Hamburg  - There is hardly a more sparkling investment than jewellery. Many wealthy people, shaken by the global financial crisis, have rediscovered the benefits of sinking their savings into expensive rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets or watches.

"The crisis has made the question of value and sustainability more important again," noted Karl-Eugen Friedrich, chairman of Germany's Federal Association of Jewellers, Jewellery and Watch Retailers (BVJ). While there has not been a "run" on German jewellery shops, he said, many have seen increased sales this year.

"Consumers see jewellery as a store of value," remarked a spokeswoman for the luxury Berlin department store Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe). She said the store's jewellery and watch department, whose display cases glitter with brands including Cartier, Bulgari and Chopard, continued to be well frequented during the ongoing crisis.

Customers are noticeably less interested in fashionable design than in timeless items of stable or increasing value, the spokeswoman added.

Friedrich said jewellery was an attractive investment because it remained at hand and was always accessible. Before the financial crisis, customers tended to take their money to the bank and invest it in securities, he noted. But promises of substantial returns often were not kept, so many customers now opt more frequently for valuable jewellery.

They say to themselves, "Instead of stocks, I'd rather buy a watch," Friedrich remarked. One-of-a-kind pieces are also more in demand: "There's been a slight increase in high-end, custom-made items," he said.

For jewellery to be a worthwhile investment, though, customers have to dig deep into their pockets. As Friedrich sees it, "You've got to spend at least 7,000 euros (9,900 dollars)."

Contrary to popular belief, expensive pieces of jewellery bought as an investment are not necessarily squirrelled away in a safe; they are worn. "There are always social occasions" to wear them, Friedrich said, adding that their owners were unafraid of damage because jewellery retained its value even with small scratches.

However, while jewellery retailers have had reason to smile this year, the industry as a whole is less satisfied. "The jewellery industry is certainly having a hard time of it at the moment," said Alfred Schneider, managing director of the Federation of German Jewellery, Watches, Clocks, Silverware and Related Industries.

The main problem is depressed global demand, Schneider said, so companies depending on exports have been hit harder than those supplying mainly the German market.

A. Lange & Soehne, a luxury watch manufacturer in the German state of Saxony, also paints a less than bright picture. Spokesman Arnd Einhorn said the company, which makes about 5,000 watches a year, had always had customers who purchased a watch as an investment. Since the onset of the financial crisis, however, demand has fallen somewhat, he said.

While some customers are looking at timepieces as a profitable investment, "others, of course, have decided to forgo expensive watches," Einhorn noted. But he said that A. Lange & Soehne was optimistic that the second half of 2009 would see an improvement.

Friedrich is also sanguine about prospects for the rest of the year: "We hope to achieve an approximately three-per-cent increase over our results in 2008," when sales of German jewellery and watches totalled some 4.6 billion euros. (dpa)