How the King of Diamonds Earned His Crown

Luxury consultant Sharon Novak sheds light on Harry Winston’s journey from penniless merchant to visionary jeweler.

A pioneer of the jewelry industry, Harry Winston was the first who sought to accentuate the stone itself instead of letting the metal cover up a large part of it. This allowed the stone to be the piece’s focal point, according to Sharon Novak. The New York-based luxury consultant, whose Instagram account, @jewelryathenaeum, features historical jewels, famous collectors and leading maisons, shared her insights on the King of Diamonds in a recent Rapaport Diamond podcast, “The Visionary and Timeless Harry Winston Style.”

“We’re starting in the mid-’30s through the ’40s, and at that time, coming out of the Art Deco, you really have more of a metal shape and then you’re inserting the stones into it,” Novak explains. “The biggest example being, of course, the mystery setting of Van Cleef & Arpels. In contrast, what Harry Winston did was to say, ‘Let’s let go of the metal completely. I want you to see as little metal as possible.’ And the innovation was to focus on very, very thin handmade wire settings that would virtually disappear, where the frame or the shape is really created by the jewel.”

Timeless technique
Winston’s new technique of enabling the stone to shine was a unique thought process and heavily contributed to how other major high-jewelry brands would design their pieces in years to come. He was not only a pioneer in this aspect, he was also the first to have a major workshop on 47^th Street in New York, which was just down the road from him.

“I challenge anyone, if you look at a Winston piece, [to] tell me what year it was made. I promise you, from 1940 to the present, you will not be able to. They’re absolutely enduring because they are timeless,” Novak shares.

Talking about one of Winston’s iconic motifs, Novak explains, “the story goes that he saw a wreath with snow on it on his door. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but this wonderful wreath of diamonds continues to be a classic Harry Winston design.”

Extraordinarily successful, Winston sold to a lot of incredibly famous and wealthy people. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian and created the engagement ring that Aristotle Onassis gave Jacqueline Kennedy. Among many other famous pieces was Elizabeth Taylor’s ring that she insisted she be animated with when she appeared in The Simpsons. Winston also famously layered gemstones, giving his pieces a 3D effect.

Born seller
Discussing Winston’s private life, Novak points out that he started from nothing. With not a dime to his name, he was able to buy and sell the Stoddard collection in 1925. An entrepreneur who knew how to sell a gem, he used that money to build his entire business. 

He was also a famous philanthropist who donated large sums to women’s organizations and hospitals everywhere and started the gemstone collection at the Smithsonian with the donation of the Hope Diamond.

At one point, Winston owned one-third of known famous diamonds. He loved and preserved them, not knowing if they would sell but caring about them nonetheless.

As the King of Diamonds, Winston did everything in his power to ensure the maximum beauty of the diamond, even if that meant drastically reducing its carat size. To emphasize its true beauty, a 124-carat diamond could be cut down to 44. Winston was willing to make sacrifices to enhance the mesmerizing enchantment of his pieces, Novak notes.

Two books that elucidate Winston and his legacy stand out. Focusing on the stones themselves is Harry Winston: The Ultimate Jeweler by Laurence S. Krashes and the jeweler’s eldest son, Ronald Winston (published by Arabesque Books). For a more personal story, King of Diamonds: Harry Winston, the Definitive Biography of an American Icon, written by Ronald Winston with William Stadiem, is a great read.

Main image: Harry Winston diamond necklace sold at Phillips Hong Kong Jewels and Jadeite Spring 2021. (Phillips)