If you’re actually choosing your jewellery based solely on current trends and fashion then the answer is of course (unless you are very rich) to have many cheaper pieces because fashion changes so quickly and you’ll be replacing your jewellery often.  You’ll always be able to keep up to date with trends as the high street will normally stock fashionable items, and magazines and the internet will help you stay right on the cutting edge of what’s in.

However if you choose your jewellery as more of a personal statement than a fashion statement you probably don’t have quite such a “throwaway” attitude to your jewellery items.  In fact, going to the
other extreme you might only own a handful of pieces but those pieces will be classic fine jewellery items that you wear very often, almost as a personal “signature” look.  I think this is something I might consider when I’m about 50 or older as I think fine jewellery can look very elegant particularly on older women.

Most people, in my experience are somewhere in the middle and this writer is definitely one of those.  For example, you will probably remember there was recently a trend for stars: star patterned fabric on clothes and particularly star themed jewellery were being worn by many celebrities.  All the top designers were coming out with star jewellery to keep up with the current fashion and the high streets were following this theme with cheaper plastic or glass fashion jewellery items.  Now, I have always loved stars, and already had a lot of star pendants and jewellery before this trend, but when they became really popular for a short time I was able to buy many more items of jewellery to add into my star theme and for a little while my jewellery was the height of fashion.  Because I genuinely love stars, however, I’ll be wearing star jewellery for years, just because it’s a statement about me and I don’t care whether it’s fashionable or not. However I’ll mix them with more trendy items and also with some of my more expensive fine jewellery depending on the occasion because I like to create unique looks, while also being influenced by what’s fashionable at the time.

I think most people sit somewhere around this view but it’s important to choose jewellery you like the look of and not just items because they are fashionable, and above all there are no hard and fast rules that say you can choose EITHER fine jewellery or cheap fashion jewellery – in fact you can have a lot of fun mixing and matching the two!

Some people receive a carriage clock when they retire, but in my grandfather’s case it was a beautiful Tudor Rolex watch encased in a hand finished Dennison case. The back was inscribed with a personal message for his loyal service of 40 years.  The face was oyster coloured adorned with stunning roman numerals and gold hands that, rather than tick, swept effortlessly around its face.

(Photo by: BudaKedrova)

It was wound manually by a little gold Rolex crown winder, that just felt perfect between your fingers and although you would have to listen very closely, the ticking was seemed to be more precise and half the beat of any other that I have ever heard. The sweeping ticks just seemed to blend into one.

The dark brown leather crocodile strap complimented the gold Rolex buckle and its face wafer thin against the wrist, nestling warmly into the fold of your hand.

Only brought out at special occasions, his Rolex lay unattended in a box for the majority of the year. It was never serviced as fine watches should, but simply brought out, wound and worn, for the good part of another thirty years until grandfather passed away. It never failed, never let him down and his time keeping was always precise and punctual, he was not a man that could ever be late.

I dint know him particularly well, which is something that I regret deeply, however he left my own father nothing other than his watch as they shared the same first name. In fairness to both of them he did have another elder son and three daughters to consider in his will, but his watch came to my dad.

He wore it once, but dad’s fat wrists compared to my granddads skinny ones, he could hardly get the pin in the last hole of the leather strap.

My dad, complete opposites from my granddad believed that watches or indeed any jewellery for that matter should be worn and enjoyed and not hidden away from the sunlight.

So after a week or so, scared to lose it, scared to break it, he gave it to me, still in its original red leather case. Dad is more at home with hammers than he is with delicate items.

It wasn’t a special occasion, a birthday or a Christmas; it was just a spontaneous passing between father and son.

I have owned many watches over the years, sun and moon faced dials, digital watches, diver’s watches and watches that glow in the dark.  But, realistically this will be the only watch that I will ever really own, care for, wear with pride, be able to talk about passionately and someday bestow it on someone that will hopefully treat it with the same care and respect.

It has been my daily watch during some periods of my life and other times it sits waiting in its case due to various fads and hobbies requiring something more robust.

I do concede that  I have had it cleaned, serviced and have gone through a few straps over the years, and sometimes its timekeeping can lose a minute or so over the course of a day, but these are all minor details that I can live with.

Fine jewellery will last a lifetime and often the lifetime of others.

I could probably go into Primark and find a replica of the exact bracelet for thousands of pounds cheaper; no, that’s not me being a ‘cheapskate,’ it’s me being rational. The truth is the only designer brands I own say “Anna,” written in red marker pen on the label. And I’d like to keep it that way. (Of course, if I win the lottery tonight, my view might change completely.)