Monday, April 11, 2016

DY Ay: Construction Quality Slipping?

Hey, remember that time my jewelry literally fell off me? I do. It was last Saturday night.

I was out with friends, "boozin', havin' a few laughs" as it's said in Chicago: The Musical. Anyway, I'm dressed sharp, my jewelry game sick. David Yurman on chest, wrist, and fingers. You know how I do. Someone says something that catches me as funny; I toss my head back in laughter... aaaaaand my necklace falls off me. 

Well, sort of. I was wearing a black diamond tag, set in black titanium. Turns out the tag is actually a pendant in two-pieces--an outer shell and an inner plate, the latter the piece on which the diamonds are arrayed. And that is the piece that fell off. Without having been so much as whacked, smacked, or jostled, the plate--clearly not well affixed--just took a soundless tumble out and down to the barroom floor. 

"Brian, your necklace, like, just fell off." 

Here's where I say thank God for friends. (Especially friends who notice stuff.) Here's where I also say what the hell?


Flash forward to today. I exit a meeting and take to my car, start driving. I look down to admire the Willow ring on my middle finger, a ring purchased a mere two weeks ago. A diamond's out on the third row of cable.

As you know, David Yurman is a brand I love (hence this blog). As you may not know, David Yurman is also a brand I love to hate. What do I mean by this? I mean, simply, that I have high expectations for the object of my adoration. I commend David Yurman for striving for excellence; at the same time, I do call the company out when it falls short of that excellence.

Lately, "there have been too many 'accidents.'" (That's a The Phantom of the Opera reference. Yeah, I don't know what's up with me today, either.) A necklace owned a year and diligently cared for should not fall apart. A ring owned fourteen days should not have a loose (and subsequently lost) gemstone.

These aren't designs by Kay®; these are David Yurman. But what does that mean today, in 2016? What associations remain wrapped up in that name? What new associations are developing?

David Yurman's spring campaign images were overly Photoshopped. There is talk its new Tempo women's collection is a failure. Quality control is, for me, becoming an area of concern.

It's been a turbulent spring, DY. Let's hope the summer heralds a return to, if not form, then at at least finer execution.

4 comments:

  1. Wow. That is a crazy story. I am picking up the forged carbon honeycomb tag on Thursday. A little worried. My piece is so new, that I can only find drawings of it on the interweb. I found this blog while searching. The tag doesn't have diamonds or gems, which I was suspicious about falling out. So glad that I didn't pick the onyx (grooved) with a vertical band of white diamonds. I really liked that one. Thanks for your story, it has really helped me feel at ease about my choice. Sorry for your loss, and you do have good friends. The ring diamond is back to being free, for another million years. That reminds me, I heard that synthetic diamonds have been great improvements on their 4c‘s. They use to be clody and a brownish tint. Do you know if David Yurman uses real or man made diamonds? I figure that the person working at the boutique gets paid to say that they are real.

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  2. Update: Got the carbon forged honeycomb tag. Wrote a huge blog. Filled up this page and then I accidentally erased it. Short story: Awesome tag. 1.5 mm chain works with the bale. Three jeweler's have never seen anything like it. Wore it all day. Doesn't get cold, like typical silver on a cold day. Well worth $920.00. Really cool how the carbon is shielded by the silver. I like the design and how it represents the 25,000 magnification of a carbon strand that shows the honeycomb pattern and then darkness. A must buy.

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  3. I had the wilow open single row bracelet with diamonds. The opening mechanism never was all that tight and the few times I wore it caused it to be too loose to wear without risk of losing. It was sent to Yurman and they offered to fix it for $200! The bracelet was $1600 and there was no way I was going to pay to have this fixed. After much back and forth, Yurman sent me a picture of a version of the bracelet with a locking mechanism (surely they'd adjusted due to customer complaints?), and agreed to do the repair for nothing. We own a lot of Yurman, but I agree the quality seems to be slipping and I may have to switch brands. Kudos to them for agreeing to fix, albeit after a six month battle!

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