Former Le Vian executive launches brand

New York--David Zar, who spent the last 13 years at Le Vian, has founded a jewelry brand called Marco Moore, which will manufacture limited-edition jewelry and watches to be sold through independent retailers and, eventually, high-end department stores.

Zar said the company, based out of New York, sells watches created at a factory in Switzerland. The stainless steel timepieces come in a variety of finishes and coatings, including matte and gloss, in black, rose and brown tones with mother-of-pearl, diamond and colored sapphire accents.

The watch straps are available in alligator, crocodile and python, and each watch buckle is adorned with diamonds. The average price point for Marco Moore watches will be $2,500.

Marco Moore already has been recognized for one of its timepiece designs, winning in the Watches category of the recent Centurion Design Awards earlier this month.

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The brand’s jewelry is 14- and 18-karat white, yellow and rose gold with polished and sandblasted finishes, “to give the jewelry an unusual look with different finishes,” Zar said.

The pieces feature precious and semi-precious gemstones, including kyanite, tiger’s eye, lapis, agate and golden, smoky, lemon and lavender quartz. The average price point for the jewelry is $1,500.

All of the watch and jewelry designs are limited editions and are numbered, beginning with one and climbing only as high as 499--Zar’s lucky number.

On creating the Marco Moore brand, Zar said, “I wanted to do something that would allow me to really be more creative and do things that I wasn’t able to do in the past. We launched Marco Moore a little less than a year ago … and we won the top watch design at Centurion, which got us a lot of press and show attendees wanting to see the collection. So we broke into additional doors with that.”

Marco Moore is currently carried in 70 independent jewelry stores, and Zar said within the next few months he will be moving the brand into high-end department stores.

He also is advertising in the Ritz Carlton magazine and in regional-type magazines, for example a retail store that has its own publication.

Zar spent 13 years with Great Neck, N.Y.-based Le Vian, serving as both president of the company’s time division and as a sales executive.

He left the company in April. Le Vian said various vice presidents absorbed Zar’s duties.