Gold Continues to Soar

From the Financial Times (UK Edition), March 1, 2008:

The soaring cost of gold and platinum is causing pandemonium in the UK's jewellery market as retailers and private owners rush to reappraise the value of necklaces, brooches and rings.

Jewellers in London's Hatton Garden - the capital's jewellery quarter - are raising the price of wedding bands on a weekly basis, with less-expensive palladium rings now coming into vogue. And insurers are urging clients to get
another assessment of the value of their jewellery collections in response to the rapid rise in the price of precious metals, sparked by investors seeking refuge from volatile stocks.

"The price of platinum has been going up so fast, we're quoting people prices for platinum wedding bands on a Saturday and saying we can't guarantee the same price on Monday.

Scores of jewellers and private investors have also had expensive articles reappraised to be sure they are not caught out in case of loss or theft.

The price of gold hit a record $975.90 yesterday, ending European trading at $970.40 a troy ounce, while platinum hit a record $2,158 a troy ounce last week.

It is an excellent idea to have your better and heavier gold jewelry reappraised for insurance purposes. You'll find that over the last three years prices have at least doubled. In the case of some Swiss Made gold watches, the price for a replacement watch has tripled.

Have your diamond jewelry reappraised, too. Diamonds continue to increase in price, although not as rapidly as gold. Still, the effect on replacement costs can be staggering.

Bargain hunters should shop local jewelry and on the Internet for dealers who have been slow to adjust prices. There are many items on-line at prices well below the new dealer cost.

There has literally never been a better time to go treasure hunting.

Colors Explode!

That's right! Colors are HOT right now when it comes to watches. Everything from New brightly colored dials to the ultimately popular Color Matched Tritium markers. Everywhere you look...colors are here! Take the new Colormark Series from Luminox for example. This new series is as hot as they come. They are selling so fast that Luminox can't even keep up. Why? Well, the success is two fold. First, they feature bold and defining color dials. Instead of a traditional color dial these watches utilize a rich black dial with Colored Numbers, Hands and Markers, making for a very bold series of watches. This in itself would probably be enough to generate a lot of interest, after all, the design is very striking, but fortunately, Luminox went a step further. In a brilliant stroke of genius, they decided to Color Match the Dial Color with the Tritium color. The result is brilliant color, day and night! Notice, Orange Dial during the day and Orange Tritium at night.

Even the Green Dial (Note: Green Tritium is the traditional color for most Tritium watches) gets a kick, infused with Blue accents. Take a look at the difference between the Original (Green) design of the Series 1 compared to the New Green Dial Colormark. Quite a difference!

Original_________________________Colormark

Check it out for yourself here - http://www.gemday.com/item0724.htm We show all of the Dial/Tritium Color combinations as well as in depth details of the watches and their features.

The Skyrocketing Price of Gold

Although this is a watch forum, I would really be remiss if I didn't point out the stunning increase in the price of gold over the last few days.

We are already seeing some gold watch manufacturer's raising the prices of their watches and others attaching a surcharge for the amount that gold rises above the $600.00 per ounce benchmark.

Here is a live active chart for the price of gold from the folks at Kitco:




As I write this entry gold is hovering around $733.00 per ounce, the highest prices in over 30 years.

Ultimately this will affect the prices of gold electroplated watches, too. And the gold jewelry on our Gem of the Day website is being heavily affected.

The good news is that all the gold you already own is increasing in value. Certainly it has always made sense to have gold, precious metals and other commodities as part of your savings portfolio. But your gold jewelry is increasing in value, too!!

If you're planning to purchase a gold watch or gold jewelry please callus TOLL FREE at 1 (888) 243-6329 and we can discuss the best values and the opportunities presented by certain manufacturers who are holding the line on increases at this time.

The Theory of EVO-lution

Luminox Watch Company has been gradually introducing new versions of all their most popular models over this past year. All the new models carry the "EVO" signature, which Luminox tells us is short for "evolved." And that indeed is what Luminox is trying to accomplish.

Virtually all the classic Luminox models have been around for the last ten years. These were groundbreaking watches when Luminox introduced them but they have now been copied by other so-called military brands. A few watch companies, most notably Smith & Wesson (also offered by Gem of the Day and Time4Tritium), have even copied the TRITIUM ILLUMINATION of the Luminox.

So Luminox decided to reinvent their best selling watches for three very important reasons:

1. Luminox wanted truly unique and original styling. They wanted styles that would be "exclusive" and they wanted to own the copyright on the styles. They felt that having original styles would make the brand more desirable. And, because others had copied the old Luminox styles, they felt the old look had become commonplace.


2. The new styling coming out of Switzerland is much larger and bolder. Even though Luminox watches were larger than average men's watches, the direction of styling for men's timepieces was even bigger and bolder. Since Luminox competes with brands like Tag Heuer and Brietling, they wanted to have offerings as fresh and exciting as their Swiss competitors.
   
3. Technology has changed and evolved and Luminox wanted to incorporate the latest Swiss technology. The new watches have improved features such as color Tritium illumination and dual window "BIG DATE" functions. Luminox wanted to make sure they were at the leading edge of Swiss technology.

As you can see from the picture at the top of this article, Luminox has really succeeded. The new "EVO" Series II Navy Seals Dive Watches are 5 millimeters wider with a larger, easier to read dial. Notice the numerals are larger and bolder on both the dial and the rotating bezel.

And the new Nylon Velcro strap is larger and wider. It's more comfortable and looks better. People who see it in our showroom can't understand why Luminox didn't do this sooner!

The watch has the traditional Navy Seals look, but it has "evolved" to a more modern, rugged version.

Many more pictures, including all seven available dial colors, and complete specifications are available on our two websites offering the EVO Navy Seals Series II Watches:

Luminox Navy Seals Watches, EVO Series II from Gem of the Day

Luminox Navy Seals EVO Series II Collection (time4tritium)

The First Citizen Skyhawk AT's Have Arrived!!

We were surprised and excited this morning when our first shipment of the all new Citizen Skyhawk AT Flight Computer Watches arrived from Citizen. We only received the signature rubber dive strap model, JY0000-02E. We assume that the steel bracelet model will follow in a few days.

UPDATE: 8/10/2007 - The bracelet model JY0000-53E has also arrived and is available for IMMDEIATE DELIVERY!

The really good news was that our first shipment was larger than we anticipated so we do have a small additional quantity available if you order quickly. This watch is so important we are offering it through all three of our Internet Websites. Feel free to order it through any of these links:

Top Flight Watches: Citizen Skyhawk AT, model JY0000-02E

Gem of the Day: Citizen Skyhawk AT, model JY0000-02E

Time 4 Tritium: Citizen Skyhawk AT, model JY0000-02E

Here are our first impressions. We will have new, additional photography and more information on our websites in the next few days.

First, the orange LED backlight for the digital displays is excellent! It's much brighter than we had anticipated with good coverage and no glare. This feature alone will win over virtually all older Citizen Skyhawk owners.

The normal black on gray LCD display has good contrast and is easy to read in both indoor light and bright sunlight.

We LOVE the analog battery charge display. This display is always on unless you are checking the Radio Control Atomic Clock setting. All our watches arrived fully charged and ready to operate.

Another great and unexpected feature is the home city LCD window that shows you the setting for the ANALOG display. This is a great feature when you are setting the watch to different time zones. The watch also has a permanent home city 24 hour subdial so you know the exact daypart for your analog setting.

This "home city" 24 hour subdial is completely separate from the 24 hour UTC or ZULU time subdial (below the 12'clock position on the watch face). All of this is so intuitive that this quickly becomes the perfect world time watch! The fact that Citizen also recognized the need to set up the watch for 29 time zones (instead of the original 22 time zones on older models) makes this a full fledged world time computer.

The watch will attempt to "sync" with the atomic clock three times each night (at 2 am, 3 am and 4 am). We were able to initiate the "on demand" sync at about 6 pm here in Mississippi, but only by going outdoors. We expect night reception will be vastly better, but we will keep you informed.

Since the watch is extremely accurate, there should be no problems if your watch fails to "sync" each night.

We'll file some additional reports here in the next few days, but our first impressions are extremely favorable. The only real problem we anticipate will be the previously announced lack of availability. If you are going to want one of these watches this fall or Christmas, please order very, very early. They will be sold out.

Innovative Alarms

Almost since the beginning of timepieces, people have been buying watches with an alarm. Seems like a handy feature. I mean you always have your watch with you, why not use the alarm? Maybe to remind yourself to pick up the kids. Maybe to take some medication. Frankly, we use alarms for dozens of reasons every day.

The problem? Well, for the most part, they are often too hard to hear. Unless you are in a quiet room by yourself, you may completely miss out on whatever it was you were trying to remember.

The solution? The New Bulova Marine Star Vibro-Alarm Watch. Finally! A watch alarm that you can actually use. Bulova has really done it this time! And frankly, I'm not sure why it's not a requirement for all watches. That's right, I said Vibro-Alarm, as in Vibration. This innovative time piece gives you a choice of either a traditional Audible alarm or a Vibrating one! Inside the watch is a small weighted vibrating mechanism which notably "Pulses" when the alarm is activated. In a crowd? In class? At the Post Office? No problem. No matter where you are, or how loud the environment, this watch has you covered.

Plus you get the advantages of a Silent Alarm. You may not want to announce to everyone else that it is time to take your meds. Once again, No Problem. Set the watch to vibrate and no one knows but you. Now, you may be asking "Is it hard to use?" Most certainly not. This is actually one of the easiest to use alarm watches ever designed. No confusing set-ups or pulling buttons. Just easy, intuitive operation. Anyone can operate this watch and we highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for a alarm watch. Especially for those of us who are a little hard of hearing and or work in a loud environment.

Couple all of this with a great looking case and bracelet design and you get a truly magnificent timepiece. Do yourself a favor and check this watch out today. You will not be disappointed. One "touch" and you too, will be sold.

Tour de France

I simply must add a note about the extraordinary WEB SITE for the Tour de France.

The promise and the power of the Internet are close to being realized with this dazzling news, sport and analysis web site. For any fan of the Tour or of bicycle racing, this is a wondrous site full of features and information.

The Tour itself began in London (yes, London!!) back on July 7th and runs through the end of July. It is tragic that drug use and controversy have tainted the race. This journey through rural France is worth watching for the scenery alone. The countryside is simply beautiful.

In keeping with the theme of the Tour de France, Gem of the DayTM has introduced six new Festina Tour de France Alarm Chronograph Watches for our sport and athletic customers.

We continue to strongly recommend the Festina Tour de France models to anyone who is active in any sport. It is simply the best, toughest and easiest to use of all alarm chronographs. No one has ever designed an easier to use alarm function. It's simple to set the alarm time and you can verify the fact the alarm is set at a glance.

Click on the following link and you can see the new color dial and color padded and stitched strap Festina Tour de France watches.

TECHNORATI TAGS: FESTINA TOUR DE FRANCE WATCHES TIMEPIECES CHRONOGRAPH ALARM WATCH BICYCLE RACING BICYCLE RACING WATCH ATHLETES WATCH