Los Angeles · Since 1932
Precious jewelry. Estate jewels. Bespoke commissions. From the original jeweler to the stars.
Lana Turner & Kirk Douglas in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) — featuring Precious Jewels by Laykin et Cie
The Signature Piece
The two-row diamond bangle was first created for Lana Turner — a longtime Laykin et Cie client — in 1952, the same year she wore our jewels on screen in The Bad and the Beautiful. Seven years later, Doris Day wore not one but two of these bracelets in Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson, stacked on her wrist in a moment that defined the bracelet's place in Hollywood history. Two of Hollywood's greatest stars. One bracelet, worn twice as well. The restrained elegance of the Laykin et Cie atelier at its finest.
Explore the CollectionMade to Order · By Conversation Only
When Soong Mei-ling — wife of Chiang Kai-shek and one of the celebrated Soong sisters — visited the United States in 1943 to address Congress, she became a client of Laykin et Cie. The ring we designed for her is built upon the form of the traditional Chinese wedding ring, surrounded by twenty point diamonds and set with imperial jade. Each piece is made to order, individually, in our atelier. From $85,000.
Begin a Conversation2018 Collection · $1,500,000
The Transcendence was first conceived in 1939, rooted in the bold geometry of Art Deco. Reintroduced for the 2018 collection, it provides a balanced and correct cradle for an important stone. This example features an 18.5 carat emerald cut diamond of near flawless clarity, set in hand wrought pure platinum. Everything is understood once this ring makes its entry.
Begin a ConversationMade to Order · Since 1935
Designed in 1935 at our Sunset Boulevard atelier, the Nefertiti evokes the Art Deco interpretation of ancient Egyptian themes with sultry proportions and modernistic presence. Originally made in opaque onyx, lapis, or malachite — and still produced that way today. Shown here in regal amethyst. Also available in blue or brown topaz, citrine, tourmaline, or tanzanite. Each stone hand selected and cut by Laykin gemologists.
Begin a ConversationMade to Last
Some designs do not need to be reinvented. These pieces have been made continuously in our atelier for decades — each one by hand, each one to order.
In Continuous Production Since the 1940s
Designed in the 1940s and never out of production, the Crossover Ring is one of the defining pieces of the Laykin atelier. A sweeping pavé diamond band crosses over a smooth polished gold shank — the tension between the two is the design. Made in a range of widths and diamond weights, in 18k yellow, white, or rose gold. Each stone hand-set by our craftsmen.
Inquire about this piece →
In Continuous Production Since the 1950s
Made since the 1950s, the pavé diamond ball is set all the way around — not just on the face, but across every surface — without a single flat or unfinished plane. Worn as earring studs or fitted with an invisible plunging clasp to serve as a statement closure for pearls or bead strands. Available in three sizes and in 18k yellow or white gold. A piece that works equally well as the finishing touch or the center of attention.
Inquire about this piece →
Individually Set · Made to Order
One of the most demanding rings in our repertoire. Each stone is individually placed and held in position by tension — two gold claws that grip the girdle of the stone from either side, allowing the gem to breathe and the light to pass through unobstructed. Produced with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, or any stone of the client's choosing. No two are identical. Shown here in 18k yellow gold with royal blue sapphires.
Inquire about this piece →
Retro · Circa 1940
A pair of Retro-era clip earrings in 18k yellow gold, with calibré-cut sapphires set in two vertical channels separated by a fine platinum rail. The clasp panel is entirely paved in round diamonds — an architectural counterpoint to the cool geometry of the stones above. Shown here with the original Laykin et Cie design sketch, watercolor on card, annotated in the workroom hand of the period.
Inquire about this piece →
Retro · Circa 1938
An imposing cocktail ring from the late 1930s — a period when Laykin et Cie was producing some of its most architecturally bold work. The center stone is an enormous emerald-cut citrine, claw-set in an open gallery of 18k yellow gold that allows light to enter from below. The shoulders are lined with calibré-cut rubies set in twin rails, their deep red a deliberate foil to the warm amber of the citrine above.
Inquire about this piece →
Our Heritage
Founded in the 1920s, the company was originally called the Laykin Diamond Company — a perfectly respectable name, functional and clear. At the La Quinta Hotel salon in 1932, Gloria Swanson turned to our founder Sol Laykin and told him it had no ring to it. He told her she could name it anything she liked — if she was buying. She was. 'We shall call it Laykin et Cie,' she said. Sol agreed immediately, and only thought to ask what et Cie actually meant sometime later that evening over dinner. Over nine decades later, the house Gloria christened remains the oldest jeweler in Los Angeles — and we have never once forgotten who named us.
Read Our Story
S.W. Laykin · Los Angeles, 1939
The Ambassador Hotel, Wilshire Boulevard · Colorized photograph
The Founder
St. Joseph, Missouri, 1910 – Los Angeles, 1993
Sol Laykin was born in 1910 in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of immigrants who had come west from Imperial Russia. He was not born into the jewelry trade, nor into money. He was born into a family that understood what it meant to build something from nothing — and he spent the better part of a century proving that he had learned the lesson well.
He made his way to Los Angeles, where relatives on his mother's side had been among the earliest members of the city's Jewish community since the 1890s. By 1932 he had established what would become Laykin et Cie — a firm that, under his direction, would grow into one of the most respected jewelry houses in the United States.
For more than fifty years — from the first salon through the golden era of Hollywood, through the postwar boom, through the decades that followed — Sol Laykin was the firm. His eye for stones was regarded as exceptional. His memory for clients, their families, and the jewels they had purchased or admired was legendary. Captains of industry trusted him with commissions of the highest order. Celebrities wore his pieces on screen and on the red carpet. And clients who came in for a first wedding band were treated with the same care as those who came for a suite of diamonds worth a fortune.
He was, by every account, a fierce competitor — someone who understood the jewelry business at every level, from the gem markets of Antwerp and New York to the particulars of what a woman in Los Angeles wanted to wear to the opening of the Music Center. And he was, in equal measure, a craftsman who believed that the jeweled arts deserved to be practiced with seriousness and with joy.
Sol Laykin passed away in 1993. The house he founded remains, as he intended it: a Los Angeles institution, in continuous operation, committed to the standards he set.
Montecito, California
Born of the California coast — luminous, warm, and quietly elegant. A personal homage to the art of fine perfumery, and to the extraordinary beauty of the place that inspired it.
San Marino, California
Rose gardens in full bloom. The particular hush of a California that valued beauty above all else. A fragrance for those who understand what it means to have arrived.
Hollywood, California
Luminous, feminine, and timelessly glamorous. A fragrance born of Hollywood's golden age — and the salon that stood at the heart of it all.
Hollywood, California
Dark, sophisticated, and quietly magnetic. The noir counterpart — for those who understand that true elegance has depth.
Private Appointments
We invite you to visit one of our California salons for a private viewing of our current collection, estate jewels, and bespoke commissions. No appointment is too intimate, no request too particular.
San Marino · Los Angeles · Montecito
