If you follow the National Jeweler 10X blog, you know the editorial team attends a lot of events—from press previews to launch parties, and everything in between.
Participating in industry happenings outside of the office isn’t only fun, but a necessary requirement of the job. We need to touch and try on jewelry to accurately evaluate it; meet designers, manufacturers and other professionals to foster relationships; and keep up an overall physical presence for our otherwise non-physical publication.
We’re the editors for your industry publication, and we want to seem approachable while keeping our finger on the jewelry world’s pulse.
That said, I’ll be candid—some of these events are great, others not so much. Since parties and get-togethers are great tools for retailers looking to bring customers into their stores, we’re introducing In the details, a new blog series that will be written by yours truly and cover the high points of different events I attend, in hopes that our readers can borrow some of these ideas and implement them for their own soirees.
We’re going to start with an event I attended last week with our associate editor, Brecken Branstrator, which we both enjoyed thoroughly, mostly because we were made to feel like VIPs.
Earlier this month, I wrote an article about the most complicated watch in the world, a timepiece created on commission by Vacheron Constantin that was nearly nine years in the making.
The most complicated watch in the world, Vacheron Constantin’s Ref. 57260
Later that week, a rep from the Swiss watch company invited me to the unveiling of the watch at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. Dressed in our Sunday best, Brecken and I were among the first to arrive at the event, and stayed a long while. Why? It was fantastic, from start to finish.
I outlined the high points of the event below with illustrations in the hope that retailers can finish this blog with some takeaways to use (to their own degree) at an in-store event.
High point #1: The décor set the mood of an important and exclusive party. Cipriani by itself is a stunning venue, but the Vacheron team took it a step further. Candles on the staircase outside guided guests up into the building and from there through an under-lit, tree-lined pathway that led into Cipriani’s ballroom. Though simple, the attention to detail for guests’
first impression of the event got us very excited for the rest of the night.
Is that an enchanting entryway or what?
High point #2: An orchestrated unveiling, literally We thought the row of men dressed in black bordering one side of the ballroom were security; we were wrong. Once the room filled with guests, the lights were dimmed and these men pulled out a range of instruments to give the most complicated watch in the world a most musical entrance (watch a short clip of it on our Instagram account here.) Rather than the usual microphone song and dance, this original introduction truly had the attention of the room.
High point #3: An actual VIP “Who is that over there, that woman everyone is taking photos with and paying attention to?” Brecken asked me.
It was none other than Christie Brinkley, who I can confirm looks stunning in person, especially considering she is 61 years old.
Brinkley, center, flanked by Vincent Brun, president of North America at Vacheron Constantin, and Dominique Bernaz, director of Atelier Cabinotiers, Vacheron’s custom watchmaking department
Now, it’s understandable that most retailers probably won’t have supermodels or movie stars gracing their events, but jewelry designers are celebrities in our world, and their attendance at in-store events is a confirmation to other participants that it’s the place to be.
