London, UK bench jeweller

Dr Indira Marchant at is an expert and seems like a very nice lady, you could contact her. She does post here frequently.

www.bestdiamonds.co.uk 

Your best bet is to take a wander around Hatton Garden and see who is recommended by the jewellers there and then ask to see their work.

I can''t remember the name of the jewellers in London (very famous) and they have their own lapidarists but they definitely could help.  If I remember I''ll post again. 

I know you don''t want the hassle of sending your diamond away but just bear in mind that if another jeweller works on your ring it could invalidate any warranty on it.

Thanks D&T, but I have actually contacted her in the past, and from my personal experience, I found her to be unhelpful and a bit rude when not actually purchasing the stone from her business, so I doubt bestdiamonds would be interested in setting my third party stone in the third party setting. Please note that this is my own personal experience, and I am not doubting or arguing with anybody else who are extremely satisfied with services provided by her.

Thanks for the suggestion LovingDiamonds, I think I might try that. My only concern is that, having asked the big jewellery stores as well, no one seems particularly keen to give me names/refer me to their benchmen.

Maisie, I was unaware I was getting a warranty with the ring? Lol looks like this is something I need to verify with my jeweller, thanks!

Date: 6/14/2009 3:00:32 PM
Author: Tytania
Thanks D&T, but I have actually contacted her in the past, and from my personal experience, I found her to be unhelpful and a bit rude when not actually purchasing the stone from her business, so I doubt bestdiamonds would be interested in setting my third party stone in the third party setting. Please note that this is my own personal experience, and I am not doubting or arguing with anybody else who are extremely satisfied with services provided by her.

Thanks for the suggestion LovingDiamonds, I think I might try that. My only concern is that, having asked the big jewellery stores as well, no one seems particularly keen to give me names/refer me to their benchmen.

Maisie, I was unaware I was getting a warranty with the ring? Lol looks like this is something I need to verify with my jeweller, thanks!

The larger stores will have their own in house service or send items away.  Look for the smaller jewellers in Hatton Garden.  Why can''t the jeweller who''s made your ring set the stone also?

Date: 6/14/2009 3:00:32 PM
Author: Tytania
Thanks D&T, but I have actually contacted her in the past, and from my personal experience, I found her to be unhelpful and a bit rude when not actually purchasing the stone from her business, so I doubt bestdiamonds would be interested in setting my third party stone in the third party setting. Please note that this is my own personal experience, and I am not doubting or arguing with anybody else who are extremely satisfied with services provided by her.

Thanks for the suggestion LovingDiamonds, I think I might try that. My only concern is that, having asked the big jewellery stores as well, no one seems particularly keen to give me names/refer me to their benchmen.

Maisie, I was unaware I was getting a warranty with the ring? Lol looks like this is something I need to verify with my jeweller, thanks!

awwww, I'm sorry for your experience with her. There was a couple of other pricescoper from London  --- one of the gal is her screen name is Londongirl. I'm not quite sure if she purchased everything in the UK, as she just had her ring recently reset, maybe you can track her down as well? for her ideas.

Not sure i could help u much.
I am in London, and had my ring set by a jeweller in Hatton garden.
have been dealing with them a lot recently, still yet to find a good setter, but certainly know which ones you shall avoid dealing with.

don''t want to drop names right night, we could talk about it later.. ping me if you want.

Try Richard Ogden''s in Burlington Arcade - both I and my SIL have been very pleased with work they have done for us.

Thanks Pandora, will definitely check him out, location is perfect too!

Thanks D&T and GemmaEdet.. unfortunately I don''t think there are private messaging facilities here, so I won''t be able to ping you.

Finally my brain has started working!  Try Holts.  Here''s a link ............

http://www.holtsgems.com/

aaw, thank you everyone! sorry I missed your earlier post for some reason LovingDiamonds.. I was trying to avoid sending it to the jeweller because he''s overseas, and I was trying to think of a quicker way to get my ring finished. If I couldn''t find a bench jeweller in London, I would have ended up sending it overseas, but now I think I might not have to!
Also, I''m wary of Hatton Garden - I''ve heard the horror stories....

Date: 6/14/2009 3:00:32 PM
Author: Tytania
Thanks D&T, but I have actually contacted her in the past, and from my personal experience, I found her to be unhelpful and a bit rude when not actually purchasing the stone from her business, so I doubt bestdiamonds would be interested in setting my third party stone in the third party setting. Please note that this is my own personal experience, and I am not doubting or arguing with anybody else who are extremely satisfied with services provided by her.

Thanks for the suggestion LovingDiamonds, I think I might try that. My only concern is that, having asked the big jewellery stores as well, no one seems particularly keen to give me names/refer me to their benchmen.

Maisie, I was unaware I was getting a warranty with the ring? Lol looks like this is something I need to verify with my jeweller, thanks!

Hello Tytania, I am sorry to have been unhelpful and definitely rude is not something that my normal behaviour. As we have a small but talented in-house design team, it is true that we offer jewellery-making at the cost of labour and materials to clients who have bought their diamonds from us for a number of practical reasons: our insurance covers diamonds that we have sourced, it is a fairer way of rationing our designers'' time and avoids any potential conflicts with third parties that have supplied the diamond and/or setting as we guarantee our work and offer free regular re-polishing, re-rhodiating, re-sizing etc.

Date: 6/15/2009 5:08:12 PM
Author: LovingDiamonds
Finally my brain has started working! Try Holts. Here''s a link ............

http://www.holtsgems.com/

I go there quite a bit, but quotes for making a few pieces were and so I have never used them.

Their coloured stones are nice, but prices are way in excess of what I can pay for often better quality and definitely more selection on line. I was also suprised that the SA there had no idea what sphene was when I asked to see what they had - and I had to point the demantoids out in the cabinet when I asked to look at them. Left me a little unimpressed...

Date: 6/16/2009 9:18:34 AM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 6/15/2009 5:08:12 PM
Author: LovingDiamonds
Finally my brain has started working! Try Holts. Here''s a link ............

http://www.holtsgems.com/

I go there quite a bit, but quotes for making a few pieces were and so I have never used them.

Their coloured stones are nice, but prices are way in excess of what I can pay for often better quality and definitely more selection on line. I was also suprised that the SA there had no idea what sphene was when I asked to see what they had - and I had to point the demantoids out in the cabinet when I asked to look at them. Left me a little unimpressed...

Totally agree about their prices and I wouldn''t pay their prices for a ring or loose gemstone BUT setting one stone may not be too expensive although in all honesty I have no idea!!!!  My local jeweller sets all my stones for about £20 each time but I''m out of touch with what''s happening in London. 

When you consider that Holts run their own academy for people to learn about gemstones, you''d think their SA''s would be a bit more clued up wouldn''t you?  lol