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Table of Contents
12 NOW & FOREVER
16 THIS IS BETTERIDGE
20 WHAT MAKES YOU TICK
28 THE LATEST & GREATEST WATCHES
36 FINISHING SCHOOL
42 BUILT BY BETTERIDGE
47 GIFT GUIDE
58 FUTURE FAMILY HEIRLOOMS
66 BIRTHSTONES—GIVEN WITH LOVE
74 NATURE VS. NURTURE
78 OUR TOP JEWELRY DESIGNERS
88 FANTASY GIFTS
94 PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS & PRICES
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Now & Forever I’ve been told over and over again that when you walk into one of our stores, you feel like you’ve gone back in time. There’s plenty of fine old mahogany casework—maybe that’s part of it. However, underneath that, there is something else solid and lasting. I can remember playing under the cases in our original Greenwich location when I was little, and my son Win reminisces about doing the same. Today, some of those cases have followed us over to the new Greenwich store, and they make this place feel like home, too. A respect for history has helped shape the principles that guide our business. I only want to sell products that will be cherished for a lifetime, perhaps even over the course of generations. I love recommending the jewelry we make, because I know every step that has gone into an item’s creation. I’ve seen the platinum melted, hammered out on an anvil and welded by one of our jewelers. It gives me peace of mind to know everything we make is as good as it possibly can be. I try to demand the same level of quality from every jewelry designer we partner with and every piece of estate jewelry we buy and sell. Real intrinsic value can withstand the vagaries of fashion trends. These are the bedrock values on which Betteridge was founded over 100 years ago, and they remain the values we live by today. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into our world. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our stores in the future.
Terry Betteridge Chief Executive Officer
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This is At a time when a retailer’s success often balances on the number of celebrities it’s tied to, this century-old jeweler is putting all its stock in the reputation of a single name—its own.
Y
ou don’t get to do something for 120 years if you’re not the best at it. Terry Betteridge, the current CEO of Betteridge, is far too modest to admit this straight out. But that doesn’t make the statement any less true. His family has been creating and curating, fixing and selling highend jewelry in one form or another for generations. If you’re a Greenwich, Connecticut, native you’ve likely heard bits and pieces of the storied history behind the local institution. The Betteridge family roots shoot straight back to England in the early 1700s, when John Betteridge
was a highly sought-after silversmith, hammering out snuffboxes and vesta cases (pocket-sized match holders with a built-in striker) for Birmingham’s gentry. Every Betteridge since has been a jeweler, inheriting and evolving the family business over the decades that followed, and keeping the world awash in men named Albert along the way. There was A.E. Betteridge (Albert Edwin), better known as “the Colonel,” who immigrated to the United States in the early 1890s. He went on to run the International Silver Factory in Meriden, Connecticut, a town known as Silver City back in the day. His son (also A.E.) opened the first Betteridge jewelry
boutiques: two were in New York City (one in the heart of Wall Street, the other on Fifth Avenue); and a third was located in the Miami Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida. Then came Bert (another Albert), who uprooted the business to Greenwich in 1952, as part of the mass exodus of New York society to the flourishing suburbs. He was followed in 1975 by Terry (again, Albert), who took the business global while opening outposts in Colorado— Aspen and Vail—and Palm Beach. And today, the next generation is making its mark. Win (short for Edwin, but still technically an Albert), his sister Brooke, his wife, Natalie, and stepsister
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“I WANT WHAT WE DO TO LAST, TO BECOME THE PIECE OF JEWELRY OR THE WATCH THAT SOMEONE TAKES ON AS A UNIFORM.” —Terry Betteridge top: Bert Betteridge in the old store at 117 Greenwich Avenue; the company’s 1925 catalog shows the original NYC locations bottom: Frances and Bert cut the cake; Bert working on a grandfather clock at a customer’s house
above: Frances and Bert Betteridge at their 1948 wedding; “Colonel” Betteridge in 1895 (far right); Anne and Terry Betteridge pose for the family holiday card bottom: A.E. Betteridge, the company’s founder, with his wife in 1945
“THERE’S A LOT OF HEART IN THIS PLACE. IT’S BACKED UP BY AN UNWAVERING DEDICATION TO QUALITY THAT TERRY WILL HAPPILY STAKE THE FAMILY NAME ON, ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.” 17 B E T T E R I D G E 20 1 7
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right: Brooke Betteridge; below: Brooke and Win with Veronica, Amanda and Coco Siebert bottom: The Greenwich flagship store; Win and his wife, Natalie; their son, Hunter; Betteridge in Palm Beach
top: Terry and Win Betteridge in 2002; Brooke, Terry and Win at Point O’ Woods; Brooke with the family’s beloved dog Heidi bottom: the store in Vail
IT SAYS A LOT THAT THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF EMPLOYMENT AT BETTERIDGE CAN BE MEASURED IN DECADES, NOT YEARS. ASK MIKE COOPER, THE JEWELRY SHOP FOREMAN, WHAT HE DOES ON HIS DAYS OFF AND HE’LL TELL YOU THAT HE MAKES MORE JEWELRY. 18 B E T T E R I D G E 20 1 7
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Coco Siebert are bringing Betteridge into the digital space, fine-tuning its shopping site and social networks while introducing emerging luxury jewelry brands to an already impressive roster of designers. “Apparently we all suffer from a lack of career imagination,” jokes Win. But lineage alone—even one as singularly focused as this—is not the attribute that elevates a trip to Betteridge beyond the everyday shopping experience. That is a bit tougher to put a finger on, though you feel it the moment you walk through the door. Betteridge makes and collects beautiful things, new and old, and they do it with a level of integrity and obsessive attention to quality you just don’t see these days. They opt for quiet luxury over flash, the time-tested over the latest and greatest. “I want what we do to last, to become the piece of jewelry or the watch that someone takes on as a uniform,” says Terry. “For me, it’s never been about making a buck.” As a business that relies on sales, that may sound counterintuitive. But you have to look at it as a-watched-pot-neverboils scenario; if you’re only working with products you don’t truly believe in, you’re never going to sell a thing. Win puts it another way, “We’d never sell someone something we wouldn’t be happy to buy back from them, or from their children, or their children’s children down the line.” That edict is true for every watch, ring and estate piece Betteridge carries. It’s a big part of the reason first-time buyers become lifetime customers; a promise like that builds trust. To have this sort of confidence and pride in what you do is rare. Even rarer still, though, is building a team of people who share those sentiments.
It says a lot that the average length of employment at Betteridge can be measured in decades, not years. Terry can talk to you for hours about the rarity and intricacies of a certain cut of stone from the 1800s, but so can Warren Lagerloef, a senior sales executive, and
STOP IN ON ANY GIVEN DAY AND YOU’RE LIKELY TO FIND JUST AS MANY PEOPLE DROPPING BY FOR A CHAT AS A SHOPPING EXPEDITION. IF YOU’RE LUCKY, TERRY WILL BE BEHIND THE BAR IN HIS SIGNATURE BOW TIE, MIXING A ROUND OF OLD FASHIONEDS AND RELAYING THE STORY OF HIS LATEST ADVENTURE. Mike Manjos, a diamond buyer. Ask Mike Cooper, the jewelry shop foreman, what he does on his days off and he’ll tell you that he makes more jewelry. All of this gets at the other part of the Betteridge story, the bit that goes beyond pedigree and business, and makes this jeweler truly exceptional: Its boutiques feel like an extension of the family home, and the people who work there like extended family. Cooper and Alan Bodurtha, one of Betteridge’s inhouse jewelers, were two of Win’s first babysitters. “They used to give me little jobs when I was a kid,” he remembers, “like vacuuming the workshop floor, and then having me go through the bag for any possible lost diamond accents
or bits of platinum.” (He also used to pound out little hearts from scrap metal to bring home to his mom.) Carlos Colonna, a master hand engraver, can tell you stories about Terry as a child— the one about “the kid’s first taste of whiskey” is a classic. The 12,000-square-foot Greenwich flagship store is divided into a series of small, welcoming rooms, all encased by dark mahogany walls almost identical to the ones in the family’s former Greenwich residence. There are museum-worthy treasures tucked away in every nook and cranny—original George Barbier illustrations for Cartier from the early 1900s, a letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt (one of Terry’s idols), and a handful of Betteridge silver from the 18th and 19th centuries that’s been found at auctions. Stop in on any given day and you’re likely to find just as many people dropping by for a chat as a shopping expedition. You might catch a glimpse of Win’s months-old son, Hunter (the dynasty of Alberts continues), or enjoy the magic that is Mike Manjos’s contagious laugh as it ignites smiles from one end of the store to the other. And, if you’re lucky, Terry will be behind the bar in his signature bow tie, mixing a round of Old Fashioneds (the best in town), and relaying the story of his latest adventure. At first glance, yes, Betteridge is a jewelry store. There are glass cases glittering with stones, and room after room of distinguished watches, too. There’s even an intimidatingly large security guard parked out front. But there’s also a whole lot of heart in this place, and it’s backed up by a rich heritage and an unwavering dedication to quality that Terry will happily stake the family name on any day of the week.
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Future Family
HEIRLOOMS BETTERIDGE BELIEVES IN PIECES THAT are made to last forever, and in the thoughtful tradition of passing them down.
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ADOBE.COM BY KICHIGIN19
alue has two faces. There’s the monetary worth of something, of course, and that’s usually easy to determine. Sentimental value, however, has its own currency. When you start looking at great-grandmother’s flatware that came over from Europe with her, or dad’s watch that he wore every day for 40 years, the worth of those items is measured by what you see in them, the moments they’ve been present for, the memories they hold. “Heirlooms are things you adopt into your heart, soul and family,” says Terry Betteridge, CEO. Dollar value is a secondary thought, if a thought at all. To put it another way, losing a piece of jewelry might hurt your wallet, but losing an heirloom breaks your heart. Betteridge understands this duality. For decades, customers have entrusted the company to certify and set family stones, and to engrave keepsakes as they pass from one generation to the next. Many heirlooms started their journeys right in the Betteridge workshop. “That we may be creating a future heirloom for someone is such a special thing,” says Randy Lapointe, Greenwich store manager. “To be part of a family tradition in that way is very meaningful.” Here are just a few of the great heirloom stories that have warmed the hearts of the Betteridge team over the years.
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The Engagement Ring “One of the many wonderful things about family stones is that they can be reworked and redesigned and never spoil,” says Inez Heery, the manager at Betteridge’s Palm Beach location. This, as the team at Betteridge can attest to, is especially true when you start talking about using grandmother’s diamond or great auntie’s sapphire in an engagement ring, something they’ve helped design for hundreds of clients over the years. “I love the meaning that comes with a family stone,” says Warren Lagerloef, a senior sales executive, “especially when the young man decides to reset it. He’s adding his fingerprint to something that has so much history.” There’s a deep level of thoughtfulness in giving a ring like this, taking something that means so much to you and making it into something beautiful for her. It’s magic, really.
top: Cushion Brilliant-Cut Diamond Ring above: AsscherCut Diamond Ring
“WHEN EACH OF MY FOUR CHILDREN WERE BORN, I BOUGHT MY WIFE A SIGNIFICANT RING. ONE DAY, EACH RING WILL GO TO EACH CHILD WITH THEM KNOWING THAT DAD GAVE THIS TO MOM OUT OF LOVE.” — Warren Lagerloef, Senior Sales Executive
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The Diamond Studs
top: Cushion-Cut Earrings above: Paul Morelli Rose-Cut Halo Earrings
Thirty years ago, Warren Lagerloef sold what he calls a serious pair of diamond studs to a client. “She came in, she loved them and they were about six carats for the pair,” he remembers. The woman bought them under the guise of eventually passing them onto her two sons to turn into engagement rings, a premise that inspired a bit of an eye roll from the woman’s husband. “But I’ll be damned,” laughs Lagerloef, “if a man didn’t walk into the store five years ago with one of the earrings and say, ‘My mom said I should come see you about a ring.’ It seems that three decades later, her rental rights to the diamonds were up.”
“WEDDING HEIRLOOMS ARE VERY SPECIAL THINGS. I HAVE A FAMILY OF CUSTOMERS WITH A PAIR OF DIAMOND EARRINGS THAT FOUR GENERATIONS OF BRIDES HAVE WORN ON THEIR WEDDING DAY.” — Inez Heery, Palm Beach Store Manager
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RARE AND BEAUTIFUL
* Argyle PinkTM Diamond Jewelry is exclusively available at Betteridge Jewelers with an unbroken chain of custody.
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The Silver Flatware Spend any amount of time at Betteridge and you’re likely to hear Terry make a case for owning a great silver flatware service. “How many fine collectibles can you use three times a day?” is a question he likes to ask. Before you make the argument about the hassle of keeping it clean, here’s something to consider: The craft that goes into making a piece of hand-forged flatware is utterly remarkable. At Buccellatti, for instance, an apprentice spends years learning the proper way to hammer out a simple fork from a tiny piece of silver—and the hammering is what makes all the difference. Bend a fork that wasn’t hand-forged and it will be a bit wiggly forever. Bend a Buccellatti fork, and it snaps right back. So when you inherit mother’s flatware or purchase your own, you’re not simply getting knives and forks—you’re inheriting a legacy of craftsmanship. And if that’s not enough to change your mind about the silver flatware, maybe this will. “My grandfather used to claim food tastes better eaten with silver. I can’t tell the difference, but maybe he just had a finer palate,” Terry says. Simple as that. Buccellati Impero Place Setting
“A CLIENT WAS THINKING OF SELLING HER GRANDMOTHER’S SAPPHIRE. SHE’D NEVER HAD IT CERTIFIED, SO WE SENT IT OUT. SHE LEARNED IT WAS A RARE STONE WORTH A GREAT DEAL. SHE KEPT IT, TO PASS ON TO HER DAUGHTER.” —Lauren Yoon, Senior Sales Executive
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Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5119J
The Patek Philippe Watch Terry Betteridge is a watch aficionado to say the least. But there is one timepiece that has always meant more to him than all the rest—his father’s Patek Philippe Calatrava. “It was Patek’s basic watch with the subsidiary second dial,” he says. “An old-fashioned thing, really. But I always loved it.” It was the watch Terry’s father bought for himself when he returned from WWII, and the one he wore day in and day out for nearly 50 years. “That’s what Patek is about, making something that lasts forever, something that can be passed down,” says Terry. “That idea is actually built into the company’s core philosophy: You never actually own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation.”
“I THINK OF HEIRLOOMS AS TIME MACHINES. YOU TOUCH THIS THING AND IT’S IMBUED WITH SOMETHING MAGICAL. IT BRINGS YOU BACK TO ANOTHER TIME, TO PEOPLE WHO MAY NOT BE HERE ANYMORE, TO ALL THE GOOD MEMORIES THAT ARE ATTACHED TO IT.” — Terry Betteridge, CEO
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GIVEN with LOVE,
WORN WITH PRIDE
THERE ARE PLENTY OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS ASSOCIATED WITH BIRTHSTONES. Opals trap lightning, emeralds can detect false love, and pearls, apparently, keep you safe from dragons. It’s all in good fun. But at Betteridge, birthstones are equated with one thing: thoughtfulness. Birthstone jewelry often becomes an extension of the person wearing it. Mom’s sapphire and grandmother’s ruby get passed down through the generations. They acquire stories and take on meaning. “That a piece of jewelry we sold or something we designed can be loved and cherished for not just years, but hundreds of years, is truly a remarkable thing,” says Win Betteridge. If you have plans to shop for birthstone jewelry, here’s what you should know.
JANUARY
Garnet ORIGIN
Garnet mines span the globe and typically specialize in a single variety of the stone. Demantoids (bright green) are found in Russia, for instance, while tsavorite (also green) are in Kenya, and rhodolite (with a pinkish hue) are found in Sri Lanka.
your birthday during the month of January, you have your pick of colored stones to mark the occasion.
WHY WE LOVE THE GARNET A garnet is actually a group of closely related minerals, not a single gemstone, that comes in a rainbow of shades. So if you’re lucky enough to celebrate
Pomellato M’ama Non M’ama Bangle
Among the garnet’s odd origin stories is this: A rare, ninepound almandine garnet was unearthed below 35th Street in Manhattan in 1885. The Paleozoic stone, nicknamed the “Subway Garnet,” is estimated to be 430 million years old, and was actually upturned during a sewer expedition.
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Betteridge Cluster Earrings
FEBRUARY
Amethyst
MARCH
ORIGIN
Brazil is the world’s leading amethyst producer, with mines in three states. In recent years, however, the best examples of the stone’s deep purple hue have come from Zambia. WHY WE LOVE THE AMETHYST Wallis Simpson famously commissioned an intricate bib-style amethyst necklace from Cartier in 1947. Known as the Duchess of Windsor necklace, it features 27 step-cut amethysts trimmed in turquoise beads with a large heartshaped amethyst centerpiece.
Aquamarine ORIGIN
African aquamarines from Nigeria, Madagascar and Mozambique are coveted for their intense, sea-blue color, even though the single largest producer of the stone is Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Antique Russian Pendant Long Necklace
The Ancient Greeks equated the amethyst with Bacchus, the god of wine. It was believed that wearing one negated the effects of alcohol.
25-Carat Cocktail Ring WHY WE LOVE THE AQUAMARINE In 1936 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was gifted a stunning 1,298-carat aquamarine, then the largest cut stone of its kind, by Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas. The bluegreen gem came from the Pedra Azul mine in Minas Gerais and now resides in the Roosevelt Library.
Goshwara Drop Earrings
A favorite among royalty the world
over, aquamarines appear in grand tiaras that have been worn by everyone from Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne to Queen Fabiola of Belgium and Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg. Examples of true jewelry-making genius, most of these tiaras feature detachable brooches to be worn on the odd day that a grand, sparkling headpiece feels a tad too much.
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The NEXT GENERATION of
FAMILY KEEPSAKES
Betteridge experts lay down their predictions for the new heritage pieces.
Betteridge Flower Cluster Earrings
Rolex Explorer “In a field obsessed with either the very old or the very new, it’s easy to understand how a watch like the Rolex Explorer can get overlooked by serious aficionados. Since its debut in 1953, the Explorer has been a quietly great, always consistent three-hand watch. It’s classic and good-looking, and made with an attention to detail that’s admirable. The Explorer means a lot to me personally. It was the first fine wristwatch I ever owned. My family had been through a
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real rough patch, so my dad wanted to give me something special that I could keep close, something that would remind me of him. The Explorer is what he gave me, with a personal message engraved on the case back. As my mom likes to remind me, I lost everything in those days, but I never lost that Rolex. It meant too much. I still wear it, and it still keeps perfect time over 20 years later.”
—Win Betteridge, COO
“Other people make clusters, but not like these. The edges are scalloped to mimic a flower, where most others are simply round. The center stone is perpendicular to your line of sight, and the diamonds surrounding it are tipped at an angle and tucked ever so slightly underneath, with very little of the mounting visible. When all the individual stones interact with each other, light bouncing
from one diamond to the next, it’s like they’re charged with a battery—they sparkle so bright. If you want to get down to it, you’re actually getting more sparkle for your money by investing in a pair of clusters over single diamond studs of the same price.”
—Randy Lapointe, Greenwich Store Manager
Panthère de Cartier Watch “The second Cartier stopped making the Panthère in 2004, everyone wanted one. It was just such an iconic watch, really thin with a bracelet that wears like jewelry. Cartier had been making it since 1983, and we all thought it would be around forever, like the Tank. So when it disappeared, there was this scramble to get one. We had a waiting list at the store in our estate department. As soon as one came in, it was already sold. So you can imagine the level
of excitement when Cartier relaunched the Panthère this year. We had a party at the store, and mothers and daughters were buying them, sisters were buying them— no one wants to miss their chance to own one this time around.”
—Donna Varbaro, Senior Sales Executive
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OUR TOP JEWELRY DESIGNERS
The Quest for Color Every once in a while a city lives up to the reputation of being “the right place at the right time.” In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Paris was that kind of place. It seemed to be the center of the world for those counter-culturalists seeking freedom from strict social mores, self-expression without judgment and sources of artistic inspiration. Around this time Fulco di Verdura began his collaboration with Coco Chanel. Their quest to modernize her personal jewelry collection led Fulco to create a look that shattered the status quo on both sides of the Atlantic. Verdura’s new collection takes its inspiration from this revolution, introducing over a dozen new archival-based designs. One of the highlights is the debut of The Ravenna Cuff, originally created by Verdura for Chanel in the 1930s. The Ravenna Cuff incorporates bold color splashes to create an effect that is wild and unrestrained. This is the first time the cuff has been seen in over 80 years, only now with different color combinations against either ivory-colored or black enamel.
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OUR TOP JEWELRY DESIGNERS
America’s Jeweler Since the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, David Webb jewelry has spoken to the American woman. Clients such as Jackie Kennedy and Rachel Zoe have found and continue to find the strong creative spirit and bold design of David Webb jewelry alluring. David Webb is perhaps best known for his animal-inspired designs from the Kingdom collection, and none of them is more iconic than his zebra jewelry. Each zebra piece showcases the brand’s exquisite enamel work and craftsmanship, all created at David Webb’s workshop on Madison Avenue.
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OUR TOP JEWELRY DESIGNERS
The Opera Color Collection One of the world’s most renowned high jewelry houses, celebrated for its craftsmanship, design and one-of-a-kind masterpieces, Buccellati’s traditions and techniques date back to the goldsmith’s atelier of the Italian Renaissance. The Opera Color Collection, launched in 2015, is inspired by the Renaissance ideal of absolute symmetry as expressed in the flower.
Opera Color inaugurates a new chapter in Buccellati jewelry. It is elegant, yet cheerful, traditional and strongly innovative, brilliant and simple at the same time. Characterized by sinuous, fine lines and harmonious forms with eye-catching decorative effects, the collection is composed of a wide range of pieces, each with great personality and an unmistakable style.
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