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European jewelry brands are also taking advantage of changing bridal customs in their home countries. Van Cleef & Arpels, which also belongs to Compagnie Financiere Richemont, this year Tiffany Necklace sale a "bridal bar" in its Paris flagship. Salespeople serve Champagne and chocolate. The store stays open late to cater to young executives, among the major buyers of diamond engagement rings.Boucheron, part of Gucci Group, the luxury division of France's PPR SA, says the pink-gold rings it offers at its boutique on Place Vendome in Paris sell well to local customers who want to mix the French tradition of color with the diamond-solitaire trend.Chinese couples are the latest to be smitten with diamond bridal jewelry. In April, Cartier started rolling out its bridal salons to its 14 stores on mainland China.Miao Miao, a 25-year-old marketing assistant manager for a Hong Kong-based airline, bought a pair of Cartier "Love" rings as wedding bands for herself and her partner, at $1,720, at a Hong Kong boutique this year. She says Cartier's ads portraying the ring as a symbol of love influenced her. "The legend says the finger links to heart," the newlywed says. "So wearing a wedding ring can always remind you of your commitment to your marriage."People inside the company debated the problem for months. "Some people would look at it one way and say, 'If every 16-year-old her silver jewelry from Tiffany, Tiffany Note sale eventually want their engagement ring from Tiffany 10 or 20 years later,'" says Mark Aaron, Tiffany's vice president of investor relations. But "what if some of those teenagers fill up their jewelry boxes with Tiffany silver, and as they get older, they perceive Tiffany as where they got their teenage jewelry?"At the Tiffany store in New Jersey's Mall at Short Hills, the main entrance still leads shoppers to counters housing its jaw-dropping fine jewelry.

But just aside, a private viewing room was added with a ready stock of chilled water and champagne. "We wanted to create an environment that was more intimate," says Elisabeth Ames, a Tiffany vice president. A side entrance was also added to lead "transactional" shoppers directly to the counters of Tiffany's silver jewelry. Other Tiffany stores have undergone similar renovations.Some high-end shoppers have not yet been lured back into Tiffany stores. Barbara Graffeo has a jewelry box full of Tiffany pieces. But, she says, "I don't wear them anymore because everyone Tiffany Pendant sale them now." The 46-year-old owner of a New York apparel company adds, "You used to aspire to be able to buy something at Tiffany, but now it's not that special anymore."In the late 1990s, Tiffany & Co.'s silver charm bracelet was a must- have fashion accessory. Teens jammed Tiffany's hushed stores clamoring for the $110 silver bauble. Sales skyrocketed, investors cheered.Tiffany's managers worried. They knew the bracelet had become a fad, one that could alienate the jewelry firm's older, wealthier, and more conservative clientele. Worse, it could forever damage Tiffany's reputation for luxury."The large number of silver customers did represent a fundamental threat -- not just to the business but to the core franchise of our brand," says Tiffany CEO Michael Kowalski.

So in a dramatic gamble, Tiffany decided to kill its golden goose. In 2002, the firm began hiking prices on its fast-growing, highly profitable line of cheaper silver jewelry. It simultaneously introduced pricier jewelry collections, renovated stores and showed off its craftsmanship by highlighting spectacular gems like a $2.5 million pink diamond ring.Like a growing number of publicly traded luxury-goods makers, Tiffany is attempting to walk a razor-thin line: Tiffany Ring sale offerings to the upper-middle-classes while pitching privilege to the truly rich. The dilemma is particularly common these days, as investors clamor for sales growth on one side and fickle luxury buyers demand exclusivity on the other.Other purveyors of designer wares have stumbled trying to satisfy both groups. Burberry Group PLC, the venerable British fashion house, plastered its iconic tan plaid on everything from dog collars to headbands, only to struggle with the resulting overexposure.Wealthy consumers aren't as loyal as they used to be. "Even though we're seeing more millionaires than ever, they now have lots of choices on how to spend their money," says Arnold Aronson, a managing director of consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates and former CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue.