Engagement ring setting

[regular_joe]

Hi I was wondering if anyone's had any experience finding a jeweler in Vancouver that you can buy settings and have them put in a loose diamond for you?

I'm shopping for an engagement ring, but would like to avoid overpaying a places like spence by buying a diamond online. It would be good if the place could help reset it too if the sizing is wrong.

[Jermyzy]

I got mine made at Ragnar Jeweller's (On Granville St, near 70th). I bought a diamond through an auction and got them to custom design an engagement ring design. I showed them a couple of pictures of designs I liked and explained what I wanted changed. They drew a sketch of the "new" design, and then they made a wax mould to show me what it looked like and to have it fitted to my fiance's finger size. Overall I was happy the final product. (and obviously so was my fiance!)

[regular_joe]

thanks for the info. I'll take a look at them.

Hope you don't mind me asking, but did you surprise your fiance with a ring or shopped for it together? It seems pretty hard to pick out a perfect ring for her if she has no say in it at all.

[racerman88]

My friends and I all bought our rings from a diamond broker. His name is Ran and he is the president of diamonds.ca.

[Jermyzy]

I picked the design and everything myself. She was blindfolded when she tried on the wax mould ring. Obviously she knew I was going to propose to her at some time, but she didn't know the exact time, place etc so it was still a surprise Good luck!

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time!]

i know the jewellery place in lansdowne ball across from kins farm does it.. they sell loose diamonds and also design/set stones

[flameboy54]

If you wanna PM, I can hook you up. I work at a reputable jewelery store as an appraiser.

[impactX]

Keep in mind that the ring isn't worth much money.

I got the 0.71ct diamond (GIA certified) and the ring from a wholeseller in Asia. The diamond is worth around 3k Canadian dollars while the 18k white gold ring (any design) is only ~120-140 Canadian dollars.

If I get this combo from a retailer instead of a wholeseller, it would cost around ~5k Canadian dollars. The markup is totally ridiculous...

Regarding style, you can pick something classic so it's timeless.. or you can pick something more special. Few years down the road, you two can always pick another ring and fit the same diamond in... as the ring is relatively worthless compared to the diamond and it's the diamond that is symbolic.

So, ask yourself how much you are willing to spend and the 4C - Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat.

I would suggest you to get a diamond with colorless grade F (cheaper than D and E while still being colorless, or it would look yellow when the bride is in her wedding dress), Very good/Excellent Cut, Polish and Symmetry, no Fluorescence, and SI (slightly include) or VS (very slightly include) Clarity.

SI1 and SI2 actually don't look bad depending on where the include is, an amatuer may not even be able to spot the flaw with 10x magnification while you could easily spot the flaw in VS1 and VS2 clarity diamonds, again, depending on where the include is. However, the price difference between VVS1, VS1 and SI2 could be quite big (assuming the Cut, Color and Carat are the same). Also, price jumps dramatically when you get over .80 carat (while the size doesn't appear that much different).

The important thing is the GIA certification, and make sure you match the serial number inscribed on the diamond to the serial number on the certification 1) when you first bought the diamond and 2) when you take delivery of the diamond ring (the jewellers should know better than to hide the inscribed serial number with the prongs of the ring that hold the diamond). If you don't know much about diamonds and you don't plan to get a GIA certified diamond, you may as well throw your money away.

It's easy for the jeweller to adjust the size of a white gold ring... can't say the same for platinum.

http://guide.diamondpriceguru.com/res/img/gia_1.jpg

Make sure you do more research before you head to a store so you know what to expect.

[flameboy54]

Corrections

Originally Posted by impactX

SI1 and SI2 actually don't look bad depending on where the include is, an amatuer may not even be able to spot the flaw with 10x magnification while you could easily spot the flaw in I1 and I2 clarity diamonds, again, depending on where the include is. However, the price difference between VVS1, VS1 and SI2 could be quite big (assuming the Cut, Color and Carat are the same). Also, price jumps dramatically when you get over .50, .70 and 1.00 carats.

Originally Posted by impactX

The important thing is the GIA certification, and make sure you match the serial number inscribed on the diamond to the serial number on the certification 1) when you first bought the diamond and 2) when you take delivery of the diamond ring (the jewellers should know better than to hide the inscribed serial number with the prongs of the ring that hold the diamond). If you don't know much about diamonds and you don't plan to get a GIA certified diamond, you may as well throw your money away.
.

While GIA is good, AGS is better. EGL's grading is quite "loose" so you might want a 2nd opinion from a certified gemmologist. Same with other small independent labs; Gemscan and IGI. HRD would fall somewhere inbetween GIA and EGL.