Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but this Christmas it looks like she had to make do with something more “affordable.” Jewellers and watchmakers have been releasing their end-of-year numbers and the lower end of the market has come out on top. Signet, which owns chains Ernest Jones and H Samuel in the U.K. and Kay in the U.S., said that fourth-quarter earnings would be at the upper end of its expectations, an improvement of 15 per cent on the previous year. Smaller U.S. rival Zale also reported decent numbers.