playing TENNIS

BY IVAN SOLOTAROFF, SENIOR EDITOR

NO CATEGORY HITS THE FINE LINE BETWEEN COMMODITY AND LUXURY LIKE THE BREAD-AND-BUTTER DIAMOND LINE BRACELET

You can't get more upscale in the D.C. area than Charleston Alexander Fine Diamond Importers of Bethesda, Maryland. It's one of those impressive stand-alone doors that emerges from its strip-mall environs like Fort Knox out of the Kentucky bluegrass. This early May morning, however, president John Sabet isn't talking designers, brands, differentiation, keystone-plus, or any of our usual conversations. He's talking tennis bracelets.

Not the premium ones he's carried for years, like his 7 carat total weight ...