Benchmark Tungsten Rings now available

Benchmark Rings is a very well established wedding band manufacturer here in the U.S. They make ring in gold, platinum, palladium and tungsten carbide. Due to demand from our customers, Benchmark Tungsten Rings are now available on our website www.Titanium-Jewelry.com.

There are only four authorized sellers of the patented TC.850 tungsten carbide material for tungsten rings, and Benchmark is one of them. The other authorized tungsten brands are Trent West's TRUETUNGSTEN brand, Frederick Goldman's brands TRITON, ARTCARVED, DIANA, and Jewelry Innovations brands ALLEN RICHARD and J.R. YATES.

So now online shoppers have lot's of great choices for quality tungsten rings for men. Enjoy!

-- J. R. YATES

Titanium-Jewelry.com Records 16% Increase in December '08 Sales

Unless you've been in a sleeping for the last year you are surely aware that retail sales this past holiday season have taken a big hit. The media has reported that almost across the board, from large retailer to small retailer, sales have dropped dramatically.

The jewelry industry has not been spared the downturn. According to digital tracking firm comScore, online sales of jewelry and watches for nearly all of December fell by 24 percent. This is a HUGE hit! Even Zales jewelry stores reported that it's holiday sales (including all November and December 2008) fell 19.6%.

Other discouraging news came to light today regarding the jewelry store chain The Shane Co. This jewelry retailer with 23 stores in 14 U.S. states just filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. The Shane Co. listed about 6,000 creditors.

According to a report from Jewelersalert.com, Shane Co. owes more than $100 million, and as much as 26.2 million to it's 20 largest unsecured creditors. The largest unsecured creditor is New York based Dison Gems Inc. with $4.7 million owed. This I find VERY interesting, since their commercials and website (www.shaneco.com)states that it's customers "pay no middleman markup" since Shane Co. are direct diamond importers and purchases diamonds and other gems directly from cutters in Belgium, Israel, Bangkok and India. They also say "because we pay cash, the gem cutters give us first choice..." If they pay cash overseas for their diamonds and gems, then why do they owe so many diamond and gem vendors here in the U.S. so much money? Ok, enough of my rambling on this subject.

With all the negative news being reported from the jewelry front, there is some encouraging news to relate. One creative online jeweler actually bucks the trend and reports increasing sales for December. The online sales of www.Titanium-Jewelry.com increased 16% in December. Why? A variety of factors caused this to happen.

One reason for the increase in December sales was the implementation of creative marketing. Customers who purchased J.R. YATES tungsten rings were offered a free matching J.R. YATES tungsten bracelet if they completed their purchase in December. So shoppers got the cool mens ring they wanted, plus ended up with another jewelry item. They could gift it or choose to keep it for themselves. This proved very successful. Increased orders from Canada added to the sales total also. By offering Canadian customers free shipping (a $29 value) this enticed our Canadian friends to pull the trigger.

In these tough economic times it is getting increasingly more difficult to maintain sales momentum. So to be successful retailers, including online jewelers, must continue to offer customers a better offer than their competitors.

-- J.R. YATES

Hottest Sellers for the Holiday Season

Well the holiday shopping season is almost finished. Just a few more days left. Here are the trends for men's jewelry that we've seen this year. Black diamonds set in mens rings, black diamonds set in pendants, cufflinks and bracelets have been popular gifts this year. Check out the black diamond jewelry collection at Titanium-Jewelry.com.

Also, mens rings and mens wedding bands in tungsten carbide have been moving out at a rapid pace these last few weeks. It seems the ladies want to buy their guy a wedding band for the holidays. Many of them are getting married soon, but many of the ladies tell me they want to upgrade their man's wedding band into a more modern look.

Even with the down economy, and all the doom and gloom in the news, we've seen about 15% more shoppers since Black Friday. So it appears that there will be even more happy men who open up their gifts this year. And most will soon be wearing black diamonds, or sporting a shiny new wedding band!

- J.R. YATES

COGE Palladium Rings

One of the hottest trends in engagement rings this year is brides now wearing palladium rings. There are lots of benefits to wearing a palladium ring. First it is a precious metal that is WHITE. Unlike a white gold ring, a palladium ring will never need rhodium plating. It is very similar in color to platinum (it's part of the platinum metals group family) but a fraction of platinum's cost. It's a rare metal - 30 times more rare than gold! But a palladium ring will cost you about the same, or just a smidge more, than a white gold ring.

There are three great designers that I recommend for a mans palladium ring or wedding band: ArtCarved, Diana Classic and COGE.

COGE is my favorite, for many reasons. But basically, COGE makes the best product. The COGE palladium ring is harder, more dense and has a better finish than all others. Each ring is hand crafted in Germany to exacting standards. Sure they take longer to make, but you get a better ring. And if it's your wedding band, don't you want the best?

Here's a great selection of COGE mens rings you should check out.

If you are searching for a new mens ring or mans wedding band, you owe it to yourself to learn what makes a COGE wedding band the best.



--J.R. YATES

Palladium for your wedding ring?

Thought I would post about a recent trend regarding wedding rings and wedding bands.
The great majority of engaged U.S. couples are interested in a white metal for their wedding rings. For the last decade most have went with white gold, or platinum if they could afford it. A platinum wedding band, until just the past couple years, was about double the price of a white gold wedding band. But now with the price of platinum going through the roof at over $2050 per ounce, a platinum wedding band will run you about 4.5 - 5 times the price of the same ring in white gold. This pushes the price of a mens platinum wedding band in the range $2,000 and higher.

Several of the better designers and manufacturers of mens wedding bands saw this coming a couple years ago. Scott Kay, Tacori, Novell, and others have devoted considerable resources to developing manufacturing techniques to use palladium as the "new white metal".

What is palladium? Palladium is a rare, naturally silvery white metal, with the chemical abbreviation of Pd. It is considered a precious metal, as of July 3, 2008 an ounce of .9999 palladium listed for $462 on www.goldline.com.

The metal was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it palladium after the asteroid Pallas. The asteroid, in turn, was named for a Greek Goddess of Wisdom.

Palladium is often found where platinum is found and is considered part of the platinum metals group.

Benifits of platinum for the jewelry maker are that it resists tarnish, and is extremely ductile, meaning that it takes readily to working. When palladium is cold worked, the tensile strength greatly increases. Palladium also resists chemical corrosion.

For many years palladium has often been used as an alloy in the production of white gold jewelry and findings. Typically, white gold is alloyed with nickel, but if it is alloyed with palladium the resulting color is much "whiter".

Manufacturing palladium jewelry presents a different set of challenges for the manufacturer. For this reason the vast majority of jewelry manufacturers do not cast palladium. What I have always found interesting,however, is that palladium rings manufacturered in Europe from the 1930's and 1940's are occasionally seen. So there were some very fine jewelers over half a century ago who were also excellent metallurgists.

As time goes on, I think we'll see more and more jewelers and manufacturers offering palladium, even featuring palladium as the white precious metal of choice for their palladium rings.

JR Yates

New collection from Edward Mirell

As you probably have figured out already, I am a huge fan of Edward Mirell's titanium jewelry collections. Ed Rosenberg, the designer, has done it again with the release of three new collections. How does he keep coming up with these cool new designs I do not know.

Each collection features a black titanium ring, (one ring is set with a diamond and one ring is set with a black star sapphire), matching bracelet, necklace and cufflinks. The styles are unlike anything else out there on the jewelry market. Incredibly unique designs. Kudos to you Mr. Rosenberg!

These three titanium collections, the Tri-Dome, Mediterranean and Tuxedo, are now available for perusal on Titanium-Jewelry.com.

--J.R. Yates

J.R. YATES ICONIC Ring Boxes

In light of the unique styling of the J.R. YATES ICONIC collection of mens rings. I felt that the packaging should be unique as well. The design on the ring boxes is very unique. Which is perfect if you are giving the ring as a gift. When your man opens the gift bag or unwraps the box and sees the cool J.R. YATES ring box, that moment will be a memorable one. Every care has been taken to ensure that the entire experience will be treasured. From the packaging to the finely crafted, uniquely styled masculine ring.