It has been five years since Lu Lesser of Berkeley Heights, N.J., was presented with a flexible, narrow, straight-line, classic diamond bracelet by her husband, Mike. ‘‘Back then, it was just a bracelet to be worn with other diamond bracelets on dressy occasions,’’ Mrs. Lesser said.
These days, Mrs. Lesser refers to it as her tennis bracelet and wears it with her sport clothes, including her sweat pants.
The store where Mr. Lesser bought the diamond bracelet for his wife, S.Marsh & Sons in Millburn, N.J., still sells it. S.Marsh & Sons refers to it as a tennis bracelet. The customers who buy it refer to it as a tennis bracelet. Women who wear it along with a Piaget or Rolex watch call it a tennis bracelet. Almost everyone who knows diamonds refers to it as a tennis bracelet.
Why, you may ask, a tennis bracelet? Most likely because Chris Evert, among others, has worn one on the tennis courts. Legend has it that the bracelet was first retailed as a tennis bracelet in southern Florida, where Ms. Evert has her home.
In former, more innocent, times it was known as an ‘‘eternity bracelet,’’ on the assumption, perhaps, that the woman who received one could count on her beau’s love for eternity.