The Bolo, Reconsidered

The Headwaters Bolo Necklace is a single Montana sapphire set in solid 14K gold, ringed with natural diamonds and hung on a length of gold chain. It is the most American piece I have made, and the one I waited longest to make.

For most of the life of this brand, I kept the catalog away from anything overtly regional. Montana is already in every stone we set, and I wanted the designs to carry the place quietly. The bolo was the exception, and it took a while to find the version that felt right.

Where the bolo comes from

The bolo took its modern form in the American Southwest in the middle of the twentieth century, and Native silversmiths have shaped it for generations. Arizona, New Mexico and Texas each name it as official state neckwear. It is one of the few pieces of jewelry that belongs to this part of the country.

Rethinking it in gold

A traditional bolo is a cord and a slide. I kept the idea of a single station and changed almost everything else. The cord became solid 14K gold chain. The slide became a 6mm Montana sapphire set with fourteen natural diamonds.

It began as a way to rethink Headwaters, our signature design. Headwaters is the origin point, the first step of a path. A bolo has one point that everything hangs from, and that felt like the same idea.

The three bolo pieces

Headwaters Bolo Necklace, $10,480. A single sapphire station on gold chain. The station is fixed and the chain adjusts, so it can sit high at the collar or lower over a sweater.

Headwaters Bolo Bracelet, $10,880. Three sapphire stations, with the largest at the center. A sliding closure lets it fit any wrist.

Headwaters Bolo Earrings, $10,280. Two sapphire stations set in a long line of gold.

A nod to home

The Financial Times included the bolo necklace in its Watches & Jewellery report in September, in a story about a new kind of Americana in fine jewelry. JCK wrote about our work with Montana sapphires the same month.

I think of the bolo as a nod to home rather than a statement about it. It is made in gold and Montana sapphire, and it is meant to be worn with whatever you already own.

All three pieces are made to order and take four to six weeks. Explore the collection.