For This Virginia Jeweler, the Future is All About Custom

Billy Smith, owner of Smith Jewelers in Franklin, VA, is no stranger to the particular predilections of the buying public. People want what they want when they want it. And when hand-carved wax models were all the rage, a lot of heartache went into pleasing custom clients.

For retailers of a certain age, it was the only game in town. Today, for jewelers of any age, there’s 3D design. Or, as Smith likes to tell it, there’s Custom Crafted by Overnight.

“Custom is the fastest growing segment of my business and has been for the past few years,” says Smith. Younger customers come in, picture in hand, eager for a piece of jewelry that’s theirs, and theirs alone. “And it’s so easy,” he says. “I just call Matt,” he says of his Overnight account executive, “and I’ve got a workable CAD to show my customer in 24 to 48 hours.”

Pricing is easy with Overnight, as the company provides an estimate for manufacturing that includes variables like metal (14K, 18K or platinum), gemstone type and grade and much more. Once the CAD/CAM design is approved, Smith says he can get a complete piece of jewelry made and delivered to a happy customer in 7-10 days.

And though Smith is also a bench jeweler and totally capable of creating a piece of custom jewelry by hand “the old-fashioned way,” he’s found that high tech is the way to go—mixed in, of course, with a little low tech: “I just call Matt at Overnight and say, ‘hey, can you do this?’”

CASE STUDY 1: A CUSTOMER’S DIAMOND

One of Smith’s customers came in with a three-carat diamond she had “laying around the house.” She agreed to let Smith make her a ring with a halo setting—but instead of melee, she proposed surrounding it with thirty pointers. “Overnight came through like a champ,” says Smith. The ring, “the size of a nickel,” was simply beautiful, the setting designed to accommodate the large center diamond and surrounding stones with some side baguettes thrown in for good measure. The client, says Smith, loved it.

CASE STUDY 2: A RING OF ONE’S OWN

Smith Jewelers is in the Navy town of Franklin, VA, located near Norfolk Naval Air Station. A Chief Petty Officer wanted a collection of insignias to be incorporated in a ring and brought them for Smith in person. With the help of Custom Crafted by Overnight, he was able to blend the designs into a ring any member of the U.S. Navy would be proud to own.