Diamonds are ...

Wibbs · 04-07-2014 11:00AM

Candie wrote: »

If diamonds are a girls best friend then a man-made one is at the very least damn good company.

:pac: *tips hat*

Pawn wrote: »

I don't buy diamonds or gold. I like silver.

Silver is/was a marketing exercise too. Back in the day gold was the thing. The problem being that it was always expensive so someone might only buy a couple of pieces in a lifetime so repeat business was low. Silver on the other hand isn't rare and is cheaper by comparison, so pushing silver as a fashion meant that more people could afford to buy more pieces in a lifetime, so repeat business went up.

Another marketing scam/stroke of pure genius[delete as applicable] was the reemergence of mechanical movement watches in the early 90's. Cheap and very accurate quartz watches nearly killed the Swiss watch industry, so rather than compete they pushed the idea that an archaic technology had more "soul" and they could charge more for this. A lot more. The margins on mechanical/automatic watches are of a magnitude more than for quartz and get larger year by year. Result. The joke is most mechanical watches are pumped out at high speed and volume with nary a human hand involved. If you had asked the man or woman in the street back in the 70's and 80's no way would they have believed that mechanical was better. In the 70's quartz watches ran about 2 to 4 times the price of mechanical. Naturally as they're simply a better timekeeper with impressive tech behind them.

Pumpkinseeds · 04-07-2014 12:37PM

Wibbs wrote: »

:pac: *tips hat*

Silver is/was a marketing exercise too. Back in the day gold was the thing. The problem being that it was always expensive so someone might only buy a couple of pieces in a lifetime so repeat business was low. Silver on the other hand isn't rare and is cheaper by comparison, so pushing silver as a fashion meant that more people could afford to buy more pieces in a lifetime, so repeat business went up.

Another marketing scam/stroke of pure genius[delete as applicable] was the reemergence of mechanical movement watches in the early 90's. Cheap and very accurate quartz watches nearly killed the Swiss watch industry, so rather than compete they pushed the idea that an archaic technology had more "soul" and they could charge more for this. A lot more. The margins on mechanical/automatic watches are of a magnitude more than for quartz and get larger year by year. Result. The joke is most mechanical watches are pumped out at high speed and volume with nary a human hand involved. If you had asked the man or woman in the street back in the 70's and 80's no way would they have believed that mechanical was better. In the 70's quartz watches ran about 2 to 4 times the price of mechanical. Naturally as they're simply a better timekeeper with impressive tech behind them.

Don't even talk to me about mechanical watches. My husband bought one a few months ago, an expensive one that doesn't keep time and which he never returned. I've given up on nagging about that one:mad:

Wibbs · 04-07-2014 12:47PM

Interestingly, or not... the "mechanical has soul" marketing was gender specific in how it worked, or not. Women didn't buy into it to nearly the same degree as men. With the result that today your top end five figure and up mad money women's watches with jewels and shít are nearly always battery driven quartz.

Oh and I'd be getting himself to bring it back with utmost speed, looking for a fix or replacement. No way should it be acting up like that. If any resistance is encountered, I have found the threat of inserting said timepiece into the rear fundament, unlubricated, tends to elicit a favourable response in the vendor.

04-07-2014 01:07PM

I'm not really into jewellery full stop. It's uncomfortable to wear

jimgoose · 04-07-2014 01:51PM

Wibbs wrote: »

...If any resistance is encountered, I have found the threat of inserting said timepiece into the rear fundament, unlubricated, tends to elicit a favourable response in the vendor.

Now that's Engineering. :cool:

WilyCoyote · 04-07-2014 01:56PM

The Diabolical Monocle wrote: »

Leave now and never darken this site's url again.

Ah Jasus, TDM ............ and today being the 4th of July as well!

Incidentally, I listened to a program on radio yesterday where it said that the third word of your sobriquet is making a comeback.

Just thought that would cheer you up. If not, keep taking the pills and come back and see me in a week.

RoboRat · 04-07-2014 02:40PM

Just wikied De Beers there.

Greatest marketeers ever. Talk about having the patience to play the long game. I have a great book about them, absolute genius what they done and how they managed to do it. The only similar campaign I have seen in my lifetime is Beats by Dre.

The Diabolical Monocle · 04-07-2014 03:03PM

WilyCoyote wrote: »

Ah Jasus, TDM ............ and today being the 4th of July as well!

Incidentally, I listened to a program on radio yesterday where it said that the third word of your sobriquet is making a comeback.

Just thought that would cheer you up. If not, keep taking the pills and come back and see me in a week.

ſobriquet .... I like it.

And I had thought 'nom de plume' was gaie.

ſeemſ poſitively booriſh in compariſon now.

ScumLord · 04-07-2014 03:18PM

The first time I questioned the value of diamonds is when I went into a metal workshop and saw they were using diamonds as cutting tools. Sometimes some nice rocks were just used for cleaning grinding disks.

As much as the engagement ring is a marketing ploy I can see why it took off. Us humans love our symbolism and an engagement ring is a clear concise symbol to everyone. The person giving the ring is clear in their intent, the person receiving knows exactly what it means to wear it and everyone else in the community including other suitors knows what it means, which makes it like a free temporary wedding. It's a symbol that suited the American culture at the time.

The only way to stop all this hoarding of resources for profit is to get the human species into space. All minerals will come at the cost of extraction once the first space mines start up.

Yellowblackbird · 04-07-2014 03:24PM

The Diabolical Monocle wrote: »

ſobriquet .... I like it.

And I had thought 'nom de plume' was gaie.

ſeemſ poſitively booriſh in compariſon now.

The 's''s have changed.
Is this something to do with your seeing device.
It's all becoming a perplexing riddle.

Greenmachine · 04-07-2014 06:59PM

creolebelle wrote: »

Sarcasm? From what I understand these companies say that they don't buy blood diamonds but it's impossible to really tell a fairly sourced diamond from a blood diamond. That was from a documentary i watched. I don't know that much about the diamond business but it doesn't stop me from drooling

Well yes. People were appalled by Rana Plaza factory collapse. A lot of tutting at the high street shops like pennys/primark but not nearly as much mention of the designer brands charging a premium for the same slave labour. While they DeBeersmay not intentionally engage in it as a practice, there is not absolutely certain than none of their stock is tainted.

kowloon · 04-07-2014 07:34PM

Meh, Aluminium was considered the sh1t back in the day, Napoleon III gave cutlery out of it to important guests. Aluminium would have made terrible cutlery. Either way, electro smelting happened and it's cheap. It's a pity diamonds are considered rare when they're not.

Nemeses · 04-07-2014 07:48PM

kowloon wrote: »

It's a pity diamonds are considered rare when they're not.

It is when you spend hours days and night just digging with an iron shovel hoping for a bit of the aul sparkle..

Wait thats Minecraft. Carry on!

kowloon · 04-07-2014 07:58PM

Nemeses wrote: »

It is when you spend hours days and night just digging with an iron shovel hoping for a bit of the aul sparkle..

Wait thats Minecraft. Carry on!

When you put weeks into hoarding enough just to build a giant sparkling mickey to top off your skull fortress you get a new perspective on the meaning of value.

fits · 04-07-2014 08:01PM

Anyone concerned about the ethics of diamonds need to take a look at smartphones too.

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalreports/mobilesreport/conflictminerals.aspx

fits · 04-07-2014 08:16PM

And a good write up about ethics in jewellery here. Conflict diamonds not as much of a problem as they used to be.

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/commentanalysis/fairtrade/ethicaljewellery.aspx

Capt'n Midnight · 04-07-2014 10:27PM

fits wrote: »

Anyone concerned about the ethics of diamonds need to take a look at smartphones too.

There's two ways to address this issue.

one - target the handful of smelters actually process the raw materials

two - demand insane levels of paperwork such that every company has to vet it's entire supply chain back to those same smelters

Guess which option is happening ?

Also the boycott on conflict minerals is affecting hundreds of thousands of miners in DRC

also in answer to someone earlier question about tracking diamonds http://www.icij.org/projects/coltan/five-things-you-need-know-about-coltan

4. There is no simple way to keep conflict coltan out of the stream of legitimate minerals used by manufacturers. It doesn’t have “geo-fingerprints” like conflict diamonds.

5. Controlling the flow of conflict coltan involves comprehensive action by governments, industry and activists. But that’s difficult: U.S. and European firms are looking at certification of coltan, but since manufacturers in China and India use the bulk of the world’s supply, certification efforts will fail if those countries do not participate.

Considering the level of fake goods in China I'd have difficulty trusting them.

Capt'n Midnight · 04-07-2014 10:30PM

Nemeses wrote: »

It is when you spend hours days and night just digging with an iron shovel hoping for a bit of the aul sparkle..

Wait thats Minecraft. Carry on!

Actually that's Gold Farming.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour," Liu told the Guardian. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp.

Capt'n Midnight · 04-07-2014 10:31PM

Wibbs wrote: »

:pac: *tips hat*

Silver is/was a marketing exercise too. Back in the day gold was the thing. T.

Actually back in the Middle Ages in Europe Gold was only worth three times what silver was worth.

Diamonds are ...

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