weights and it was a huge problem. This created difficulty in carrying them around. Henlien was paid fifteen Florins in 1524 for a gilt-musk apple with a watch. This, in fact, is earliest date known of watch production.

Watches that were probably French or German appeared in 1548. Swiss and English products began to show up in 1575. The was the time when the most advancements and innovation. The first watch movements were made of steel and then later of brass. These straight verge watches had no balance and were awfully inaccurate. The was the introduction of the use of spiral-leaf main springs.

The power of movement without hanging weights was allowed. These timepieces were not continually accurate. 1600 through 1675 was called the age of decoration. Rather than being practical watches developed into decorative pieces of jewelry.

Tambour cylinder cases were changed to a circular case with hinged, domed covers on the front and back. Two types of case Champleve Enamel and relieved cases filled with colored enamel appeared. Glass crystals were fitted to the cases as an alternate choice to metal opaque covers in 1620. The owner was able to see the time without removing the cover because the glass is clear. The cover needed to be removed in order to see the time and/or set the watch.

Plain watches came out of the Puritan movie in 1625. Fancy shapes and adornments were seen mostly on ladies’ watches after 1660. The first uses of spiral balance springs in watches occurred in 1675. The accuracy of a time piece was now being measured in fractions of minutes not fractions of hours. A dial was created by watchmakers that had a minute hand and was divided by minutes because of the increased accuracy.

Charles II in 1675 introduced waistcoats with pockets. Men now carried their watches not on a pendant but in their pockets. 1704 was the year Dullier and Debeaigre developed the method of using jewels as bearings. Sully determined in 1715 that creating a small sink around each hole would retain the oil because of the surface tension.

Finding a large diamond endstone in the cock was common in 1725. 1750 saw the beginning of putting watchmaker’s names on the dials, it had never been done. A clock made by John Harrison in 1761, that was so accurate they used it during sea voyages to measure longitude. In 1775 Champleve is now rare.

Self-winding watches began to be produced by Purrelet. These watches made by Rareguel, were produced in 1780. The pocket chronometer in 1800 was readily available and an extremely accurate watch. The first one who in 1814 used a push or pump with a rack that operated by pushing the pendant that turned on a ratchet basic or going bowl was Massey.

The first to use mass production was the United States in 1850 and got mixed results. Advances were made in metallurgy in1900. The introduction of the balance spring on the first verge watch was made at this time. Watches powered by batteries became available in 1952. Since 1970 electronic watches have been very successful. Watches today use quartz crystals, and even atomic power.

Advances in the field of Horology are being made all the time and time tracking has never been more accurate.

Horology – Back in Time is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

The history of the Hope diamond, believed to be the world’s largest deep blue diamond, is full of twists. The 112 carat stone that became the Hope beganwhen the French merchant traveler, Jean Baptiste Tavernier purchase the stone from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, in the 17th century. Its color was described by Tavernier as a beautiful violet.

The stone was sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1668 with 14 other large diamonds and several smaller ones. In 1673 the stone was recut by the court jeweler resulting in a 67-carat stone. Because of its intense steely-blue, it was known as the ‘Blue Diamond of the Crown’ or the ‘French Blue’.

In 1749, King Louis XV had the stone reset and during the looting in 1792 the French Blue diamond was stolen.

The blue diamond resurfaced in London by 1813 and was owned by jeweler Daniel Eliason . Strong evidence showed that the stone was the recut French Blue and the same stone known today as the Hope Diamond. The blue diamond that surfaced in London was estimated at 44 carat. There was evidence that it was acquired by King George IV of England, and upon King George’s death, the diamond was sold to pay off debts.

By 1839, the blue diamond was in procession of Henry Philip Hope, from whom the Hope diamond takes its name. The Hope family is said to have been tainted with the diamond’s curse. According to legend, the once-rich Hopes bankrupt because of the Hope Diamond.

The diamond changed hands several times during the next several years, ending with Pierre Cartier. In 1910, the Hope was bought by the mining heiress Evalyn Walsh Mclean, of Washington. Though Evalyn Mclean wore the Hope diamond as a good luck charm, others saw the curse strike her too. Her first son died in a car crash, her daughter killed herself and her husband was declared insane and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1941.On her death, Harry Winston bought the Hope diamond and later donated to the Smithsonian Institution.

For the next ten years the Hope Diamond was show at many exhibits and charitable events throughout the world. By contrast, the stone’s ownership by the Smithso nian has been much more fortunate. Today, it is the institution’s most popular artifact.

Hope Diamond Facts:
45.52 carat
VS1
Dark Blue in Color
Size: 21.78mm wide, 25.60 mm long, 12.00 mm deep.
It is surrounded by 16 white diamonds plus an additional 45 white diamonds which make up the necklace chain.

Hope Diamond- Cursed? is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

According to the legend the hope was placed in front of a Buddha statue when it was stolen by a warrior, Tavernier, and a curse that foretold bad luck and death befell on the stone ever since. For this transgression, the legend says, Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs on a trip to Russia just after he had sold the diamond. This was the first horrible death attributed to the curse. But many others would follow…

The businessman who had acquired the stone sold it to king Louis XV. Soon after that, the businessman got poor, contracted a mysterious disease and died suffering terrible convulsions.

When Louis XV died, his grandson, Louis XVI, became king with Marie Antoinette as his queen. According to the legend, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded during the French Revolution because of the blue diamond’s curse.

After the French Revolution, the diamond was hidden in a government building, where it was stolen in 1791. Six years later, the thieves were condemned to the death penalty.

In 1830, Francis Hope bought the huge blue diamond in an auction for 90.000 pounds and gave the stone his name. Francis Hope, who was a member of the parliament, soon died a sudden, unexplained death. Soon after his demise, his widow was burned to death in their mansion. After receiving the stone, Francis Hope’s heir and nephew, Thomas, went bankrupted and was abandoned by his wife.

Thomas got rid of the diamond, which was purchased by the Russian prince Iva Kitanovski who gave it to a ballerina. The night she wore it for the first time she was shot and killed.

After a series of tragedies the stone found itself in the hands of Sultan Abdul Mamid II, who was forced to resign in favor of his brother and took the Hope along with other personal things to exile.

In the beginning of the 20th century the Hope was purchased by the McLean family and soon after, their daughter committed suicide and their nine-year-old son died in a car accident. Mr. McLean got really depressed and died months later in a mental institution in 1941. Evalyn McLean had wanted her jewelry to go to her grandchildren. But in 1949, two years after her death, her jewelry was put on sale in order to settle debts from her estate.

When the Hope diamond went on sale in 1949, it was bought by a famous New York jeweler: Harry Winston. For almost a decade, Winston offered the diamond on numerous occasions to be worn at balls to raise money for charity.

Then, on the 10th of November of 1958, this magnificent blue diamond traveled in a plain brown box by registered mail and was met by an eager group of people at the Smithsonian Institute. Some believe that Winston donated the Hope diamond to rid himself of the curse.

In 2003, the Hope was taken to a museum laboratory for testing. It was only the second time in 20 years the Hope has been removed from its necklace setting. They focused an ultraviolet beam on the stone. Then turned off the beam and, in pitch dark, the diamond glowed bright orange-amber (most blue diamonds phosphoresce light blue.) It’s that strong color, which lasts for several seconds, that intrigues scientists. Some speculate it’s related to chemical impurities that give its blue color. What causes the gem to fluoresce remains a mystery. But since the Hope Diamond has inspired many legends, some say that the glowing color reflects the blood of royalty spilled during the French Revolution and the trail of death and bad luck that followed the stone over the centuries.

Aside from its bad reputation, this diamond has been nothing but good luck for the Smithsonian Museum. After Winston’s donation, attendance has jumped and it has encourage others to donate, helping the museum to build its world-class gem collection.

So don’t worry if you decide to visit it, the Hope’s negative magnetic energy won’t pass through the thick crystal glass that guards this mystical, largest deep blue diamond in the world.

Hope Diamond: “The Killing Stone” is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

Charms/jewelry were made of almost any material of value to people in their time. Many were made of precious metal. Others were made with gemstones inlaid in them or mounted with precious metals in the form of necklaces, crowns, staffs, and bracelets. Queen Victoria gets the credit for popularizing jewelry charms throughout Europe by wearing lockets or charms on her royal bracelets

America became enchante with Charms around the time frame of World War II. Soldiers returning from duty station brought with them various types of charms or pendants. Today popular charms are maded from Gold and Sterling silver. Other materials are still used in the making of charms.

Sterling Silver Charms today represent as many things as there are interests and personalities. Some charms or pendants represent the religious leanings of the wearer. They also represent the interest of the wearer such a musical instrument for a music lover, a pair of sneakers for a jogger, or ballet slippers for a ballerina. Imagination is the only limit for what a charm can represent. Silver charms are also used to commerate life events such as births, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, or graduations.

Silver is a soft metal and its usage has been favored for centuries. It is used to make charms often related to religious worship. Silver has been a symbol of comfortable living. Sterling silver is much stronger than pure silver which is harder to work with when making pendants or charms. Sterling silver is approximately ninety percent silver. The last ten percent or so can be any one of the following: copper, zinc, or nickel and is more durable than pure silver but it still retains its inherent beauty.

Charms whether made of sterling silver or some other materials are often used to represent the person who wears or carries the charm. As has been mentioned however, they often represent the interests and personality of the wearer. During war particular items are given to the soldiers who are going off to fight. When a young teen-aged couple ’goes steady’ the young man generally gives the girl his ring or something of particular value to him. The girls might also do the same.
Charms have also been said to represent the particular spirituality of the wearer. Many people wear plain simple crosses while still others will wear the cross with the corpus – the body of Christ on it. Others wear saints medals. Lockets are worn with images of loved ones inside. Once used to ward against evil spirits, for good luck, and for protection in times of trouble charms have come to be an adornment for the wearer. Charm bracelets are gifts that keep on giving. A charm is often given for birthdays, graduations, a dance recital, or sports victory. They make wonderful gifts for young girls that will grow with them. There are charm necklaces as well.

History of Sterling Silver Jewelry Charms is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion

History of Gallet Watches is a post from: Aliciamiyares.org - The guide to all things of fashion