Introduction

When I was in my mid twenties, I was into 916 Yellow Gold where at one time I was wearing 3 bracelets but one by one they got lost, haha. At that time, 1 gram of gold was selling for about RM50. I also had a custom made “Cartier” Love Bracelet which was imbedded with 7 solitaire diamonds, but eventually it also got lost, haha.

Today I am still wearing a 916 Yellow Gold Bracelet from Poh Kong which I bought maybe 5 years ago and today is worth close to double the price I paid because the price of gold has surged again tremendously since last year.

Actually, before I was into buying Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton (initially and later Chanel) handbags for my wife in my forties, the only luxury item for me was gold jewellery. But once I started buying watches and handbags and at one stage GIA Diamonds, I pretty much lost interest in gold, hahahaha.

Then about 10 years ago, my wife and 2 girls would only consider white gold necklaces and bracelets as white gold goes better with diamonds. To me white gold is a waste of money but since I am not wearing the items and there is no point in buying stuff that the girls don’t like, I had to purchase white gold items for them.

Because the price of gold has surged to historical highs, the price of gold jewellery has become more expensive BUT the designers have also come out with designs that look solid/chunky but is actually hollow inside if you know what I mean.

My Youngest Daughter Is Now Into Yellow Gold

If you are a long time follower of mine, you will know that my youngest daughter started earning big bucks the moment she graduated from the No.1 University in Australia where she managed to secure the job she wanted in Sydney (but she has since moved back to Melbourne this year). And I mean really big bucks for a young lady in her early twenties.

So to my youngest daughter a thousand or two dollars is something affordable to her. In my article titled My Youngest Daughter Bought Her Mum An Iconic Chanel White & Black Camellia Crush Mary Janes Shoes And About Life, I told you all that she asked my wife if she wanted to check out the Chanel Shoe Boutique in David Jones after lunch one day and of course my wife said yes since they had nothing to do, whereas I returned to my apartment. And I was surprised when my wife came back with a pair of Chanel Shoes that cost AUD2350 which my youngest daughter bought for her for Mothers’ Day!

For the last two years, I asked my youngest daughter what she wanted for her birthday and she would say “don’t know”. She returned to KL for CNY this year on MAS Biz Class but did not purchase a return ticket back to Australia. So I told her that I will give her a Business Class ticket from Singapore to Sydney so that she could attend Taylor Swift’s concert in Sydney (she managed to secure a ticket when it was opened for sale online).

I asked her what she wanted for her birthday this year so that I can buy it in advance as I won’t be in Melbourne on her birthday month. Once again she said “don’t know”. I then asked her if she has any yellow gold necklaces (I remember getting her a white gold necklace before) and to my surprise, she said she is wearing one from Tiffany & Co. She told me that she is now into yellow gold which is good because I like yellow gold too.

So I asked her what else she would like from Tiffany with a budget of about AUD2K and she said maybe earrings. So last week we went to Tiffany & Co Melbourne and the service was good where the moment we entered the store, one of the SAs immediately offered us drinks! The SA even allowed my daughter to try on the earrings on her ear and also different sizes of rings but she could not decide. After a few days I suggested maybe she can get a Tiffany & Co bracelet instead and she was open to that idea.

Then I googled Cartier bracelet and what caught my attention was it has the Cartier Logo which I thought was nice. I was thinking in my head – if want to spend so much money for a “branded” stuff, at least must have the logo, hahaha.

Then my wife told me that another brand to consider was Van Cleef & Arpels which is new to me (I am Chinapek only know Lolex and Channel, haha…). So I googled “Van Cleef” and noted that the price of the Sweet Alhambra is almost the same as Tiffany & Co. So I told my youngest daughter to go check it out and she went with my wife and found one of the SA at Van Cleef & Arpels to be most helpful. Otherwise, they would have been turned off by the brand.

But then I started to think to myself, these “Kwai Loh” brands are so overpriced as the weight of the gold is no where near the price of gold I am paying. So I WhatsApp my jeweler in KL and asked him what yellow gold bracelet I can get for around RM4K to RM6K. Below are the bracelets he sent to me in less than 30 minutes:

I forwarded the above images to my daughter and she said they looked too “chunky” and I was like thinking in my head this is value for money lah.

My wife told me that nowadays the younger generations are influenced by K-Pop or K-Drama celebrities where jewelers like Tiffany & Co, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels amd even Hermes engage them as brand ambassadors. And whenever a piece of jewellery or handbag appears in a K-Drama, it will cause a sudden demand. Below are some examples of Asian celebrities being ambassadors to Kwai-Loh companies:

Price of Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra Yellow Gold Bracelet Worldwide

So where is the cheapest place to get your favorite Tiffany & Co or Cartier or Van Cleef & Arpels Jewellery?

Well, just like Chanel, you can easily find the price of any Tiffany & Co or Van Cleef & Arpels or Cartier product anywhere on earth by simply selecting the country at your browser!

I will now show you the price of Van Cleef & Arpels Sweet Alhambra Bracelet in Malaysia, Netherlands, France, UK, UAE and Singapore:

So based on the prices shown on the internet, the price of the Van Cleef & Arpels Sweet Alhambra are as follows (based on conversion rate on 25th June 2024):

Malaysia MYR6,650

Australia AUD2,350 = MYR7,372

Netherlands EUR1,540 = MYR7,773.92

France EUR1,530 = MYR7,723.44

UK GBP1,300 = MYR7,735

UAE AED5,500 = MYR7,045.50

Singapore SGD2,090 = MYR 7,231.40

Surprise surprise, the Van Cleef & Arpels Sweet Alhambra is cheaper in KL Malaysia compared to Paris France, Amsterdam Netherlands, London UK, Dubai UAE, Melbourne Australia and of course Singapore.

But then again it shouldn’t come as a surprise since the labour (SA) cost is also cheaper in Malaysia and maybe the rental too. Of course you may get tax rebate when you buy in Australia, Europe and Singapore where these countries have GST but then again you need to fly there.

Now let’s compare the price of the more expensive Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra 5 Motifs worldwide:

Malaysia MYR28,700

Singapore SGD9,050 = MYR31,313

France EUR6,600 = MYR33,198

Portugal EUR6,700 = MYR33,701

Australia AUD10,200 = MYR31,977

UAE AED23,600 = MYR30,231.60

Once again, the price of the Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra is cheaper in Malaysia compared to Australia, France, Portugal, UAE and of course Singapore.

Based on Forex rate on 25th June 2024, it makes no sense to get the Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra from Europe because after tax rebate it is still cheaper in KL Malaysia!

Another very interesting point – why is it that many global brands have websites dedicated to Malaysia and stores in Malaysia? There are several reasons:

Reason for having stores in Malaysia is simply because of tourists! Malaysia is a favorite destination amongst tourist from China, Middle East and even Singapore whereby these people have money to splurge.

Moreover, the cost of labour and rental is cheaper than “Kwai Loh” countries. Therefore, it makes sense to set up a store in Malaysia to cater to the tourist market.

With the above, it makes sense that Malaysia is included in major brands’ websites so that potential customers coming to Malaysia can compare prices.

Another important thing, did you know that Malaysians are ranked top 3 in the world for spending time on the internet? Well, you are reading this article instead of doing something productive right? Another reason I suppose why the “wages” in Malaysia is not increasing with inflation is because our productivity is not increasing since most are spending time on the internet, e.g. at 12pm Shopee Shake, hahahaha.

Well, in my opinion, the report above might have overlooked 2 very important details:

No.1 reason – The Government forces us to use the internet – we need to have mobile banking for our daily transactions including use of credit cards, paper bills are no longer sent out by Land Office or Local Councils but we have to check online ourselves, payment to LHDN, Socso & EPF are to be paid online, government encourages eBanking/eWallet to track flow of money and soon we will have eInvoice to give hawkers more work and etc.

No.2 reason, people like me have been promoting multitasking where we earn FREE Money with Apps. Example – I earn Shopee Coins (to offset my bills by 25%) while I am smoking, drinking, eating and shitting, hahaha. Another example of multitasking, I am sure you have seen many people who are suppose to be working will instead be shaking their smartphones starting from 12pm to 12.30pm, hahaha.

So with the 2 major reasons mentioned above why internet usage is high in Malaysia, you tell me how is it that our productivity will increase when we are tied to government actions and us multitasking earning free money?

Actually another reason why internet usage is high besides gamer using bot to cheat while they sleep is that many retired people are watching Tik-Tok videos from the spams in WhatsApp Group Chats, hahaha.

On a more serious note, in my personal opinion if the government introduces 10% tax on luxury goods, it will definitely be detrimental to the nation as the chain reaction effects are enormous….. Malaysians and tourists will stop buying luxury goods in Malaysia which will result in companies having to down size or shut down operations…. which will then result in the increase of vacant lots in malls and hotels too….. less employment opportunities for the Rakyat which means many businesses will also be affected ….. eventually the Rakyat will suffer and the government will be overthrown.

As the saying goes…. do not slaughter “the goose that lays the golden eggs”.

Coming back to price of Van Cleef & Arpels prices:

Now do you remember in my article titled Chanel Classic Handbag Price In KL And Worldwide – The Prices Just Keep Increasing! that the Chanel Classic Double Flap is cheapest in Thailand.

Well, the Van Cleef & Arpels Vintage Alhambra 5 Motifs cost THB235,000 in Thailand which equates to MYR28,200 which is RM500 cheaper than in Malaysia.

Once again, Bros & Sis, you can also easily find the prices of Cartier, Tiffany & Co, Chanel and Rolex worldwide by just changing the location at the respective websites.

So, are Tiffany & Co, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels among The World’s Best Top Jewellery Brands?

Well just like credit cards where there is no such thing as the best credit card but based on one’s spending pattern he/she should get the right credit cards, there is also no such as as the Best Jewellery Brands.

It depends on who you are speaking to. A person who can afford to get a Tiffany & Co or Cartier or Van Cleef & Arpels product and like the design will of course say it is worth every penny.

On the other hand, if you ask a person like me who is calculative (comparing gold spot rate based on actual grams versus price of a product) will say get a similar 916 or 999 yellow gold product from Poh Kong or Tomei where we can get instant cash close to gold price when we sell the product back to them, hahaha. And then there are those who will tell you they can get any fake Rolex or Chanel or Van Cleef & Arpels or Cartier at Shopee at unbelievably low prices, hahahahaha.

Conclusion, there is no such thing as best thing or that….. it is all in the mindset of an individual to attain “shiok sendiri” sensations.

Having said that, my quote below will apply to most of you my readers, hahaha.

FREE is The Best!