How long did it take you to find your diamond?

[MichelleCarmen]

Curious, when looking for your eng. diamond, how long did it take you? Did you end up sacrificing something - going down in color or clarity for larger or going UP in color/clarity but going smaller. Or did you change the ct. weight of the diamond to fit a specific setting you had in mind?

 

[spoogenet]

Overall, it took me about a year. About 6 months of that was the more serious phase of my shopping. I just didn''t see settings that floated my boat, once I found a setting I liked things fell into place more smoothly. I sacrificed some of my own skin by it taking me so long.

I picked the setting first, with a particular cut but not particular stone in mind. I ordered it with a specific head size prior to having the stone, something I would not recommend in general. I was over-confident on my ability to find a stone I''d like. The setting can always be made to fit a stone, not the other way around.

I started off looking at Radiants, then went to cushions, then to the Square H&A from GOG. I believe I finally have a winner. I went down in size from my original plan, part of that is due to the different cut I went with and how it fits in the budget. Sure I could have gotten a big radiant for the same price, but I''d rather a better cut and more impressive stone even if it''s smaller. I would not call this "sacrificing", only an adjustment to plans.

Never sacrifice. Just convince yourself into the new parameters. As long as you''ve set realistic goals, there will be no reason to sacrifice.

b

 

[IceExplorer]

Date: 2/2/2010 2:26:18 PM
Author:MC
Curious, when looking for your eng. diamond, how long did it take you? Did you end up sacrificing something - going down in color or clarity for larger or going UP in color/clarity but going smaller. Or did you change the ct. weight of the diamond to fit a specific setting you had in mind?

I started casually looking in August 2009. I set a budget based on what I saw at the B&M''s. In Sept/Oct I found Pricescope and began to do a lot of research. I ended up buying last week.
I didn''t compromise ANYTHING! In fact, with the help of the wonderful people here I actually enhanced all of my options from what I could have afforded from a B&M.
Only after I purchased my ( MINE until I give it to her!! [] ) diamond did I start to investigate settings. I''m still in that process with the hopes of starting the actual setting relatively soon.

 

[Allison D.]

I''d say we looked for about 3 weeks? We were trying to hit a diameter marker without dipping below comfort levels on color and clarity.

Ultimately, we ended up going a bit lower in clarity when we realized we could go to SI2 and still get eyeclean.

We weren''t trying to fit a specific setting, so that helped.

 

[tonyc2387]

Heh... before finding PS, I spent a few weeks pondering Blue Nile, shopping with the GF, toying with price and what I thought I knew about diamonds.

Then I found PS. I spent pretty much every waking minute over a few days reading and learning what I didn''t know, and what I didn''t know I didn''t know. Then I decided to join... and maybe a few hours after that?

Have I had second thoughts? Sure. I''ve searched numerous times, but haven''t found a rock with enough visual difference to justify the effort in changing it (proposal is still pending, of course). I got about the color I expected (G), a higher clarity than expected/necessary (VS1), but a slightly smaller size than I was hoping (.836 vs 1). But:
-The price jump from the one I got to a 1.0x ct, all else equal, is about double
-The size jump is more or less tiny, even negligible compared to some of the poorly-cut 1ct''s she saw in B&M stores
-The cut is many, many orders of magnitude above and beyond anything I expected
-The customer service and policies have been miles ahead of anything in a B&M

Sooo... in light of all that, I don''t feel like I really had to sacrifice much, and I''m extremely happy with what I got.

Lucky me? Maybe... She has yet to see it, and that''s what counts

 

[butterfly 17]

When I upgraded from the 2 to 2.38 it took a while, a few months or so because finding ideal cut larger stones are just harder to find. When I exchanged the 2.38 for the ACA, I found it in a day, I wasn''t even looking to upgrade, but I happened on the WF website and saw they had a stone with the same color and clarity and diameter in a ACA and knew I wanted it.
I didn''t want to chance someone else coming along and scooping it up, so as soon as I saw it, I called WF for it. I had previously found two similar ACA''s and had posted a thread about it and in a day, both stones were sold. Luckily when I called, they had the stone available as apparently it was meant for someone else but she never responded back to them to let them know she wanted it.

I kept the same color and clarity as the 2.38 and the same exact diameter as well. Both stones are H VS2 and 8.6 mm diameters, so I only exchanged for a superideal cut and nothing else.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/2/2010 5:09:41 PM
Author: butterfly 17
When I upgraded from the 2 to 2.38 it took a while, a few months or so because finding ideal cut larger stones are just harder to find. When I exchanged the 2.38 for the ACA, I found it in a day, I wasn''t even looking to upgrade, but I happened on the WF website and saw they had a stone with the same color and clarity and diameter in a ACA and knew I wanted it.
I didn''t want to chance someone else coming along and scooping it up, so as soon as I saw it, I called WF for it. I had previously found two similar ACA''s and had posted a thread about it and in a day, both stones were sold. Luckily when I called, they had the stone available as apparently it was meant for someone else but she never responded back to them to let them know she wanted it.

I kept the same color and clarity as the 2.38 and the same exact diameter as well. Both stones are H VS2 and 8.6 mm diameters, so I only exchanged for a superideal cut and nothing else.

Thanks everyone.

Butterfly - I am thinking if I do find a stone, I won''t post it until I put it on reserve! lol I may not post it at all if it''s an ACA

Allison - I have a question about WF trade-ups. Say I send a stone back and it''s being examined and during that time, I find a new stone that I would like for my trade up. Do I have to pay the entire amount for that new stone and then later be reimbursed/credited for the value of the first stone?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/2/2010 2:52:59 PM
Author: spoogenet
Overall, it took me about a year. About 6 months of that was the more serious phase of my shopping. I just didn''t see settings that floated my boat, once I found a setting I liked things fell into place more smoothly. I sacrificed some of my own skin by it taking me so long.

I picked the setting first, with a particular cut but not particular stone in mind. I ordered it with a specific head size prior to having the stone, something I would not recommend in general. I was over-confident on my ability to find a stone I''d like. The setting can always be made to fit a stone, not the other way around.

I started off looking at Radiants, then went to cushions, then to the Square H&A from GOG. I believe I finally have a winner. I went down in size from my original plan, part of that is due to the different cut I went with and how it fits in the budget. Sure I could have gotten a big radiant for the same price, but I''d rather a better cut and more impressive stone even if it''s smaller. I would not call this ''sacrificing'', only an adjustment to plans.

Never sacrifice. Just convince yourself into the new parameters. As long as you''ve set realistic goals, there will be no reason to sacrifice.

b

Wow, you have A LOT of patience! lol

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 2/2/2010 2:26:18 PM
Author:MC
Curious, when looking for your eng. diamond, how long did it take you? Did you end up sacrificing something - going down in color or clarity for larger or going UP in color/clarity but going smaller. Or did you change the ct. weight of the diamond to fit a specific setting you had in mind?

So I''m in the business and suspect that people might think that this makes it easier when I have to find a diamond for my own needs... I spent six months looking for the Asscher cut diamond that was eventually placed in a D. Vatche "surprise stone" solitaire for Valerie''s engagement ring. The quest began with her telling me that she didn''t think she wanted a round and my handing her the Rapaport Diamond Shape Book and saying "find what you want".

Valerie carried the diamond shape book around with her for a few weeks and then one day announced that she really liked the concept of the Buddha shaped diamond - I almost passed out. I''m still not sure whether she said that to mess with me or not, but I was able to show her that the stone would not look so interesting when set using our CAD program. So the quest continued and she eventually announced that she wanted an Asscher cut - that should be easy enough I thought since we specialize in them - but at the time, it was a real challenge to find one cut right in the higher color range... I think Valerie gave up on the concept.

One day a box arrived from my friends at Daniel K and inside the box was the Asscher that I''d been looking for, I ran it through my usual inspection process and then walked up to Valerie''s desk, handed her the stone locked in a pair of tweezers and said "tell me what you think of this" and she vaguely commented "it''s very nice" which I found kind of disappointing - but then Holly "got it" and said "uh Valerie, I think he means ''what do you think of this for your ring?" and there was a whole bunch of screaming and they ran outside to play with it in the sunlight in front of the store.

Five, maybe six minutes later, I get a phone call from our account representative at D. Vatche which started out with "so about the changes that Valerie wants to make to our surprise solitaire design..." and I said "what changes?" to which he asked "You Do know that you''re getting engaged - don''t you?" and I was like, WOW - that was fast!

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

From when I started thinking about buying or upgrading to when I bought/upgraded it was usually about 2 month. But I usually found a stone that prompted me to act rather than the other way around, so from seeing the diamond to buying was usually a week or so.

Re upgrading with WF When I have upgraded with WF I did not pay until my new diamond was ready to ship, so I sent them my old diamond and they held the new diamond while my trade-in was processed and recerted. Then when that was all finished they charged me the difference in price between the two diamonds and sent me the new diamond! Whole thing took one month.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/2/2010 5:39:34 PM
Author: Todd Gray
So I''m in the business and suspect that people might think that this makes it easier when I have to find a diamond for my own needs... I spent six months looking for the Asscher cut diamond that was eventually placed in a D. Vatche ''surprise stone'' solitaire for Valerie''s engagement ring. The quest began with her telling me that she didn''t think she wanted a round and my handing her the Rapaport Diamond Shape Book and saying ''find what you want''.

Valerie carried the diamond shape book around with her for a few weeks and then one day announced that she really liked the concept of the Buddha shaped diamond - I almost passed out. I''m still not sure whether she said that to mess with me or not, but I was able to show her that the stone would not look so interesting when set using our CAD program. So the quest continued and she eventually announced that she wanted an Asscher cut - that should be easy enough I thought since we specialize in them - but at the time, it was a real challenge to find one cut right in the higher color range... I think Valerie gave up on the concept.

One day a box arrived from my friends at Daniel K and inside the box was the Asscher that I''d been looking for, I ran it through my usual inspection process and then walked up to Valerie''s desk, handed her the stone locked in a pair of tweezers and said ''tell me what you think of this'' and she vaguely commented ''it''s very nice'' which I found kind of disappointing - but then Holly ''got it'' and said ''uh Valerie, I think he means ''what do you think of this for your ring?'' and there was a whole bunch of screaming and they ran outside to play with it in the sunlight in front of the store.

Five, maybe six minutes later, I get a phone call from our account representative at D. Vatche which started out with ''so about the changes that Valerie wants to make to our surprise solitaire design...'' and I said ''what changes?'' to which he asked ''You Do know that you''re getting engaged - don''t you?'' and I was like, WOW - that was fast!

A Buddha shaped diamond sounds so cute! lol

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/2/2010 5:40:37 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
From when I started thinking about buying or upgrading to when I bought/upgraded it was usually about 2 month. But I usually found a stone that prompted me to act rather than the other way around, so from seeing the diamond to buying was usually a week or so.

Re upgrading with WF When I have upgraded with WF I did not pay until my new diamond was ready to ship, so I sent them my old diamond and they held the new diamond while my trade-in was processed and recerted. Then when that was all finished they charged me the difference in price between the two diamonds and sent me the new diamond! Whole thing took one month.

Thanks DD! I was hoping that they''d hold the diamond. . .I can''t imagine those who buy expensive stones having (or being able) to pay for the second upfront. . .but you never know.

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 2/2/2010 5:43:34 PM
Author: MC
A Buddha shaped diamond sounds so cute! lol

It is really cool looking, maybe as a pendant or something.

 

[IceExplorer]

That is neat!

What are the specs. and what would something like that cost?