Dell is launching a jewelry line — wait, what?

Dell made a showing at this year’s CES, with two new laptops, including the XPS 13 and XPS 15 2-in-1. It also brought a collection of monitors and accessories. So far, so expected.

But Dell’s other product came as a bit of a surprise: The company is launching a line of gold jewelry in collaboration with jewelry store Bayou with Love. Say it with me now: WTF?

What is it?

The jewelry line — which is called “The Circular Collection,” and includes rings, earrings, and cuff links — looks like a fairly modest collection of gold and opals. Cathleen McCarthy, the jewelry specialist at The Jewelry Loupe blog, said of the line:

Given the connection with the computer world, the line is suitably simplistic and modern with clean lines, high polish, and even in some cases a little industrial looking (those hoops). Conversation is what this whole line is about – nothing special design-wise but a simple basic with an interesting backstory.

According to Dell, the gold in the jewelry is all harvested from recycled motherboards, and is intended to “highlight the widespread impact that e-waste, or disposable electronic equipment, has on the environment and the role we all play in advancing a circular economy.”

Why does it matter?

Ordinarily a jewelry line wouldn’t be enough to turn my head, but Jeff Clarke, Dell’s vice chairman, says it’s part of a larger effort to recycle e-waste materials:

When you think about the fact that there is up to 800x more gold in a ton of motherboards than a ton of ore from the earth, you start to realize the enormous opportunity we have to put valuable materials to work.

The company also announced a program to use recycled gold in new motherboards, starting this spring.

I’m not sure where they harvested the opals which are so common in the line — pretty sure I don’t have one of those on my motherboard.

When is it coming?

The jewelry line is available on Bayou with Love’s website, but fair warning — it’s not cheap. The least expensive ring in the collection will set you back $78.

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