Harry Winston: From the Hope Diamond to Hollywood

One of the most memorable moments in a woman’s life is when the man she loves gets down on one knee, opens a jewel box with a diamond ring sparkling inside, and asks, “Will you marry me?”

For me it happened one winter’s night in Boston, right before I was supposed to go home to the Philippines for the holidays. It may have taken place in a simple apartment off-campus, but it might as well have been atop the Eiffel Tower: that was the magnitude of the thrill.

Your engagement ring will forever remind you of that moment. And, once you land on Earth again after going over the moon, that ring will be freighted with many other happy meanings. Like how someone loves you enough to spend two months (or more) of his salary on the gem that now adorns your finger. Or how that man — unlike Aidan in Sex and the City, whose taste was so off the mark that Carrie wouldn’t even wear his ring on her finger — knows you so well that he picked a ring you absolutely adore.

A girl’s best friends: The Freja Beja ad campaign for Harry Winston

The Aidans of this world have nothing to fear if they go to someone who knows their diamonds … someone like the King of Diamonds, Harry Winston, whose company has over a century of diamond expertise behind it.

Harry Winston is possibly the most famous name in the jewelry business. He was the one who donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian museum. One of the greatest gemstones in existence, the Hope Diamond was discovered in India’s Kollur Mine in the mid-1600s. The fabled 45.52-carat blue diamond had a long list of distinguished owners, including Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette, before Winston bought it in 1949 from the estate of American socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean.

As part of Winston’s “Court of Jewels” exhibition, the crown jewel traveled to major American cities from 1949 to 1953 to help educate the public about precious gems, while raising money for charitable causes. In 1958, Winston donated the storied stone to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where, as the showpiece of the National Gem Collection, it attracts over seven million visitors a year. (In 2010, Harry Winston Inc. celebrated the anniversary of this donation with a new setting for the Hope Diamond, called Embracing Hope.)

Another of Winston’s legendary jewels was the Lesotho Diamond, which weighed over 601 carats in its original, uncut state. In 1967, a woman unearthed it in the South African kingdom of Lesotho; fearing for her life, she fled on foot for four days and nights to sell the stone under government protection. It was purchased by Harry Winston, who broadcast its cleaving live on television in 1968, resulting in 18 separate gems. The largest, the Lesotho One, is an exquisite 71.73-carat flawless emerald-cut diamond.

Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis bought the 40.42-carat Lesotho Three, to crown an engagement ring with which he planned to propose to Jacqueline Kennedy.

For over 60 years, Harry Winston has also been inextricably linked with Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe gave him a shout-out in the movie Gentlemen prefer Blondes, when she sang, “Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it!”

He provided Tinseltown’s queen of diamonds, Elizabeth Taylor, her most conspicuous piece of bling ever. The story goes that Winston bought a 241-carat rough diamond from the Premiere Diamond Mine, which one of his craftsmen cut into a magnificent, 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond. Winston sold the diamond in 1967, and actor Richard Burton subsequently purchased the exquisite stone for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. The diamond is now known as the Taylor-Burton.

Winston revolutionized modern red-carpet glamour by being the first jeweler to loan diamonds to actress Jennifer Jones for the 1943 Academy Awards, and Hollywood royalty today are still vying to get one of his sparklers on their person. Gwyneth Paltrow accepted her Best Actress Oscar wearing the house’s appropriately princess-like 40-carat diamond necklace. Halle Berry clutched her Academy Award with a hand sporting HW’s Pumpkin Diamond ring worth $3 million. Sharon Stone liked her Oscar-night diamond necklace so much that she wanted to keep it, claiming it was a gift. (It wasn’t.)

It’s clear that The House of Harry Winston has a historic and glamorous heritage — one that’s made it the authority on diamonds — so it’s brilliant news that it’s now available in the Philippines at Adora.

“A good diamond, however small, is a possession to be prized for generations,” Winston once said, and that’s never been more true than in this “marry” month of December, when couples are on the hunt for something everlasting. The bridal collection is what’s currently making waves; bestsellers include the round and emerald-cut classic Winston engagement rings with tapered baguette side stones, and “The One,” a micro-pavé engagement ring with a cushion-cut center stone.

All of them sport Harry Winston’s signature split-prong claws, made with minimal metal so as to let the diamond shine more brightly, and platinum settings, which the house prefers over gold (not only for its durability but also because it doesn’t impart color to the stone).

Harry Winston carries just about every cut conceivable: round brilliant-cut, square emerald-cut, emerald-cut, cushion-cut, radiant-cut, oval, pear, marquise and heart-shaped diamonds, set in timeless designs where the diamond is the hero.

Every piece of jewelry is handcrafted at Harry Winston headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York City, where each ring takes two to three months to make. Consequently Harry Winston only makes 1,500 rings a year for the entire world, and the house is known for its exactingly high standards in picking stones. None pass muster unless their clarity is graded “Flawless” to VS2 (Very Slightly Included), where no inclusions are visible to the naked eye, and the diamonds are colorless, or very nearly so (HW selects only the top grades, which are D, E and F).

When cutting diamonds, HW always chooses brilliance over weight, which means they’re not afraid to sacrifice a bit of diamond dust in order to achieve maximum sparkle. And each diamond is certified by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) in terms of the “Four Cs”: carat, cut, color and clarity. Thus, you’re 100-percent sure your diamond has no enhancements of any kind: no laser drilling to remove inclusions, no filling in of fractures, and no artificial addition of color.

The bottom line is, only five percent of the world’s supply of one-carat diamonds meets Harry Winston’s standards for quality, rarity, and beauty. Not bad odds when you’re looking for the engagement ring of a lifetime.

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Harry Winston is only available at Adora in Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati.