If you’ve recently walked past the Michael C. Fina jewelry store at 545 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, surely you’ve noticed the retailer’s playful window displays touting its upcoming Diamond Dash. This Saturday, Nov. 17, the merchant’s Diamond Dash: Dash for a Diamond & a Cure will allow one lucky couple to take home a new Tacori diamond ring and help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“One of our owners had passed away earlier in 2009 from leukemia, so this cause is very near and dear to our hearts,” says Sarah Oldfield, the store’s social media and communications coordinator.

The retailer’s cool displays stop passersby like me in their tracks: What look like vinyl Clings—large stickers that adhere to surfaces by way of static electricity—cover the shop’s floor-to-ceiling windows facing 45th Street. The selected visuals—magnifications of city subway routes, footsteps, figures running, and more—are whimsical, festive, and hard to miss. And once they have your attention, you stop to gawk at the jewelry cases inside, which repeat the same lighthearted messaging with colorful Manhattan maps and water bottles—for hard-working dashers to avoid dehydration—mixed with Tacori’s 18k gold and silver colored stone jewelry. (Tacori has been the store’s Dash partner since its inception.)

Oldfield says that Manhattan-based Peter Tolan-Baker Design Services—whose other clients include Tiffany & Co. and Henri Bendel—designed the visuals.

“They did one other set of windows—which had a ‘Fall in Love’ theme with leaves—for us in August-September,” she explains. “For the Dash windows, we wanted them to be extremely graphic and to truly reflect the feel of the Dash. Couples travel around New York City in search of a $20,000 Tacori engagement ring and it truly does become a ‘Dash for a Diamond.’ Tolin-Baker saw our vision and created something that is truly eye-catching. He was also able to incorporate our businesses into the windows—our tableware and home decor on our bridal registry, and our jewelry—both fashion and fine along with bridal.”

Not shown are the windows facing 5th Ave. (the Fina store straddles a corner lot), one of which contains the ring up for grabs on Saturday.

JCK