In the modern age, when most of us think of gemstones, gold or jewelry, we think of gifts or items for women. It is true that most sales of jewelry, including gold jewelry and gemstone jewelry, are made to or for women. However, according to a 2006 report by Unity Marketing out of Pennsylvania, the sales of jewelry to men went up 10% in 2005 from 2003. While this is not an enormous leap of gold and gemstone jewelry sales, it is significant enough growth to make the gold and gemstone jewelry industry stand up and take notice.

Men’s sales of gold and gemstone jewelry make up about 11.5% of total gold and gemstone jewelry sales. This is enough for gold and gemstone jewelry marketers and businesses to see the lucrative advantage of producing more gold and gemstone jewelry aimed specifically at men. While sales of jewelry may never reach the level of gold and gemstone jewelry sales to women, men still make up an enormous market demographic. Increasing the growth of gold and gemstone jewelry sales by even a small percentage each year can bring enormous amounts of money into the jewelry trade.

Much of what makes up the sales to men in terms of gold and gemstone jewelry comes in the form of expensive watches. Of course, these watch sales are not necessarily sales of the simple type of timepiece made with a minimalist design. It seems that more and more men are buying and wearing watches not to tell the time, but to show off a little glamor and flash in front of their friends and associates. This trend is found in the growth of sales of designer watches that, while capable of telling time, are hardly simple, inexpensive timepieces.

Yet the new trend of men wearing a little more gold and gemstone jewelry is not simply confined to watches. Men are becoming more and more likely to buy rings and bracelets for themselves. It would also seem that this trend toward gold and gemstone jewelry purchases by men for themselves is linked to the action of buying gold and gemstone jewelry for women. In other words, when men buy gold and gemstone jewelry items for the women in their lives, they then become curious and more intrigued with the idea of purchasing jewelry for themselves.

In today’s world, the majority of gold and gemstone jewelry are still sold to women, and it doesn’t look like that fact will be changing any time soon. However, as the interest in gold and gemstone jewelry grows with women, it seems that men are not far behind in finding interest in such items as well. Who knows, with the way men are picking up on the entire concept of outfitting themselves in a little accentuating scintillation and glamor, maybe in years to come the gold and gemstone jewelry industry will find itself creating as many jewelry designs for men as they do for women.