Help for Engagement Ring Remote Evaluation

[playaparguito]

Hello,

I am relatively new to this forum and let me first say that I think this is a great community with lots of helpful stuff. I learned a lot reading through the posts here.

Now I have a rather specific question and I hope someone here can help me with it: In January I am on holiday in Florida and I am planning to propose marriage to my girlfriend then. My Plan is to do a long beach walk to Bal Harbour and ask her on the way. After she has agreed (not sure that she will do so but there is plenty of evidenceI would head straight to the Tiffany Store in Bal Harbour and pick up the ring that I purchased before.

Now let me say I know that many members on this forum think Tiffany is a bad idea and I understand that you can have equal or better quality for much less money, but due to personal reasons the decision is already made and this time it needs to be this brand.

I am already in contact with the sales people of Tiffany and they told me the basic descriptions of diamonds in my range they have in stock, e.g. price 4cs and so on. Of course they have tons of rings in my range so the question is how can I decide which ring to take when I cant see it live? Which measures or specifics do I need to know to judge which ring to take? I learned on this forum that some other things than the 4cs are important such as gridle thickness, diameter etc. I would like to have a slightly larger looking stone, so what do I need to ask the Tiffany guys to find the perfect ring?

I would really appreciate it if someone here could help me with this as (you may have already noticed) I am a total noob on diamond things.

Thanks in advance,
PP

 

[:)]

Tiffany is just fine if that is what you want - I wouldn''t turn one down, and I am sure she will appreciate it! Sounds like the proposal will be fabulous!!!

I am assuming you want a round stone?

If so
1. set your budget
2. go see some well cut stones to determine your color tolerance (Tiff goes down to I) and desired clarity (Tiff goes down to VS2)
3. figure out what size you can get balancing all those out
4. give them your requirements, and get them to give you on each candidate the dimensions of the stone, table size, depth, crown angle, pavillion angle, girdle thickness
5. insert the #s into the cut advisor aiming for an x that fits in both the white box and green box (if you are paying for Tiffany, you may as well get the best cut possible!) to try to weed some out
https://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp

read about cut advisor here...
http://diamonds.pricescope.com/ideal.asp


I am assuming you do not live in Florida so you can not eyeball these in person first, correct?

 

[playaparguito]

Yes, sorry I am looking for a round cut in classic tiffany setting. And no, unfortunately I cant go to florida before. I mean we could just go there in January and decide directly in the store which stone to take, but I think when I have the specs black on white in an email I have more time to decide and sort things out. Also it would be much nicer if the ring would wait for us already and we would just need to pick it up.

 

[Regular Guy]

Play,

I''m sure you''ll be fine at Tiffs, buying the ring you want.

I''m just not sure I get the plan.

If you''ll have bought it already...why not carry it with you on the beach, and present it with your proposal?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/14/2007 7:39:55 PM
Author: Regular Guy
Play,


I''m sure you''ll be fine at Tiffs, buying the ring you want.


I''m just not sure I get the plan.


If you''ll have bought it already...why not carry it with you on the beach, and present it with your proposal?

Totally agreed. Or even better yet, DON''T buy it before the proposal, propose with a ring pop or something like that, and say that you have planned a day of ring shopping so that she could pick out her favorite. THEN you can even see it before you buy.

 

[MoonWater]

Date: 11/14/2007 7:43:35 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/14/2007 7:39:55 PM
Author: Regular Guy
Play,


I'm sure you'll be fine at Tiffs, buying the ring you want.


I'm just not sure I get the plan.


If you'll have bought it already...why not carry it with you on the beach, and present it with your proposal?

Totally agreed. Or even better yet, DON'T buy it before the proposal, propose with a ring pop or something like that, and say that you have planned a day of ring shopping so that she could pick out her favorite. THEN you can even see it before you buy.

But what if she gets to Tiffanys and picks something out of his price range? I would hate to go into that store thinking I was going shopping but was limited to certain items.

Can you buy the ring ahead of time from another Tiffanys before traveling to Florida?

 

[:)]

Or maybe they could call 2-3 rings in for him to bring her in that evening to choose from those together? Then they have been prescreened for quality and price.
Playa may not want to worry about carrying the ring with him for the trip and then on the beach. I think it would be neat to go to Tiff together to pick it up (or pick it out, whichever you decide to do!) right after the proposal!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/14/2007 7:53:20 PM
Author: MoonWater

Date: 11/14/2007 7:43:35 PM

Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/14/2007 7:39:55 PM

Author: Regular Guy

Play,

I''m sure you''ll be fine at Tiffs, buying the ring you want.

I''m just not sure I get the plan.
If you''ll have bought it already...why not carry it with you on the beach, and present it with your proposal?

Totally agreed. Or even better yet, DON''T buy it before the proposal, propose with a ring pop or something like that, and say that you have planned a day of ring shopping so that she could pick out her favorite. THEN you can even see it before you buy.

But what if she gets to Tiffanys and picks something out of his price range? I would hate to go into that store thinking I was going shopping but was limited to certain items.

Can you buy the ring ahead of time from another Tiffanys before traveling to Florida?

I think most women would realize that this isn''t Sweet Home Alabama and she couldn''t pick ANYTHING she wanted at Tiffs. I still think it''s a sweet idea, but if the OP is worried about his GF going crazy at Tiffany''s he could have a few called to the store and held for him, in his price range, for them to check out together. Best of both worlds.

 

[milton333]

Thoughts:

1. See if you can buy a ring at your local Tiffany''s and have them ship the ring to the Florida store to hold for you to come in.

2. Many/most jewelers are aware of the price range issues, and you can call ahead to say that you''ll be coming in, what your price range is, and when you get there they''ll show you and your gf rings in the pre-arranged price range. Not sure Tiffany''s is the same, but I can''t imagine it would be different.

 

[playaparguito]

Thanks for your thoughts so far and sorry for not coming back at your adivce, I was travelling.

@: what do you mean exactly by "aiming for an x that fits in both the white box and green box"?

I emailed the Tiffany people because of the specs but they did not answer yet. Do you think they will get annoyed if I am asking the specs for 4-5 diamonds? Maybe all of their diamond fail the cut advisor test and I have to ask for other diamonds...Just asking myself how much patience they gonna have with that email thing since I am not planning to buy a very high priced item (in their view).

To all: With the current exchange rate Euro to Dollar it really makes sense buying the ring overseas, so thats why I cant bring it to the beach (but I agree this way it would be much nicer). On the other hand I think the experience of buying at Tiffanys is something most girls would not mind, and just like neatfreak said I am quite confident that my girl wont follow the Sweet Home Alabama example (nice reference btw). My original plan was to figure out 3-4 rings via email and let them "wait" for us at the store to examine them in person. The problem is though, that I know very little about diamonds so I am not sure for what to look during the live examination. Should I just take the one that seems to have most "fire"? And has anyone a hint as to how figure out her ring size without asking her directly?

 

[surfgirl]

Add me to the group that thinks you should have take her to Tiffany''s and let her pick the one she falls in love with! Otherwise you''re buying a ring sight unseen right? Make it a joint decision...trust me, it''ll be fun! You can call them and once you''ve established contact with a salesperson (I''d ask to speak to the store manager if nobody''s contacted you, tell them that, and ask to only deal with the manager), you can then email your specs and ask them to locate stones with specific qualities you want - I would ask them to bring in as many as they can so you can have a good selection, and then choose together once you get there.

And there''s no reason to apologize for wanting a ring from Tiffany''s.

 

[Deelight]

Tiffany''s is fun and I personally would not forgo the experience of shopping there your FF will love it seriously what girl would not enjoy trying on all the pretties and really they are pretty

I have literally just come back from tiffany''s and I tried on a fair few of their rings. Without knowing the specs on the stone (apart from colour and clarity) I would highly doubt any of them would be complete duds. The lady I spoke to understood the importance of cut and showed us rings from E to I and really they were all beautiful , the rainbows (aka fire) mesmerized me

. Something I have noticed about tiffany''s rings is there is a HUGE abundance of fire compared to other stores stones available around here.


If your after particular specks apparently it can take from 1- 6 weeks for them to bring the stone/s in (this is probably different in the US then to Australia due to the amount of stores) depending on where in the world they ship them in from.

GL buying the ring they are all BEAUTIFUL settings.