There is a difference between buying jewellery and investing in it. A trend-led trinket is bought, worn for a season, and forgotten in a drawer. An investment necklace is something else entirely: a piece of real gold, chosen with care, that holds its value, gathers meaning, and is eventually handed down. It is the necklace you reach for every day until it becomes part of you — and the one your daughter will one day claim as her own. In an age of fast everything, the investment necklace is a quiet act of permanence.
This is the ESVRA edit of the investment necklace: the finest gold, diamond and emerald pieces worth saving for, told through the houses that make them best. From FoundRae's symbolic medallions to Lauren Rubinski's featherlight gold, Marla Aaron's ingenious locks and the high-jewellery sparkle of Anita Ko, these are the necklaces to buy once and keep forever. Not the most of anything — simply the best.
The Case for Fine Gold
Why invest in a fine necklace when costume jewellery costs a fraction? Because the two are not the same thing. Solid 18-karat gold does not tarnish, bend, or date; it holds its material value as a precious metal, and the best pieces appreciate as the houses that make them grow. A fine necklace is wearable wealth — beautiful enough to wear every day, valuable enough to matter, and durable enough to outlive the trends entirely.
The real return, though, is not financial. It is the way a fine piece becomes a companion: worn so often it feels like a second skin, gathering the small history of a life, until it is impossible to imagine being without it. That is what separates an investment from a purchase — and why the right necklace, chosen once, is worth more than a drawer full of the disposable.
The Gold Chain
The foundation of any fine collection — the gold chain, from featherlight French links to bold American cable.
Every fine collection begins with a gold chain — the piece worn alone or layered, the foundation everything else is built upon. Lauren Rubinski, the French house crafted in Italy, makes perhaps the most covetable: 14-karat gold chains of braided and wheaten links, each one hollowed to stay featherlight, a one-and-done indicator of good taste. Her 14-karat gold necklace, large 14-karat gold necklace, and a third 14-karat gold chain are heirloom-elegant, larger-than-life yet weightless.
FoundRae, the American house of meaning, anchors the category with substantial 18-karat chains — the heavy gold necklace, the pierced curb necklace, the oval link chain, a matching oval link necklace and bracelet set, and two recycled-gold chains (here and here) — designed to be worn like a second skin and layered for years.
For the boldest links, the American icons deliver. David Yurman's Madison necklace and Sculpted Cable necklace carry the twisted-cable motif that is the house's signature, while David Webb — the storied mid-century New York jeweller who dressed Hollywood royalty and First Ladies — brings old-world boldness with the architectural Barbell gold chain. Yvonne Léon's playful-fine Corde Chaînette necklace in yellow and white gold completes the chain.
The Gold Chain
From featherlight French links to bold American cable — the foundation of a fine collection.
- Lauren Rubinski14-karat gold necklace
- Lauren RubinskiLarge 14-karat gold necklace
- Lauren Rubinski14-karat gold necklace
- FoundRaeHeavy 18-karat gold necklace
- FoundRaePierced Curb 18-karat gold necklace
- FoundRaeOval Link Chain 18-karat gold necklace
- FoundRaeOval Link Chain 18-karat gold necklace and bracelet set
- FoundRae18-karat recycled gold necklace
- FoundRae18-karat recycled gold necklace
- David YurmanMadison 18-karat gold necklace
- David YurmanSculpted Cable 18-karat gold necklace
- David WebbBarbell 18-karat gold chain necklace
- Yvonne LéonCorde Chaînette 18-karat yellow and white gold necklace
The Medallion
The necklace with meaning — symbolic medallions and lockets, the most personal investment of all.
If the chain is the foundation, the medallion is the soul. No house understands this better than FoundRae, whose 18-karat gold medallions are inscribed with symbols of strength, balance, love and resilience — modern heirlooms designed, in founder Beth Bugdaycay's words, to let the wearer build a personal visual language. The Strength diamond necklace, the Balance emerald and diamond necklace, the Love diamond necklace, the layered Resilience, Balance and Radiating Heart necklace, and two further diamond medallions (here and here) each carry their own meaning.
From Paris, Marie Lichtenberg brings the talismanic locket — her Check Locket in gold, emerald and diamond opens to hold a secret, the most personal investment of all. It is the piece that makes a collection unmistakably, irreplaceably yours.
The Medallion
Symbolic medallions and lockets — the necklace with meaning, the most personal investment.
- FoundRaeStrength 18-karat recycled gold diamond necklace
- FoundRaeBalance 18-karat gold, emerald and diamond necklace
- FoundRaeLove 18-karat gold diamond necklace
- FoundRaeResilience, Balance and Radiating Heart 18-karat gold diamond necklace
- FoundRae18-karat gold diamond necklace
- FoundRae18-karat gold diamond necklace
- Marie LichtenbergCheck Locket 18-karat gold, emerald and diamond necklace
The Investment Necklace
Every necklace in this edit, gathered in one place — tap any to shop the piece.
The Lock
The cult signature — Marla Aaron's ingenious gold locks, fine jewellery reimagined as a tool.
No piece in modern fine jewellery is more instantly recognisable than the Marla Aaron lock. The New York designer — the self-styled "Carabiner Queen" — launched her line in 2012 when her obsessions with bridges, hardware and jewellery could no longer be ignored, and built a cult following by reimagining the humble lock as a precious object. Made and finished by hand in New York, her pieces are designed as "jewel tools" — worn in infinite ways, clasped and re-clasped, entirely your own.
The serpentine Myriad Lock in 18-karat gold looks like an interlocking infinity symbol; the sterling silver and yellow-and-rose-gold necklace mixes metals with quiet wit; and the Lock in 14-karat gold, diamond and emerald elevates the signature to high jewellery. Aaron won the GEM Award for Jewelry Design in 2024 — recognition for a vision that made the functional feel precious.
The Lock
Marla Aaron's ingenious gold locks — fine jewellery reimagined as a tool, worn your own way.
- Marla AaronMyriad Lock 18-karat gold necklace
- Marla AaronSterling silver, 18-karat yellow and rose gold necklace
- Marla AaronLock 14-karat gold, diamond and emerald necklace
The Diamond Necklace
The high-jewellery investment — diamonds and emeralds, the pieces saved for and treasured.
At the summit of the edit sit the diamond and emerald pieces — the high-jewellery investments saved for, and treasured forever. Anita Ko, the Los Angeles favourite worn by Hollywood's coolest, brings glamour with her 18-karat gold, diamond and emerald necklace and a sleek gold diamond necklace, the vivid green of the emeralds set against warm gold.
From Paris, Messika — the house of Valérie Messika — reimagines the diamond necklace with its signature moving stones in the My Move King 18-karat rose gold diamond necklace. Suzanne Kalan's 18-karat gold tennis necklace is the eternal classic — a continuous line of brilliance — while L'Atelier Nawbar, the artistic Beirut house, brings savoir-faire to the Warrior Princess gold diamond necklace, and Marie Lichtenberg's Gourmette gold diamond necklace closes the edit with Parisian polish.
The Diamond Necklace
Diamonds and emeralds — the high-jewellery investment, saved for and treasured forever.
- Anita Ko18-karat gold, diamond and emerald necklace
- Anita Ko18-karat gold diamond necklace
- MessikaMy Move King 18-karat rose gold diamond necklace
- Suzanne Kalan18-karat gold tennis necklace
- L'Atelier NawbarWarrior Princess 18-karat gold diamond necklace
- Marie LichtenbergGourmette 18-karat gold diamond necklace
The Makers Behind the Pieces
An investment necklace is only as fine as the house that made it. Meet the makers — and the savoir-faire behind each piece in this edit.
Founded by Beth Bugdaycay, FoundRae is the house of meaning. Each 18-karat gold medallion is inscribed with symbols — strength, balance, love, resilience — drawn from mythology, astrology and ancient philosophy, so that a piece becomes a personal visual language built over a lifetime. Made to be worn like a second skin and layered endlessly, FoundRae's medallions and belcher chains are modern heirlooms in the truest sense: designed, from the first sketch, to be passed down. It is the anchor of this edit for good reason — no house better understands that the finest jewellery is the kind that means something.
The perfect union of French elegance and Italian savoir-faire, Lauren Rubinski crafts her 14-karat gold chains in Italy with a singular philosophy: bigger is better. Her signature braided and wheaten links are larger-than-life yet featherlight — each one hollowed by an exclusive technique so the boldest chain stays weightless. Inspired by the heirlooms she discovered in her grandmother's jewellery box in Cap d'Antibes, her pieces carry a Riviera ease and a "one-and-done" elegance. They are, quite simply, the chicest gold chains in fine jewellery today.
Marla Aaron launched her line in 2012 when her obsessions with bridges, hardware and jewellery could no longer be ignored — and reinvented fine jewellery as a tool. Her cult locks, made and finished by hand in New York, are designed to be clasped, layered and re-clasped in infinite ways, replacing the "precious" in jewellery with pure individuality. The serpentine Myriad lock looks like an interlocking infinity symbol; every piece is built to be played with, lived in, and made entirely your own. In 2024, she won the GEM Award for Jewelry Design — recognition for a vision that made the functional feel precious.
An internationally renowned, award-winning house based in Los Angeles, Anita Ko creates contemporary luxury with a cool, confident twist — pieces designed to move from day-to-day elegance to red-carpet glamour. Worn by some of the world's most stylish women and named Jewelry Designer of the Year in 2023, her diamond and gemstone designs are aspirational yet effortless, sophisticated yet wearable. Born and raised in LA, Ko brings a sun-warmed, laid-back glamour to high jewellery — the kind of cool that makes a great diamond necklace feel as easy as a T-shirt.
Founded in 2005 by Valérie Messika — daughter of diamond merchant André Messika — this contemporary Parisian house reimagined the diamond for the modern woman. Its philosophy is radical in its simplicity: diamonds should be celebrated daily, not reserved for special occasions, worn as naturally as a tattoo on the skin. The house's signature moving diamonds, seen in the My Move collection, bring a fresh, female-forward modernity to high jewellery, and have made Messika a red-carpet fixture in barely two decades.
For over thirty-five years, Suzanne Kalan has redefined the use of baguette-cut diamonds, introducing the now-iconic Fireworks design that captivated collectors worldwide. Born into a jewellery family and based in Los Angeles, she creates handcrafted 18-karat gold pieces designed to outlive trends — versatile from day to evening, and built to be cherished across generations. Her tennis necklace is the eternal classic: a continuous line of brilliance, the purest expression of the investment diamond.
Two New York houses define American high jewellery. David Yurman built a global house on a single archetypal form — the twisted Cable, his unmistakable signature, rendered here in the Madison and Sculpted Cable necklaces. And David Webb, the storied mid-century jeweller who dressed Hollywood royalty and First Ladies alike, left behind an archive of over forty thousand designs and an old-world boldness that endures in the architectural Barbell chain. Together they bring heritage, craftsmanship, and unmistakable American confidence to the edit.
Three houses bring artistry and personal meaning. From Paris, Marie Lichtenberg crafts talismanic lockets and scapulars — pieces that open to hold a secret, the most personal of all. From Beirut, L'Atelier Nawbar brings remarkable savoir-faire and an artistic, sculptural sensibility to high jewellery, seen in the intricate Warrior Princess necklace. And Yvonne Léon, the French designer beloved for her playful-fine sensibility, completes the edit with gold that feels at once precious and joyful. Each proves that the finest jewellery is as much about story as it is about stones.
How to Wear the Investment Necklace
A few principles make a fine necklace look effortless, expensive, and entirely your own.
Build Your Neckscape
The most personal way to wear fine jewellery is to layer it. Start with your shortest piece and build downward, leaving at least an inch between each so every necklace has room to shine. Mix textures and weights — a fine chain against a chunkier link, a tennis necklace beside a medallion — and let one hero piece, a meaningful pendant or a bold chain, anchor the stack. The best "neckscape" doesn't look messy; it looks collected, balanced, and built over time.
Let the Neckline Do the Work
A fine necklace lives or dies by its neckline. An open collar, a scoop, or a bare shoulder frames a chain or pendant beautifully; a high or busy neckline competes with it. Keep the fabric simple and the colour muted — ivory, black, soft grey — so the gold and stones command the frame. The piece should sit against skin or a clean neckline, never fight for space.
Buy Once, Buy Well
The whole philosophy of the investment necklace is to buy fewer, better things. Rather than accumulating costume pieces, save for one fine necklace you truly love and wear it every day. Choose solid gold over plating, a design that speaks to you over a fleeting trend, and a house with real craftsmanship behind it. A single well-chosen piece will outlast — and out-charm — a drawer full of the disposable.
Wear It Every Day
The greatest mistake with fine jewellery is saving it for "special occasions." The most stylish women wear their investment pieces constantly — with a T-shirt and jeans as readily as an evening gown — until the necklace becomes part of them. Fine gold is durable; it is made to be lived in. The more you wear it, the more it gathers meaning, and the more it becomes unmistakably yours.
The Last Word
The investment necklace is the antidote to everything disposable. In a world of fast fashion and faster trends, it is a deliberate choice to own something real — a piece of solid gold, made by hands that care, chosen to last a lifetime and beyond. Whether it is a featherlight Lauren Rubinski chain, a symbolic FoundRae medallion, an ingenious Marla Aaron lock, or a sparkling Anita Ko diamond, the right necklace is never merely bought. It is invested in, worn daily, loved completely, and one day passed on. That is the truest luxury there is.
For more, see our edits on the jewels edit and the quiet luxury bag.
The Investment Necklace
Every necklace in this edit, in one place — tap any to shop the piece.