Graff is a British multinational jeweller based in London. It was founded by British jeweller Laurence Graff in 1960. A

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...

company, Graff operations comprise the design, manufacture and retail distribution of jewellery and watches.

Awards

Graff were the first ever jewellers to receive the Queen's Award for Industry and Export (now known as the Queen's Award for Enterprise), awarded in 1973. Since then, the company has received this award a further four times, most recently in 2014.

Sourcing

Graff adheres to the Kimberley Process, never knowingly buying or trading rough diamonds from areas where this would encourage conflict or human suffering. The majority of Graff diamonds are laser engraved with unique

Gemological Institute of America The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a nonprofit institute based in Carlsbad, California. It is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Founded in 1931, GIA's mission is to protect buyers and s ...

(GIA) tracking numbers, which whilst invisible to the naked eye, allow for their origin to be traced. Graff’s cutting and polishing processes are carried out in Johannesburg by the South African Diamond Corporation, a division of Graff.

Notable pieces

Diamonds

The Windsor Yellows were acquired by Laurence Graff in 1987 in Geneva during the auction of the jewels belonging to

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intentio ...

, Duchess of Windsor. The Duchess was often photographed wearing the Windsor Yellows, a pair of clips of fancy yellow pear shaped diamonds of 51.01 and 40.22 carats respectively. "I also bought another pair of clips the Duchess had owned," Laurence Graff explains. "Of course they needed re-cutting to bring them to their full potential, I bought all four, repolished them, and eventually made the Windsor earrings." The Paragon diamond was acquired by Graff in 1989. The '' Paragon'' is a 7-sided diamond of , cut, and was worn as part of "millennium" necklace of round, pink, blue and yellow diamonds by

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

in 1999. The Lesotho Promise was acquired as a rough stone for $12.4 million in 2006. The stone was cut by a team of 35 using computer-controlled lasers into 26 D-flawless diamonds totaling , the highest yield from a single diamond. The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is a fancy deep-blue diamond with internally flawless clarity purchased by Laurence Graff in 2008 for £16.4 million. The Delaire Sunrise is, at 118.08 carats, the largest square emerald cut Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond in the world. Discovered in 2008 at an alluvial mine in South Africa, the 221.81 carat rough diamond. When Laurence Graff unveiled the finished diamond, he named it "the Delaire Sunrise". The Graff Pink was acquired by Graff in November 2010. A pink diamond with a type IIa classification and modified emerald cut shape, the diamond was previously held in a private collection for over 60 years. The diamond displayed 25 natural flaws. The recut 23.88 carat diamond displayed new colour, clarity and internal flawlessness. The Sultan Abdul Hamid II is a 70.54 carat light yellow acquired by Graff in 1981. It has been suggested that this stone may have been cut from "The Ottoman I" which originally belonged to Suleyman the Magnificent of Turkey. The Graff Lesedi La Rona, a 302.37 carat D color high-clarity emerald cut diamond. It is the main stone cut from the Lesedi La Rona, bought by Graff in 2017 and cut in 2019. The cutting of the rough stone also produced 66 smaller stones. According to Graff, the stone is the "largest highest clarity, highest color diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)".

Jewellery

The Peacock Brooch takes the form of a

peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

with a display of fanned tail feathers, this diamond

brooch A brooch (, ) is a decorative jewellery item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gem ...

features a collection of coloured diamonds. A total of 120.81 carats of diamonds adorn the brooch, which measures a little over 10 cm in height. At the heart of the brooch, sits a 20.02 carat deep blue pear shape diamond. The piece also features an additional clasp to the rear, allowing the blue diamond centrepiece to be removed and worn two ways. This piece was unveiled in 2013 and priced at $100 million. As of 2015, the brooch had sold for $120 million. The Hallucination watch was unveiled at Baselworld in 2014, with Graff claiming it as the most expensive watch created at $55 million. It is made with 110 carats of fancy colour diamonds and has a

quartz movement Quartz clocks and quartz watches are timepieces that use an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time. The crystal oscillator, controlled by the resonant mechanical vibrations of the quartz crystal, creates a signal with ...

Locations

Graff has over 50 stores around the world, with their first location outside of the UK located in Monaco's

Hôtel de Paris The Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo is a luxury hotel that is located at Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was opened in 1864 as part of the development of Monaco by the Société des Bains de Mer de Monaco, Société des Bains de Mer. In M ...

in 2000. Their largest boutique is in

Rue Saint-Honoré The Rue Saint-Honoré () is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is named after the collegial , situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré. The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscal ...

, Paris, their second in the city. Graff has corporate offices in London, New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Robberies

Graff has been the target of several robberies. In 1980, two Chicago-based

gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...

s armed with a handgun and a

hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

stole jewellery valued at £1.5 million from the

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

premises.

Mafiosi A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a leve ...

Joseph Scalise and Arthur Rachel, who took "less than a minute" to commit the crime, were apprehended eleven hours later in the United States and were

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to England where they were tried, convicted and imprisoned for nine years. Their haul had included the 26 carat Marlborough diamond, worth £400,000 at the time, which has never been recovered. In 1993, the firm's

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...

workshop premises was robbed of jewellery valued at £7 million. The robbery was attributed to a group of armed robbers known as The Rascal Gang due to the

Bedford Rascal The is a kei truck produced by the Japanese automaker Suzuki. The microvan version was originally called the Carry van until 1982 when the passenger van versions were renamed as the . In Japan, the Carry and Every are ''kei cars'' but the Suzuk ...

vans they used. In 2003, the New Bond Street premises was robbed by two men from the

Pink Panthers The Pink Panthers are an international jewel thief network responsible for a number of robberies and thefts described as some of the most audacious in the history of organized crime. The organization has roughly 800 core members, many of whom ...

international jewel thief network, who stole 47 pieces of jewellery worth £23 million. In 2005, three armed robbers stole jewellery valued at £2 million from the Sloane Street premises. In 2007, two robbers, who arrived at the Sloane Street premises in a chauffeur-driven Bentley Continental Flying Spur, threatened staff at gunpoint and stole jewellery worth £10 million. In the same year, the Graff premises in Wafi City, Dubai was targeted by the Pink Panthers again, using two

Audi A8 The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury vehicle, luxury sedan (car), sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with either front-wheel dri ...

cars to carry out a ram raid. Jewellery worth AED14.7 million (£2.4 million) was taken, although later recovered when two of the gang, both Serbians, were arrested. In the 2009 Graff Diamonds robbery, which took place on 6 August, two armed robbers stole 43 items with a total worth of nearly £40 million.Davenport, Justin
"£40m Mayfair raid is biggest gems heist in British history"
. ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' (London). 11 August 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2009. It was believed to be the largest ever gems heist in Britain at the time, and the second-largest British robbery after the £53 million raid on a Securitas depot in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in 2006.Edwards, Richard
"Graff Diamonds £40 million jewellery robbery is Britain's biggest gem heist"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2009."Jewellery raid haul put at £40m"

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2009. In 2010, Graff launched its first proprietary movement, the Graff Calibre 1, which can be found in the GraffStar GrandDate. The Graff Calibre 2 movement was unveiled in Basel in 2011 with the ScubaGraff diver's watch. The Graff Calibre 3 movement was unveiled in 2012 with the GraffStar Slim. Finally, 2013 saw the launch of the Graff Calibre 4 with the MasterGraff Ultra Flat Tourbillon.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Companies based in the City of Westminster Design companies established in 1960 Diamond dealers Luxury brands Retail companies established in 1960