Senior Analyst
Richard Wrighterson covers gold, diamonds, and precious metals markets for JewelersTrend.
63 published articles · Member since March 2026
The company that commercialized moissanite in 1995 had its Chapter 11 asset sale approved for $2.7 million in cash, with closing required by…
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The July sight opens Monday in Gaborone with a price sheet, not a sales figure, as the headline. De Beers signaled it will close a book-to-m…
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LVMH's jewelry division grew 9% organically in the first half on Tiffany and Bvlgari strength even as group revenue rose just 2%. New US tar…
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The Rapaport Trade Diamond Index posted flat-to-positive figures across all four benchmark sizes in July, the first such month since March 2…
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LVMH reported first-half organic revenue up 2 percent with its jewelry division growing 9 percent on Tiffany and Bvlgari, even as new US tar…
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Rapaport reported July as the first positive month across all four major diamond categories since March 2025, with the 1-carat RAPI stable a…
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The two houses that set the pace reported opposite quarters, with Richemont up 20 percent and LVMH's watches and jewelry off 5 percent. Sign…
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For the first time since March 2025, every major RAPI category posted flat or positive figures in July, ending 13 straight months of decline…
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LVMH held its first half with 2% organic growth and flat EUR 5.7 billion net income as its jewelry division led at 9%. Richemont ran 20% to …
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De Beers cut certain smaller rough goods by as much as 50% at its July sight as its first-half realized price fell 32% to $105 a carat and Q…
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A higher U.K. Tax on loose polished diamonds and precious-metal jewelry takes effect in August, Signet keeps restructuring while paying a $0…
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The fair price on a 1-carat lab-grown diamond has fallen to $770, down 26.3% over the year, while De Beers realized just $105 per carat in Q…
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Richemont's fiscal Q1 sales rose 20 percent to EUR 6.33 billion, led by a 24 percent jump at its jewelry houses, while LVMH's first-half wat…
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De Beers moved to close the gap between its book and the street at the July sight, with cuts on some smaller goods reportedly reaching 50 pe…
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Anglo American named the Gareth Penny-led Global Diamond Consortium as its preferred bidder for an 85% stake in De Beers, with Angola and Na…
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The wholesale diamond market is re-pricing just as US retailers commit to fall inventory. De Beers dragged its official list back to seconda…
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Richemont posted 20 percent constant-currency growth and a 24 percent jewelry gain for the June quarter, beating consensus, while LVMH repor…
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De Beers lowered official rough prices at the July sight and trimmed its buyer roster to roughly 45, finally bringing the book toward second…
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De Beers will pause production at its Venetia mine in South Africa for two years, putting 1,134 permanent jobs at risk as the producer redir…
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The Q2 2026 lab-grown wholesale index fell 13% year over year, but the average hides a split: one-carat rounds rose 1% while two-carat stone…
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Gemfields chief executive Sean Gilbertson steps down on July 15 after eight years, with CFO David Lovett taking the interim helm as shares f…
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US independent jewelers posted an 18% sales gain in June, but units were flat as average tickets climbed. Natural diamond jewelry rose 10% o…
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The July sight is the first under supply agreements that shrink the sightholder roster from about 70 to between 45 and 50. It lands as Anglo…
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Rapaport's early-July list showed 0.30 to 0.49 carat rounds recovering off inventory lows just as De Beers moved to align its rough prices w…
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US independent jewelers grew 2025 revenue 4.7% while selling 5.6% fewer units, the clearest sign yet of a price-up, units-down market. As th…
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The July Rapaport list showed prices for pointer diamonds, the 0.30 to under 1.00 carat sizes, rising for the first time in more than four y…
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A new white-label platform lets watch, jewelry and gold dealers run inventory, a branded storefront, invoicing and repairs under their own n…
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Watches of Switzerland reported record full-year revenue of $2.4 billion, up 13%, with US sales up 24% to $1.4 billion and now the majority …
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De Beers' latest US consumer research, released June 29, found average natural-diamond spending up 25% to $4,063 and the average stone up to…
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Richemont closed its fiscal year with 22.4 billion euros in sales and a 30.5% jewellery margin, then sold loss-making Baume and Mercier to I…
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De Beers data confirms India is now the world's second-largest diamond jewellery market at 12% of global demand, surpassing China and Japan …
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Pandora is piloting platinum-plated jewelry to escape soaring silver costs and rotating its North American leadership under a new CEO, while…
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De Beers' consolidated realized rough price slipped to $155 per carat, down 5 percent year on year, after price cuts of 10 to 15 percent. La…
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Lugano Diamonds and Jewelry filed Chapter 11 in the Delaware bankruptcy court this week with Enhanced Retail Funding as the stalking horse b…
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India's gem and jewellery exports declined 2.49 percent year on year in May 2026, weighed down by gold prices, while polished lab-grown diam…
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Anglo CEO Al Cook said the De Beers sale process has reached its most advanced stage in two years, with a Gareth Penny-led consortium backed…
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India's combined April-May 2026 gem and jewellery exports came in at $4.27 billion against $4.55 billion the prior year, a 6.03% contraction…
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Anglo American CEO confirms the De Beers consortium sale is advancing with multiple bids in play, led by a Gareth Penny-Qatar group. Signet …
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Rapaport's May 2026 monthly index shows the cleanest divergence between small-stone and large-stone polished pricing in over a year. The 0.3…
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Signet Q1 FY27 EPS of $1.56 beat consensus by $0.19, raised fiscal 2027 guidance, with merchandise AUR up 5 percent. JCK Las Vegas hit 17,50…
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JCK Las Vegas drew 17,500 attendees with natural diamonds outperforming lab-grown on the floor, while Rapaport April release showed 0.30 and…
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Signet pre-announced its largest brand reorganization in years ahead of June 2 earnings, folding James Allen into Blue Nile and shutting dow…
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The Rapaport one-carat RAPI is down roughly 30 percent from early 2024 levels, with the 0.30 to 0.50 carat commercial bracket carrying the w…
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Signet announced 100 store closures in fiscal 2027 and consolidated to three core brands, folding James Allen into Blue Nile and Rocksbox in…
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Bain now projects lab-grown diamond price declines at 5 to 8 percent annually after the cumulative 74 percent drop from 2020 to 2025. De Bee…
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Anglo American confirmed it remains committed to divesting De Beers and added a third writedown of 2.3 billion dollars. CEO Duncan Wanblad s…
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Rapaport April 2026 data sent a split signal. The 1-carat RAPI fell 1.4 percent on the month while smaller stones rebounded sharply. The 0.3…
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De Beers has trimmed its sightholder roster from approximately 69 buyers to 45 for the July 1, 2026 contract cycle, imposing a $15 million m…
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De Beers moved 7.7 million carats across two Sights in Q1 2026, up 64% year-over-year, but average realized price fell to $101 per carat fro…
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Anglo American's De Beers sale produced three known bids: Gareth Penny backed by Antwerp sightholders, Diacore's Nir Livnat, and mining inve…
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Rapaport's pivot to support only natural diamonds is the year's first major trade-press positioning shift. Small rounds (0.30 to 0.89ct) sta…
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The diamond business is alive, but it no longer moves as one market. The split between goods that still sell and goods that just sit is gett…
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India's latest export numbers are not just an India story. They are a global trade signal about tariff exposure, concentration risk, and whe…
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Tariffs compressing margins, a vanishing watchmaker pipeline, and Gen Z gravitating to Cartier — three structural forces reshaping the tra…
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Signet shuts 100 stores, De Beers slashes output, natural diamond prices fall 11.5%, and lab-grown captures 52% of center stones. The mid-ma…
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The largest luxury retailer in the world is under court supervision. For jewelry and watch vendors, the restructuring changes the math on ev…
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At $4,675 per ounce, 10K gold is not a compromise. Designers are repositioning it as a durability and accessibility play.
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Edge Retail Academy data reveals independent jewelers grew 4.7% in 2025 revenue — but sold 5.6% fewer units. Average tickets rose 10.9%, a…
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Lab-grown bridal sales were up 23.7% in January while natural diamond units fell 8.5%. De Beers just cut its sightholder list by 30%. And Bl…
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Lab-grown hit 52% of center stones. Signet says both can grow. De Beers took a $2.3B writedown. The trade is splitting into two lanes.
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This week's trade-relevant market movements across luxury watches, jewelry and diamonds, gold and bullion, and industry news.
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The jewelry industry isn't dead. The old sales script is. And the stores that won't adapt are handing their customers to the ones that will.
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AI may change the jewelry and watch industry, but it cannot replace skilled labor. Watchmakers, jewelers, setters, casters, melters, assayer…
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