Luxury Jewelry: Van Cleef & Arpels

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Cartier is worn by celebrities. But Van Cleef & Arpels is worn by royalty. Let me introduce you to the world's oldest invite-only jewelry brand.

The company was started by the joining of two families: The Van Cleefs - Diamond dealers The Arpels - Precious gemstone dealers Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels married in Paris, France in 1895. One year later, the two families started their joint venture.

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As diamond and gemstone dealers, both families were quickly successful with their new jewelry business. For the first several years, they were able to generate consistent sales while building a name for themselves amongst the jewelers of Paris. But everything changed in 1906.

The family patriarch, Salomon Arpels, died suddenly that year. Uncertain of what to do, Alfred and his brothers-in-law made the difficult decision to invest even more in their family business. They opened their first boutique at the legendary 22 Place Vendôme in Paris.

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Over decades, the family business grew slowly, painstakingly, into an international jewelry ICON. In 1925, they won the Grand Prize at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts. The piece was a roses bracelet set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds.

Throughout the 20th Century, Van Cleef & Arpels continued to perfect their handmade jewelry designs. Soon, they began taking commissions from prominent socialites and modern-day royalty from around the world.

In 1936, King Edward VIII ordered three custom pieces from Van Cleef & Arpels for Wallis Simpson’s 40th birthday. This included a Cravate necklace and a ruby and diamond bracelet.

In 1939, Queen Nazli of Egypt commissioned a set of diamond jewelry to celebrate the wedding of her daughter, Princess Fawzia of Egypt, to the Shah of Iran. Both her and her daughter received a massive Tiara and a diamond Bib Necklace, with nearly 220 carats of diamonds.

In 1950, Maharani of Baroda (of India) placed a special order for a necklace consisting of 220 carats of emeralds.

The jeweler was even commissioned to create a coronation crown for Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran in 1967. Van Cleef created her crown, necklace and earrings, as well as the jewelry worn by members of the royal family.

How do they create such beautiful, complicated designs into jewelry? Much of the design credit goes to the daughter of Alfred and Estelle, Renée. In 1925, Renée Puissant took over as Creative Director and, for the next 20 years, worked alongside famous designer René-Sim Lacaze.

In 1933, Van Cleef & Arpels was granted French Patent No. 764,966. It was for a proprietary gem setting style called Serti Mysterieux, or "Mystery Setting". While most jewelry used prongs to hold the gems in place, this technique makes it look like the gems are floating freely.

Each stone is fastened onto gold rails less than .2 millimeter thick. This technique was revolutionary. It can require 300+ hours of work per piece, and only a few of these are produced each year.

So, what makes the Van Cleef brand so special today? Van Cleef is not a jeweler. It's a 126-year-old luxury art house that happens to sell jewelry. One of their most famous recent pieces is an automatic watch that mirrors the movement of the planets. It costs $333K!!

Like Hermés, the starting price for a Van Cleef piece is several thousand dollars. But, the REAL Van Cleef—the ICONIC pieces—don't have a price tag. Van Cleef's true art — The watches, the broaches, the necklaces... They're all out of reach for 99.9% of the world.

They're the true definition of the phrase, "Money talks, but wealth whispers." Money is loud, but it doesn't have much to say. Wealth, on the other hand, is silent and subtle. Money is, "Do you know who I am?" Wealth is, "If you know, you know."