[mvnuweucxqokii]

> “People don’t buy Swiss watches to tell the time,” he said. “Apple probably sells more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry but does that matter if they’ve grown during that period?”

Exactly. That diamonds are expensive is almost the entire point. If it becomes possible to buy artificial diamond rings for like $50, the tradition will disappear entirely. People will find some other signaling act.

[tempestn]

There's bias even in that wording though. They're not "artificial" diamonds. They're real diamonds, grown in a lab instead of in the ground.

Agreed with your broader point though. IIRC there's an economics term for this—goods that don't follow the standard supply/demand price curve, but where increasing price actually increases demand over some range. Ah, "Veblen" goods, apparently.

[aradox66]

Artificial means "made by humans" in addition to meaning "sham"

[ramsj]

If people move on to some other form of signaling that is less exploitative (of people and the environment), great!

[yrwelikethis]

Potentially a fair point vis a vis the environment, but it’s not really true of people as far as DeBeers is concerned. I know people that work for them in Botswana and I hear nothing but good things about them as an employer. On the environment, Kimberlites are pretty small and the environmental impact of primary diamond mining isn’t really that great in the grand scheme of things. Take this with a pinch of salt from a guy on the internet sharing some anecdata etc etc.

[ramsj]

De Beers is only ~25% of total annual carats of diamonds mined.

[mvnuweucxqokii]

Fair point!

[cjs_ac]

Here's one for £15: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7627747

[sealeck]

At least there is some aesthetic difference between a Swiss watch and an Apple Watch.