The big 3...LM,VC and SK ..

[Dancing Fire]

Do they actually make every one of their settings with their own two hands?

 

[vorky]

Hi,
I am very curious about this as well. I am currently having a ring made by VC. It appears that he has many projects underway and there is a several week turnaround time. With all of the volume of orders that a designer like VC is receiving, I wonder if he is able to actually make each piece himself?

 

[arkieb1]

*Snorts with laughter* - I am not entirely sure consumers want a truthful answer. I'll put it like this the busier benches get the more people they employ..... Steven used to be a bench person working for Leon so if you can't read between the lines I hope that helps answer the question....

I have been blasted twice now for discussing the fact only one out of the big 3 actually does EVERYTHING by hand with no casting. Yes you read that correctly two of them cast parts of their work and it is still described as hand-forged. So I am not forced to defend this statement once again, I have discussed this in detail with with two high end jewellers, one respected valuer and my father who is a metal artist, so when you put it under a scope if you know what you are looking at you can tell the difference.

I also want to state up front I am not saying one method is better than the other in fact sometimes casting gives a much better finish than hand forged work depending upon the level of skill of the person you are comparing a piece to and to the type of finish you want. And I also want to add that many high end jewellers use different people with different skills for things like hand engraving for example and I see nothing wrong with that. Some of the pieces that are part cast and part made by hand are perfectly made, but people freak (without good reason) because it is not all what I term completely hand-forged ie they like to assume no pieces at all have been cast.

 

[Acinom]

I have a ring from Victor Canera and a ring from Leon Mege.

Someone from Leon's bench made my ring. I assume 100% handforged, but not by Leon himself. I had a telephone call with Leon about the design specifics and he ensures that each piece is according to his standards. I am totally fine with a talented bench person making my ring as long as it has the typical Design elements from Leon, his 'signature look' and as long as the quality is impeccable. Leon could not have a blooming business, attend shows, be so creative in designing if he would still make every piece by himself.

I think at this point Victor still makes every ring by himself. The wonderful engraving is done by someone else. As he is so popular lately, his lead times has gone up a bit and he works 6 days a week. Victor is currently making a second ring for me. I love working with him.

I will also have a ring made by ERD and it will be CAD/CAST. Only the milgraining and engraving will be done by hand.

I do not care either way as soon as the quality is impeccable and as long as you get what you are paying for. So, partly casting the ring and saying it's 100% handforged is a mere lie.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Leon rarely makes rings himself these days. He has many others working for him - room full actually. There is a video of it on Youtube.

Steven makes all the rings himself with help from one person who does the metal work.

Other jewelers and PSers told that Victor does not make rings himself and that he has a bench. I have never asked Victor myself.

 

[Tourmaline]

Steven makes all the rings himself with help from one person who does the metal work.

As rings are made of metal, what part does this leave for Steven to do?

 

[Dizzie]

Steven makes all the rings himself with help from one person who does the metal work.

As rings are made of metal, what part does this leave for Steven to do?

Setting the stones, as an example. That is actually a major work step if you think of all the intricate micropave rings

 

[msop04]

I have been blasted twice now for discussing the fact only one out of the big 3 actually does EVERYTHING by hand with no casting. Yes you read that correctly two of them cast parts of their work and it is still described as hand-forged. So I am not forced to defend this statement once again, I have discussed this in detail with with two high end jewellers, one respected valuer and my father who is a metal artist, so when you put it under a scope if you know what you are looking at you can tell the difference.

Some of the pieces that are part cast and part made by hand are perfectly made, but people freak (without good reason) because it is not all what I term completely hand-forged ie they like to assume no pieces at all have been cast.

Not that I'm freaking out about it nor do I have any current plans to use any of these vendors, but... if a vendor claims "hand forged," then I assume the piece is 100% hand forged with no casting. Otherwise, it's a mix of both, no? Hmmmm...

 

[alene]

As of two years ago, SK made his rings himself, with one guy working for him . And and while I can't speak for all of his work, mine was 100% hand-forged, with no cast parts whatsoever.

 

[jerichosmom]

Given the volume of pieces that they produce, I don't believe that any of them can single handedly make each by themselves. Leon's site shows a room full of bench people working at a long table..kind of like a factory. I've read somewhere else on this this forum that Victor has metalsmiths who does the melting, rolling etc. I think Victor chooses the melee but probably has someone else set them as its so time consuming. Everything is checked over by them obviously. This is also my personal assumption but I'm pretty sure that one of SK's benchmen also does work for ERD. There is a ring that is featured on both their sites being touted as theirs, handforged. It was mentioned a few years back in a thread by the person who had ERD make a tapered french cut setting for her OMB. ERD sent her the ring as an example from their handforger....I put 2 and 2 together and many benchmen work via contract so they can work for a variety of designers (like Harry Winston). It could also explain why there is not too much of a price difference between the 2 now since it could be the same person making it (minus the SK branding).

 

[Dancing Fire]

I have a ring from Victor Canera and a ring from Leon Mege.

Someone from Leon's bench made my ring. I assume 100% handforged, but not by Leon himself. I had a telephone call with Leon about the design specifics and he ensures that each piece is according to his standards. I am totally fine with a talented bench person making my ring as long as it has the typical Design elements from Leon, his 'signature look' and as long as the quality is impeccable. Leon could not have a blooming business, attend shows, be so creative in designing if he would still make every piece by himself.

I think at this point Victor still makes every ring by himself. The wonderful engraving is done by someone else. As he is so popular lately, his lead times has gone up a bit and he works 6 days a week. Victor is currently making a second ring for me. I love working with him.

I will also have a ring made by ERD and it will be CAD/CAST. Only the milgraining and engraving will be done by hand.

I do not care either way as soon as the quality is impeccable and as long as you get what you are paying for. So, partly casting the ring and saying it's 100% handforged is a mere lie.

In other words customers are paying big bucks for LM's design not his craftsmanship?..if that's true then I'd go with VC.

 

[Laila619]

Leon himself admits he does not make all the rings:

https://leonmege.com/index.php/policies/frequently-asked-questions

See number 28

Q: "Can I request to have my ring to be made personally by Mr. Megé?"
A: Yes. Right after Mr. Jobs assembles your iPhone with his own hands. We work as a team, Mr. Megé is personally involved in every aspect of production. He is the heart and brains of Leon Megé Inc. and he is responsible for every piece we make. When a finished piece leaves the shop, it is distinctly “Leon Megé,” just as if he were to have made it himself.

 

[Acinom]

I have a ring from Victor Canera and a ring from Leon Mege.

Someone from Leon's bench made my ring. I assume 100% handforged, but not by Leon himself. I had a telephone call with Leon about the design specifics and he ensures that each piece is according to his standards. I am totally fine with a talented bench person making my ring as long as it has the typical Design elements from Leon, his 'signature look' and as long as the quality is impeccable. Leon could not have a blooming business, attend shows, be so creative in designing if he would still make every piece by himself.

I think at this point Victor still makes every ring by himself. The wonderful engraving is done by someone else. As he is so popular lately, his lead times has gone up a bit and he works 6 days a week. Victor is currently making a second ring for me. I love working with him.

I will also have a ring made by ERD and it will be CAD/CAST. Only the milgraining and engraving will be done by hand.

I do not care either way as soon as the quality is impeccable and as long as you get what you are paying for. So, partly casting the ring and saying it's 100% handforged is a mere lie.

In other words customers are paying big bucks for LM's design not his craftsmanship?..if that's true then I'd go with VC.

Well, it's like buying a Chanel bag or jacket, which will not have been made by either Coco Chanel or Karl Lagerfeld.
If you want to be sure that the designer of your choice is 100% involved, you should ask. It will not make it a better piece: setting the stone or crafting the setting are specialties. Same with engraving or designing.

 

[Dancing Fire]

I don't know how it works in the setting business, but in the world of big name independent watch makers the watch maker "himself" will make the parts from scratch, assemble and hand finish every pieces himself.

 

[Niel]

Leon himself admits he does not make all the rings:

https://leonmege.com/index.php/policies/frequently-asked-questions

See number 28

Q: "Can I request to have my ring to be made personally by Mr. Megé?"
A: Yes. Right after Mr. Jobs assembles your iPhone with his own hands. We work as a team, Mr. Megé is personally involved in every aspect of production. He is the heart and brains of Leon Megé Inc. and he is responsible for every piece we make. When a finished piece leaves the shop, it is distinctly “Leon Megé,” just as if he were to have made it himself.

That first bit is such a rude way to answer the question.

His ring are suppose to be "art" so I get why people ask that. People expect"artist" to do there own "artwork". Not at all the same as an iPhone which is a mass produced item. And its a common enough question to be on his FAQ page, so I see no reason to answer with such a belittling response.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Leon himself admits he does not make all the rings:

https://leonmege.com/index.php/policies/frequently-asked-questions

See number 28

Q: "Can I request to have my ring to be made personally by Mr. Megé?"
A: Yes. Right after Mr. Jobs assembles your iPhone with his own hands. We work as a team, Mr. Megé is personally involved in every aspect of production. He is the heart and brains of Leon Megé Inc. and he is responsible for every piece we make. When a finished piece leaves the shop, it is distinctly “Leon Megé,” just as if he were to have made it himself.

That first bit is such a rude way to answer the question.

His ring are suppose to be "art" so I get why people ask that. People expect"artist" to do there own "artwork". Not at all the same as an iPhone which is a mass produced item. And its a common enough question to be on his FAQ page, so I see no reason to answer with such a belittling response.

+1..

 

[anne_h]

When Victor was making my ring, at one point he mentioned waiting for his melee setter to come back from vacation.

So I will assume he runs things as a team effort at his shop. Personally, to me this is totally acceptable. I never had the impression he purported to do everything himself.

Anne

 

[CharmyPoo]

Steven makes all the rings himself with help from one person who does the metal work.

As rings are made of metal, what part does this leave for Steven to do?

A lot .... as mentioned by others, pave is not easy and is time consuming, making those claw prongs is time consuming .... SK also can do metal work himself but he has help too.

I do not believe ERD uses the same guy that works for Steven. I met him before and I don't think they are the same person.

There is one ring that SK made for ERD - the band. ERD may have chosen to continue with that design to be made by SK or maybe by another bench. I don't know but I do know that SK made the original one.

 

[Abby12]

SK told me all his rings are 100% hand forged. I know this issue keeps coming up, but he did tell me that as of now he still does all hand forged. He saif in the future if he gets really big in business, he would do cast as well. I am assuming that would be made known and that you would have a choice whether to pay premium for hand forged or not.

 

[arkieb1]

I think of late, SK might have gone back to doing everything 100% hand forged. There was a period of people hassling for cheaper prices and extreme competition between a number of vendors a while back on a limited number of a couple of popular designs and I was told that both he and Leon sped up the process and reduced costs by using a combination of the two methods which produced stunning pieces that the average person would not be able to know the difference of, jewellers and valuers can tell the difference when they put these settings under a scope..... And other than the pieces being relatively price competitive it was not widely known that any parts might have been cast - I doubt they are going to advertise this.

Lately Steven's prices have been expensive so maybe he has decided to go back to absolutely everything hand forged.

I know Victor does everything hand forged no casting.

A lot of jewellers claim their work is "hand forged" or it is "100% hand made" (but they cast parts as well) the devil is in the detail.

Mostly we are paying for the design genius and the quality of the workmanship - it would be naive to think that they do absolutely everything themselves. I think it depends on the piece in question and which bench it comes from.

If you want something 100% hand forged without any cast parts and it bothers you clearly specify when you order it and it will be priced accordingly.

 

[MarionC]

SK told me all his rings are 100% hand forged. I know this issue keeps coming up, but he did tell me that as of now he still does all hand forged. He saif in the future if he gets really big in business, he would do cast as well. I am assuming that would be made known and that you would have a choice whether to pay premium for hand forged or not.

He just made my setting and I never thought to ask about this - I just assumed, so this is good news. It makes me feel a stronger connection with the designer; that my diamond's home was lovingly made. Call me silly, but I would much rather have that "energy" on my finger

 

[Abby12]

I guess all anyone can really ask for is 100 percent cast free if you want hand forged. Beyond that there is not really much we can do.
Perhaps informing them that you will get an appraisal will also help?
I really do not know. In Leon's youtube video with all the workers, he also says they do everything entirely hand forged.
I am not sure what to think anymore.