London Jewelers began with one man, one storefront, and the steady work of keeping time.
In 1926, Charles London, a Polish immigrant and self-taught watchmaker, opened a small store on School Street in Glen Cove after building a reputation servicing clocks and watches on Long Island’s Gold Coast. A century later, the business that began with clocks and repairs has grown into a luxury name with locations from Glen Cove and Manhasset to the Hamptons and New Jersey, along with relationships with some of the world’s most coveted jewelry and watch brands.
Yet when the Udell family talks about the company’s centennial, the story returns less to scale than to inheritance. Mark and Candy Udell, their children Randi Udell Alper and Scott Udell, and their nephew Zachary Udell each represent a different part of the family business, but they are connected by the same history. They talk about Charles London’s work ethic, Fran and Mayer Udell’s devotion to customers, the risks that brought major luxury brands into the business, and the younger generations now learning the culture of London Jewelers the way earlier generations did, by being close enough to watch the work unfold.
“We have so much pride and joy from it,” Mark Udell said. “I think our story is a wonderful story. It’s an American story of people coming over from other continents and working hard and taking pride in the work that they do today and making a success from nothing.”
Randi Udell Alper, Mark and Candy’s daughter and part of the fourth generation, sees the anniversary as both history and lived experience.
“It’s amazing to see the generations,” Randi said. “My great grandfather started it, and then my grandparents, who I grew up working alongside, and my parents really took it to the next level. And now my brother and I are involved, we have the fifth generation who is sitting here, also, who is getting involved.”
Mark’s granddaughters Sienna and Skye are already spending time around the business, watching the family sort merchandise, talk through decisions and move through the details of a company that has always depended on close attention.
For Randi, the scene continues a family tradition she understands well. The store was never separate from childhood, but instead where family gathered, worked, and taught without always having to explain.
“Most kids go to a playground,” she said. “I went to the store, so it really was my second home.”
From School Street to Luxury Names
The London Jewelers story still begins in Glen Cove, not as a nostalgic footnote but as the foundation the family continues to identify as its center.
Before Charles London opened his School Street store, he made his way through the Gold Coast estates of Long Island, winding and repairing clocks in grand homes. Mark has said some mansions had 50 rooms and 50 clocks, and his grandfather visited weekly to keep them running.
The work was demanding, repetitive, and precise. It also gave Charles London a reputation. In 1926, encouraged by people who trusted him, he opened London Jewelers in Glen Cove, selling and servicing clocks and watches before expanding into jewelry.
“We’ve been on the same street for 100 years,” Mark said, referring to the family’s continued connection to Glen Cove. “It’s our base foundation, and this is where all our other businesses, our other stores came from.”
After Charles London, the business passed to his daughter Fran and her husband, Mayer Udell. Together, they gave London Jewelers much of the personality the family still recognizes today. Fran was the relationship builder, a woman remembered for warmth, memory, persistence, and trust. Mayer was the craftsman, precise and detail-oriented, the mechanical mind behind watches, clocks, and repairs.
Candy said Fran’s example still shapes the way London Jewelers treats customers.
“I think that she taught us a lot about how to treat people with respect, and she had a lot of compassion,” Candy said. “She used to let people come in, if they couldn’t afford to purchase something, they would put it on layaway and pay it off, and she trusted them, and we feel that kind of trust in our clients today.”
The values were not abstract. They were practiced across counters, in conversations, in payment plans, in the memory of a customer’s family or occasion. They became part of the culture Mark inherited as a boy in the store and later reshaped as an adult.
The business was also never only a business. It was where generations spent their time together. Candy recalled three generations working in the Glen Cove store at once, first Mark’s parents, then Mark and Candy, then their children.
“We spent a lot of time in that store together as a family,” she said.
A Well-Timed Risk
When Mark returned to Long Island in 1973 after studying at the University of Miami, he came back with a larger sense of what London Jewelers could become.
In Miami, he had worked at Mayors, a high-end jewelry store where brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Cartier showed him another scale of luxury retail. Back in Glen Cove, London Jewelers was still a local family store, but Mark had seen enough to imagine something bigger.
“I had this crazy vision,” Mark said. “My parents had total confidence in me. I knew the business from a young age. I would be in the store, and my mom and dad said to me, Mark, if you think it’s going to work, go for it.”
Candy entered the business not long after she and Mark married. What began as one day in the store became a lifelong partnership.
“When we got married, I asked Candy to come in and work one day,” Mark said. “I said, come in and see what we do, and she came in, she liked it, and she never left. So we did this together.”
The first major target was Rolex. At the time, London Jewelers was still a small store in Glen Cove, and the leap into an international luxury brand was not obvious. Mark pursued it anyway.
“I had a plan,” Mark said. “It took a while to get Rolex to believe in us, because we were a small store in Glen Cove, but I was persistent. I didn’t let up, and I kept calling and calling.”
Eventually, the persistence worked.
“The sales rep came out to the store, and he said, Mark, we’re going to open you up,” Mark said. “He said, because you’re so persistent, and we see that you just don’t stop reaching out to us, that we know that you’re going to be successful with it. That led to getting Patek Philippe and Cartier, and once all the brands started selling us, everybody wanted to sell us.”
Candy recognized how different the jewelry business looked then. Branded jewelry had not yet become the defining retail force it would later become.
“When we first came into it, there really was no branded jewelry like it is now, where everybody becomes a brand, except for the major houses,” she said.
London Jewelers began to help change that narrative. Candy said the company built branded boutiques in its Wheatley Plaza store, creating a new kind of presentation within a jewelry store. As the business grew, she shaped the creative side, from windows and advertising to catalogs, packaging, architecture, interiors, and store design.
“Anything that has to do creatively I do, and I’m working with Randi on it as well,” Candy said. “We make the jewelry, we buy it, we travel. I do the packaging, I work with architects to build the stores, I choose the furniture, I choose the wallpaper, you name it.”
Randi now works alongside her mother on creative direction, buying and social media, bringing the family voice into a digital space where luxury brands are seen by people around the world.
The growth of London Jewelers included Wheatley Plaza in 1980, Americana Manhasset in 1984, East Hampton in 1996, Southampton in 2002 and Short Hills in New Jersey in 2022, along with boutiques and expanded brand experiences that continued to reshape the company’s reach.
“It’s always intense while you’re living it, whether it’s now or back then,” Candy said. “It just sort of grew. We never sat and discussed it or made a big plan about it, but when opportunity knocks at your door, it’s hard to say no. So we just kept saying yes.”
Big, But Still Small
The company has grown large enough to represent major luxury houses and reach customers far beyond Long Island, but the Udells insist the business cannot afford to feel distant.
For Mark, the difference is experience.
“People can go to a lot of places to buy anything,” he said. “But you have to make it that they only want to come to London Jewelers.”
Candy describes the work in terms of pride, integrity, and service.
“It’s about a sense of pride, integrity and service, and how we service our clients and how we take care of them,” she said. “It’s all done with love.”
The family says customers notice the difference because the Udells remain visible and involved. Candy, Mark, Randi Udell Alper, Scott Udell, and Zach Udell each carry different responsibilities, but the family presence is part of the culture. Employees are expected to understand the way the family operates. Customers, meanwhile, often have their own multigenerational relationship with the store.
Randi said the result is a kind of service that still feels personal, even as the business has expanded.
“You’re getting personalized service,” Randi said. “We take everything to heart. You’re getting service where the family is still involved, we’re big, but we’re still small.”
The same philosophy extends into community work. Candy said London Jewelers supports charities in each of its communities through donations, raffles, and events. Her own passion is animal rescue, a cause connected to the memory of her mother.
“I do animal rescue, and I’ve rescued over 10,000 dogs and some cats,” Candy said. “I work with all the shelters and the rescues, and it’s an important part to be in the community and choose what you love to do, and to promote it.”
The Next 100 Years
The next 100 years, the family says, will require both continuity and change. Candy said one of her older grandchildren is preparing to take a GIA course to learn about diamonds. The fourth generation, meanwhile, is already shaping the company’s future through its own areas of focus.
Scott Udell, Mark and Candy’s son, is focused on strengthening brand partnerships, expanding London Jewelers’ reach and continuing to elevate the customer experience.
“I’m committed to cultivating strong partnerships with the world’s most prestigious brands, delivering the highest level of service, and creating an exceptional experience for every customer,” Scott said in the family’s centennial book. “I’m constantly seeking new opportunities to grow the business, expand our brand portfolio, and innovate, all while building a strong foundation for the next generation.”
For Randi Udell Alper, the memory of her grandparents remains a guiding force in the way she approaches the business.
“I grew up in the Glen Cove store, where my parents worked alongside my grandparents, building a business rooted in trust and community,” Randi said in the book. “I watched the way they treated every client like family, and I learned what it meant to show up, to care, and to give your all every single day.”
Zach Udell found his own path through a passion for timepieces. Mark took him under his wing, giving him encouragement and room to pursue that interest. Today, Zach is the company’s in-house watch historian and leading expert.
Candy said the work now is to prepare the business for the next generation while maintaining the heritage that made it worth preserving.
“I think we’re just working towards the future and the next 100 years for our kids and our grandkids,” she said. “There’s always unfinished business, and there’s always more opportunities, and we just have to choose wisely. We just want to continue and maintain our heritage, and we’re very grateful for everything that we’ve been able to do.”
A century after Charles London opened his small Glen Cove store, the Udells are still preparing for what comes next. The stores will evolve. The next generation will bring its own ideas. But the family hopes the words attached to London Jewelers will remain the same.
“The integrity, the service, the family,” Candy said.
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