The year of 2024 has been a truly special one for the House of Gübelin as it is celebrating its 170th anniversary. Moreover, the Gübelin Gem Lab founded in 1923, a subsidiary of the Swiss, family-owned company, has opened a location in Bangkok, Thailand. Now, the Gem Lab is present in four cities world-wide: Lucerne, Hong Kong, New York and Bangkok. The Bangkok location offers the full range of Gübelin Gem Lab services, but is focusing on a new and innovative gemmological document: the Gem Passport, which was launched just some month ago.
Gem Passport
Gem Passport, the new gemmological document is designed to accompany emeralds, rubies and blue sapphires of up to 3.00 ct with a genuine Gübelin Gem Lab document. Gem Passport is powered by Gemtelligence™, enabling trustworthy lab testing at a very attractive price point. This will also help jewellery brands as well as retailers and increase trust.
The Gem Passport demonstrates Gübelin Gem Lab’s striving for innovation and expresses its pioneering spirit. The lab wants to contribute and support the industry, making gemmological documents for smaller stones affordable that were often not in the scope so far. Gem Passports are the next step following Gemtelligence. They are an addition to our range of services and are an attractive solution to accompany gems of more moderate value.
Some key information about the Gem Passport that:
- is available for unmounted rubies, blue sapphires and emeralds up to 3.00 ct
- is attractive for gemstones of smaller size or moderate value
- contains the main identification features of a gemstone, i.e. species and variety, country of origin and a simplified disclosure of the treatment status
- is issued on the basis of fully automated evaluation of the analytical data (spectra, chemistry) collected from a stone
- is a genuine Gübelin Gem Lab document offered at a very competitive fee of CHF 200 (THB 8,000; USD 215)
- provides peace of mind to brands and retailers alike
The Gem Passport focuses on key features of the gem, which are determined by artificial intelligence. This shortens the testing workflow, in particular the labour-intensive microscopic assessment, and allows for lower pricing.
Daniel Nyfeler, Managing Director of the Gübelin Gem Lab, explains: “We believe that the Gem Passport is a highly attractive and affordable service for stones which so far were not accompanied by a testing document from a globally respected lab, giving peace of mind also to brands and retailers.”
Gemtelligence
Gemtelligence is a platform Gübelin Gem Lab developed together with Swiss technology innovation center CSEM. This innovation is determining the origin and treatment of coloured gems using machine learning Gemtelligence ensures consistency in analyses of coloured gemstones and, for the first time, determines the origin of emeralds, rubies and sapphires using artificial intelligence and deep learning.
An algorithm based entirely on artificial intelligence (AI) determines the country of origin of rubies, sapphires and emeralds. In addition, Gemtelligence also recognises heat treatments in rubies and sapphires. In this process, the deep learning architecture relies on the latest scientific concept: a comprehensive AI system for evaluating a wide variety of analytical data. This system uses and validates the analyses which the Gübelin Gem Lab has collected over decades.
The algorithm, based on the latest deep learning architecture, recognizes significant patterns among various data modalities, which, compared to gemmologists, provides heightened precision and robustness. For most of the gemstones examined, this means that both the work-intensive visual (microscopic) examination by human experts as well as the expensive ICPMS laser ablation analytical step can be avoided.
Pioneering spirit
The Gübelin family and the Gübelin Gem Lab are known for their pioneering spirit and their passion for coloured gemstones, always searching for innovation and new discoveries. Now, the Gem Lab is presenting the “digital super-expert” in the form of Gemtelligence, setting a new milestone in the analysis of coloured gems, which will shape the future of gemmology.
The new Bangkok lab
Bangkok has developed into probably the single most important hub for the coloured gemstone industry, attracting miners, cutters, treaters, traders and jewellers from around the world. Gübelin Gem Lab’s expansion reflects a strategic move to meet the growing demand for reliable, trustworthy gemmological services.
Raphael Gübelin, President of the House of Gübelin, adds: “As one of the most vibrant centres for gemstone trade, Bangkok is an ideal location for the Gübelin Gem Lab to offer its services, especially the Gem Passport powered by Gemtelligence.”
This article was published and printed on Gem Spectrum print magazine Issue #2 Winter 2025, page 23. Please browse the Flipbook below.
