Rapaport Magazine
In-Depth

Notable Numbers

The last year featured record-breaking diamonds and eye-catching sales. Here are a few highlights from 2021 — along with some of the best quotes.

By Rapaport News
$6,000 US consumers’ average outlay on an engagement ring in 2021, up 9% compared with the previous year, according to The Knot.


$6.5 million
The final price for a Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5711 watch with a Tiffany Blue dial at a Phillips auction in December. The amount was a record for any online sale of a timepiece, according to Phillips.


25%
The increase in Alrosa’s rough-price index for the first nine months of the year. supply shortages and Strong demand contributed to a hot rough market throughout 2021.


5
The number of times Signet Jewelers — owner of Kay and Jared — lifted its full-year sales forecast during 2021. Continued low spending on travel and entertainment boosted appetite for the company’s products.


2,000+
The number of new stores Hong Kong-based jeweler Chow Tai Fook plans to open by 2025 as it responds to rising consumer spending in mainland China.


In July, De Beers made its second big-money rough purchase from Petra Diamonds in less than a year: the 39.34-carat, blue, type IIb stone, which it snapped up for $40.2 million in a partnership with manufacturer Diacore.


$2.35 billion
Switzerland’s watch exports in November — the highest for any month since October 2014. Orders from the US and China picked up as economies reopened.


$8.44 billion
The total sum of Indian bank lending to the country’s gem and jewelry industry as of March 2021, up from $7.35 billion in July 2020, according to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Good decisions by the sector’s leaders during the coronavirus outbreak helped improve India’s credit profile, the council said.


The pear-shaped, 101.38-carat, D-flawless stone sold for $12.3 million in cryptocurrency at a July Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong.


$1,500
The per-carat retail price of lab-grown diamonds in Lightbox’s Finest collection of higher-quality stones. The De Beers brand revealed the new line in August.


33%
Year-on-year sales growth at online-focused jeweler Brilliant Earth in the three months that ended September 30, for a total of $95.2 million. The US-based company launched its inaugural stock-exchange listing on September 27.


“The economics have caught up to the ethics.”

— David Prager, De Beers’ chief brand officer, explaining the premium that sustainable diamonds now command


“It’s interesting to think about where the industry might be in 20 years. It’s likely that the crisis will mark a turning point for luxury as we knew it.”— Federica Levato, Bain & Company partner and coauthor of its Fall 2021 Luxury Report, on the future of business after Covid-19

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2022. To subscribe click here.
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