10 Products That Revolutionized the Jewelry Trade

Talk about a monumental task. We set out to identify 10 products that have changed the face of jewelry retailing forever, products so iconic—to their makers and their categories—that they've spawned countless iterations, earning honorary membership in the jewelry hall of fame.

Naively, we thought the answers would be obvious. And, to some extent, they were—only we didn't anticipate the passion with which everyone offered and defended their choices. Arguments were made. Debates ensued. So we took our questions to a handful of experts. Little surprise—no two people agreed on the same list of 10.

The "products" we ended up with include jewels, watches, techniques, and even something as ambiguous as a concept (De Beers' very own game changer, the three-stone ring campaign). The common denominator? All the items are considered so essential to the ­jewelry business today that we take for granted the revolutions they started. By that definition, it appears we have our winners.

1. The Tiffany & Co. Six-Prong Setting

Forget the 1961 Audrey Hepburn movie and the ­robin's-egg blue. Tiffany & Co.'s most famous contribution to the jewelry world remains its engagement ring setting. The classic design features six skinny, spiderlike platinum prongs that shoot out from the ring's base, propelling the diamond sturdily above the band in a way that allows for a more complete return of light from the stone, as well as maximum brilliance. Invented by the retailer in 1886, 50 years after its founding, the deceptively simple but ingenious mounting for round brilliants soon became an industry standard. More than a century later, the setting is still widely used, and not just by its creator—in fact, the phrase Tiffany setting is sometimes used to refer to four-pronged mountings as well.

2. Van Cleef & Arpels' Mystery Setting

Van Cleef & Arpels' Ruban bracelet, Mystery-Set with sapphires and diamonds

Thanks to today's advanced cutting techniques, invisible settings aren't so hard to find. They're not even hard to approximate: Consider the ubiquity of micro-pavé. But no one does the original metal-obscuring design better than—or trademarked it before—Van Cleef & Arpels. The key to the serti mysterieux ("mysterious setting"), patented in 1933, is not so mysterious: Tiny parallel grooves are cut along the girdles of the stones, which are placed, one by one, onto a gold or platinum net. It's an arduous process—about 300 hours for a brooch—and an ever-evolving one, too. Its Mystery Setting for diamonds was developed only in 1990.