NEW YORK — What does it take for an up-and-coming jeweler to compete against the likes of Graff and Harry Winston? Carats — thousands of carats.
And Lev Leviev has got the goods — with diamond sales of $2.5 billion to prove it. Leviev’s own brand made its debut last year with a store on London’s Old Bond Street, and now is headed to the U.S., opening a 6,200-square-foot store at 700 Madison Avenue next month. The store will be in New York’s new Gem Central, near rivals such as Graff, Chopard, de Grisogono, Kwiat and Fred Leighton.
The Madison Avenue store will resemble the contemporary, antique-dotted style of the London shop, with vitrines to showcase the rarefied pieces. An average sale in the store is expected to run from $200,000 to $400,000, though prices can go well into the millions. Upon opening, the store will have 4,000 carats of diamonds and gemstones on hand. Leviev’s assortment of large white and colored diamonds, as well as weighty gemstones such as emeralds and sapphires, is impressive. A 214.91 yellow and white diamond “scarf” necklace or a 76.51 carat fancy light pink Asscher-cut diamond as the pendant of an Asscher-cut white diamond necklace are just two examples.
Watches, which are new for the brand, will be offered as well. The firm’s proprietor himself is overseeing the creation of a special tourbillon movement.
And New York is only the beginning of Leviev’s expansion strategy. Boutiques also are planned for Shanghai, Moscow, Dubai and Beverly Hills. The company hopes to eventually have 10 to 12 doors worldwide.
The Tashkent, Uzbekistan-born Leviev, 51, is the secretive chairman of the Leviev Group of Cos., which controls numerous businesses, including diamond mines in Angola, Namibia and Russia, and real estate throughout New York, Miami, Las Vegas and international locations. Notably, he bought the historic New York Times building and sold Gwyneth Paltrow his New York penthouse for a reported $5.5 million. His far-flung company also owns gas stations, hotels, telecommunications firms, supermarkets and shopping centers, and builds highways. Leviev, who is worth an estimated $4 billion (first appearing three years ago on Forbes’ Billionaires List), also has a stake in the fast-fashion chain Zara and owns swimwear brand Gottex.
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He is also a philanthropist and is involved with the Carousel of Hope Ball, UNICEF and Oxfam America, to name a few, and supports the activities of 64 educational establishments in the former Soviet Union, including Jewish day schools and universities.
Leviev began his career in diamonds at age 15 as a diamond polisher, shortly after immigrating to Israel with his family. He eventually changed the industry with his invention of a precision laser-cutting diamond technology. A former De Beers site holder, Leviev was the subject of a 2003 profile in Forbes magazine, which said he “cracked De Beers” by owning his own mines and wholesaling diamonds directly to jewelers — against the grain in the industry, where De Beers is known for its tight control over supply.
“Diamond connoisseurs have been buying from me and other jewelers — many supplied with my stones — for years,” said Leviev via e-mail. Bulgari is one brand to which he sells stones. “Retail-wise, the competition ranges from the independent diamond peddler to all the established jewelry houses. However, we feel that our complete control from production to retail, entailing an unsurpassed inventory, coupled with extremely high level of design, workmanship and service, will place us in a unique position to market directly to serious diamond buyers.”
This isn’t Leviev’s first foray into high diamond jewelry. He had what he calls a “negligible interest” in Vivid Collection, a company that dissolved several years ago after it was accused of bribing graders at Gemological Institute of America. A GIA spokeswoman said the matter is now in the hands of law enforcement agencies. Leviev said that, to his knowledge, the case is closed.
But Leviev, the brand, is a completely different enterprise and is focused on selling large diamond and gemstone jewelry.
“I am a believer,” said Leviev. “I believe in God and that, as people, we have to do good acts. In the holy book, King Solomon said a man is born to work hard, to maximize himself and to achieve something. I believe that if I can work hard, as the holy book says, and do good things with the money I earn, then it’s my mission in life.”
And that means competing with the top tier — that is, brands such as Graff, De Beers and Chopard.
“We’re concentrating on the very high end,” said Leviev president and chief operating officer Thierry Chaunu, former president and chief executive officer of Chopard in the U.S. who is spearheading the brand’s rollout.
“The air is obviously very thin at the top of the diamond trade,” said Leviev, comparing diamond brands with art dealers. “Each [art dealer] specializes in different time periods, just as each jewelry brand tends to specialize in a specific style or diamond quality. We are different from everybody else by the wide range of extraordinary jewels we offer. We are the only independent diamond company that fully controls the entire life cycle of a diamond, from mining to cutting, polishing, marketing and retailing. It is this unsurpassed experience and knowledge that puts Leviev in a realm others only strive to reach. We can spend years creating a necklace of perfectly matched D-flawless diamonds. Exceptional diamond jewelry is our specialty.”
François Curiel, chairman of Christie’s Europe and head of jewelry for the auction house, said the global diamond market is about $60 billion and that the high-end retail diamond market is about $25 billion to $30 billion, leaving room for a few operators.
Nonetheless, the Madison Avenue opening is a bold move by a relatively little-known brand offering exorbitantly priced jewelry. Those in the diamond industry are familiar with the name, but Leviev is hardly a household name, even amongst the superrich.
Curiel said such icons in the jewelry world likely faced similar struggles for brand recognition: “When Harry Winston started and there was Van Cleef and Cartier [everyone probably thought], who was Harry Winston?”
And, over the past two years, Leviev’s aggressive public relations campaign has nabbed several celebrity wearers, including Salma Hayek, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin and Jennifer Hudson, but Chaunu is cautious of rushing into anything.
“We’re humble,” he said. “We’re not saying here that we are conquering the world. If there’s one thing [Leviev] resents, it’s attitude.”