Laurence Graff

Jewelry business insiders call British diamond merchant Graff the new Harry Winston. Specializing in the highest end of jewelry retailing, Graff has 33 stores worldwide. Clients include the Sultan and Queen of Brunei and Donald Trump. Prices for top-quality diamonds remained strong this year, driving Graff's net worth up. Graff attracted attention in November when he bought the highest-priced gem ever sold at auction, a 24.78-carat pink diamond he bid on over the phone at a Sotheby's sale in Geneva. He named the stone the Graff Pink. Graff broke his own record, the 2008 purchase at auction of a $24 million, 31-carat blue diamond he renamed the Graff-Wittelsbach. A self-made tycoon, Graff spent childhood in London's gritty East End, dropping out of school at age 14 to become a jeweler's apprentice. In 2008 he achieved full vertical integration when he bought a stake in publicly traded diamond miner Gem Diamonds. Other assets include jewelry company Graff Diamonds International, a polished diamond trading venture in Antwerp, a real estate company in Luxembourg that holds properties in London's tony Mayfair district, and a stake in a South African diamond wholesaler. Graff splits his time between homes in Gstaad, London, Cap Ferrat, New York City and his 150-foot Feadship yacht. Also owns Delaire Graff Estate, a vineyard and winery with a boutique hotel and restaurant in Stellenbosch, the Napa Valley of South Africa, and an extensive modern and contemporary art collection. On a personal note, Graff, 72, has acknowledged that he fathered a baby girl out of wedlock two years ago. He and French wife Anne-Marie have been married 48 years, and remain together.