Hello all,
I was active on this forum years ago when I first was searching for my engagement ring. Just had my 9th anniversary (!!) and now I'm back for some advice on a perplexing problem with my Leon Mege halo engagement ring.
I chose an ultra thin pave milgrain halo setting from LM as my engagement ring. (I can't remember how thin, maybe 1.5 or 1.8mm?) I absolutely loved the design and still do to this today. However, after only a couple of years of wearing the setting I started having trouble with it. The milgrain became beat up very quickly - the metal sides dented in and changed the beautiful side profile of the ring. Also, more troubling, the shank became warped into an egg shape instead of a circle. As you can imagine, this change in shape caused stones to start falling out of the setting.
Leon made repairs to the ring, replacing the lost stones for free, etc. Eventually however the warping became so bad that he said there was no way to fix it, I needed to have the setting remade entirely. I did so, probably at the 4 or 5 year mark (losing track now). Thankfully Chubb paid because the condition of the ring was so bad. Now, at the 9 year mark, the problem has returned in full force once again. I hate looking down at my beautiful ring and seeing it looking like this. Worse, I'm uncomfortable wearing it now because every time I have it on I'm so super hyper conscious of not damaging it. Many times I just leave it at home.
Leon's explanation has always been that I am simply too hard on the ring. I am not here to complain about Leon. I do like him very much and I think his designs are amazing. But, I am always careful with my ring. I don't wear it when I shower, cook, to the gym, to yoga, or any of that. I'm not lifting weights or doing construction or swinging a sledgehammer with it. In fact as noted, many days I don't even wear it at all. Then I browsed through here a bit tonight and saw some references to other people possibly having similar shank warping in thin pave rings. Perhaps it is the delicateness of the shank that is to blame?
Anyway: on to the action item. I am going to have my ring reset (again). Priority number one for me is to have something I can wear every day (in reasonable non-impact situations). I need to feel comfortable that the ring is not going to easily damage or have stones popping out if I accidentally bang my hand on the car door. I've looked at some plain, no pave three stone options which probably would be much sturdier. However, my heart is with my pave halo setting. I would love to hear opinions from you all on the following:
Is it possible to have a (at least semi) delicate pave setting that will stand up to reasonable, careful daily wear?
Are there modifications I can make to the ring style to make the pave sturdier? It seems like perhaps the thinness of the shank was my big problem. (I also have a LM wedding band which is a much thicker eternity twist style and I have had NO problems whatsoever with it.) Any suggestions as to how thin is too thin? Would nixing the milgrain help? What about just going for one sided pave instead of three sided? What about regular pave instead of micro?
Any recommended jewelers for LM-style pave? If you have a pave ring that has stood the test of time, I'd love to hear who made it. I am at the moment talking to mark at ERD (now brilliantly engaged?), who sold me my diamond long ago. Would love to hear about your experiences with Mark or other pave jewelers. We leave outside of San Fran so Bay Area recommendations welcome too.
Finally, if you have had a similar shank problem with a thin pave ring, I'd like to hear about it because this could help me narrow down the reason for the issues I've been having.
After i post this I will try to upload some images of my ring in its current state. Thanks for listening.
I was active on this forum years ago when I first was searching for my engagement ring. Just had my 9th anniversary (!!) and now I'm back for some advice on a perplexing problem with my Leon Mege halo engagement ring.
I chose an ultra thin pave milgrain halo setting from LM as my engagement ring. (I can't remember how thin, maybe 1.5 or 1.8mm?) I absolutely loved the design and still do to this today. However, after only a couple of years of wearing the setting I started having trouble with it. The milgrain became beat up very quickly - the metal sides dented in and changed the beautiful side profile of the ring. Also, more troubling, the shank became warped into an egg shape instead of a circle. As you can imagine, this change in shape caused stones to start falling out of the setting.
Leon made repairs to the ring, replacing the lost stones for free, etc. Eventually however the warping became so bad that he said there was no way to fix it, I needed to have the setting remade entirely. I did so, probably at the 4 or 5 year mark (losing track now). Thankfully Chubb paid because the condition of the ring was so bad. Now, at the 9 year mark, the problem has returned in full force once again. I hate looking down at my beautiful ring and seeing it looking like this. Worse, I'm uncomfortable wearing it now because every time I have it on I'm so super hyper conscious of not damaging it. Many times I just leave it at home.
Leon's explanation has always been that I am simply too hard on the ring. I am not here to complain about Leon. I do like him very much and I think his designs are amazing. But, I am always careful with my ring. I don't wear it when I shower, cook, to the gym, to yoga, or any of that. I'm not lifting weights or doing construction or swinging a sledgehammer with it. In fact as noted, many days I don't even wear it at all. Then I browsed through here a bit tonight and saw some references to other people possibly having similar shank warping in thin pave rings. Perhaps it is the delicateness of the shank that is to blame?
Anyway: on to the action item. I am going to have my ring reset (again). Priority number one for me is to have something I can wear every day (in reasonable non-impact situations). I need to feel comfortable that the ring is not going to easily damage or have stones popping out if I accidentally bang my hand on the car door. I've looked at some plain, no pave three stone options which probably would be much sturdier. However, my heart is with my pave halo setting. I would love to hear opinions from you all on the following:
Is it possible to have a (at least semi) delicate pave setting that will stand up to reasonable, careful daily wear?
Are there modifications I can make to the ring style to make the pave sturdier? It seems like perhaps the thinness of the shank was my big problem. (I also have a LM wedding band which is a much thicker eternity twist style and I have had NO problems whatsoever with it.) Any suggestions as to how thin is too thin? Would nixing the milgrain help? What about just going for one sided pave instead of three sided? What about regular pave instead of micro?
Any recommended jewelers for LM-style pave? If you have a pave ring that has stood the test of time, I'd love to hear who made it. I am at the moment talking to mark at ERD (now brilliantly engaged?), who sold me my diamond long ago. Would love to hear about your experiences with Mark or other pave jewelers. We leave outside of San Fran so Bay Area recommendations welcome too.
Finally, if you have had a similar shank problem with a thin pave ring, I'd like to hear about it because this could help me narrow down the reason for the issues I've been having.
After i post this I will try to upload some images of my ring in its current state. Thanks for listening.
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