Taking the plunge, need help from you wonderful knowledgeable people

[JackBauer]

Hi all,

I'm a UK based buyer and the time has come to buy the future Mrs her engagement ring. There are so many options I was hoping you could help me narrow things down. I went to Hatton Garden to do some research. My OH has very thing fingers and her ring size is G1/2. The following is what I would be looking for:

F colour
VS2/VS1 (eye clean of course)
.55 to 0.6 Carat
Thin (2mm or less) Platinum tapered band with 4 claws so the diamond stands out.
I'd be looking to spend around £2500 for this ring if possible.

There are so many things to consider; the ideal diamond measurements, HCA scores, light performance, ASET images, Idealscope. Then you have proprietary cuts like Hearts and Arrows, Signature, True Hearts, Brain Gavin Black.
If buying from the US, I have to think about VAT costs :s
Hatton Garden jewellers aren't keen on finding you the perfect spec diamond, they just show you a bunch they have lying around and try to get you to buy them. I'm still waiting on a few to get back to me based on the following specs I asked for:

GIA XXX
Excellent colour, clarity, polish
No Fluorescence
Depth of 61% to 62.5%
Table of 54% to 57%
Crown Angle of 34% to 35%
Pavilion Angle of 40.6 to 40.8%

Blue Nile seems to have some good selection of diamonds and factors in the VAT costs but they have such a limited selection on settings. I don't see any I like :s but the following rocks seem nice?

https://www.bluenile.com/uk/diamond...DiamondDetails&action=newTab&catalogView=true

https://www.bluenile.com/uk/diamond...DiamondDetails&action=newTab&catalogView=true

Band wise, something like this:
https://www.samarajames.com/engagement-ring-4-claw-brilliant-solitaire.html/
Second band in this vid looks similar and is stunning:

I've also taken a look at Brian Gavin. Found some perfect stones and a nice setting to boot but I'd be looking at around £3500 :s

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[tyty333]

Both those stones are nice. Numbers all work together, high color, and should be eye-clean.

Do you plan on getting a setting locally? Dosnt look like BN has a "basket" style setting like the one in your link.

 

[Lykame]

Hello!

Fellow UK person.

Please avoid Hatton Garden. I'm sure there are one or two people down there who are okay but in general you will not be using your money wisely. Been there, done that, the t-shirt isn't nice.

You're already on the right track thinking about cut cut cut cut cut, well done, that's awesome. Hatton Garden won't be too helpful with that. Most of them won't know what an ASET scope is. I bought my own online from AGS in America and then realised that although I can recognise the 'ideal' pictures online, seeing diamonds in person I couldn't tell whether the paler pink I was seeing was bad because the diamond wasn't well cut or because my technique was terrible (perhaps a mixture of both?). I also gave them cut criteria with specific angles when I tried it and in general the mark up in price for those was excruciatingly painful.

Might I recommend a jeweller called Durham Rose? I have used them recently and had an excellent experience, nothing like my Hatton Garden experiences. Of great awesomeness, they can source CBI (a highly recommended brand, Crafted By Infinity, it's Super Ideal) - basically any stone that is on the HPD website they can obtain. You may be able to drop your requirements slightly with a super ideal, in that you could think about G or H colour and you might even be willing to consider SI1 as they have very strict eye-clean criteria. They (CBI) are a tad more expensive but personally I think especially with the upgrade policy it's worth it.

I used to have a 1.65 F (GIA Triple Excellent, HCA 2.3 from when I didn't know better) and I currently have a CBI 2 carat J and from face up I couldn't tell the difference (I did see CBI J and my previous F diamond next to each other). From the side I can tell easily - but J is obviously far away from G and H so I would think you would still be good. Worth thinking about at least.

Setting wise I'm less useful. Durham Rose do some lovely settings and can source settings from places like Stuller if there's any on there that you like. I would hope that wouldn't eat too much of your budget. They can also source melee if you wanted to upgrade melee quality. I was also rather taken with the idea of a reliable and local jeweller because although I strongly considered buying from America, I was a bit worried about setting issues etc and how easy that would be to resolve.

Regarding the diamonds you've found - the 0.60 looks to have gone unless you have it on hold??? The angles on the 0.55 are really lovely. Can they provide you with an ASET Scope image? That's a good find - put it on hold and ask for an ASET scope and Idealscope image if you're still interested in it.

Hope that helps! Best of luck and keep us updated.

 

[KKJohnson]

looks like the .6 is taken, did you put it on hold?

These are also nice
This would be a first pick
https://www.bluenile.com/uk/diamond...MONDS&track=viewDiamondDetails&action=sameTab

https://www.bluenile.com/uk/diamond...MONDS&track=viewDiamondDetails&action=sameTab

This one looks alot like the .55 but slightly larger option, but its a G. Most people can not tell the difference between a G and F, your intended would have to be very color sensitive

https://www.bluenile.com/uk/diamond...TIONS&track=viewDiamondDetails&action=sameTab

 

[JackBauer]

@tyty333
I'm not sure, is it possible for me to get a diamond and get someone else to supply the band and add the diamond? Wouldn't that cost more?

@Lykame
Thank you for your detailed response.
Yes, it looks like someone beat me to the punch and took the 0.6 diamond
It's definitely possible to buy a diamond with the perfect angles and a HCA score of less than 1 from places like Blue Nile but how likely is it they would perform? That's what I'm worried about. They don't provide Idealscope or ASET images unfortunately. It's because they have a virtual stock. I asked and they said they wouldn't be able to help.

Thanks for letting me know about Crafted by Infinity. I didn't know about them!
I will be calling Durham Rose this afternoon to see what they can offer but going by their bespoke package examples on their website, I think they'll ask for a lot more than my budget
I've since spoken to Celine from Best Diamonds though. They also do Crafted by Infinity diamonds, based out in Antwerp Belgium but have an office in London too. I've sent her my specs for both the diamond and setting and she promised to get back to me shortly.

I can't go lower than an F as I can start to see some yellow in G. It's something I noticed looking around Hatton Garden. F would be as low as I would want to go. I might consider an SI1 though as long as it's eye clean.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

@KKJohnson
Someone beat me to the 0.6 lol
The .62 F looks lovely though.

Right now I need to decide if I'll be happy buying a diamond that has good dimensions and a HCA score of around 1 or going for something like a Crafted by Infinity or Whiteflash ACA

Thanks for your input guys.

 

[Lykame]

@tyty333
I'm not sure, is it possible for me to get a diamond and get someone else to supply the band and add the diamond? Wouldn't that cost more?

@Lykame
Thank you for your detailed response.
Yes, it looks like someone beat me to the punch and took the 0.6 diamond
It's definitely possible to buy a diamond with the perfect angles and a HCA score of less than 1 from places like Blue Nile but how likely is it they would perform? That's what I'm worried about. They don't provide Idealscope or ASET images unfortunately. It's because they have a virtual stock. I asked and they said they wouldn't be able to help.

Thanks for letting me know about Crafted by Infinity. I didn't know about them!
I will be calling Durham Rose this afternoon to see what they can offer but going by their bespoke package examples on their website, I think they'll ask for a lot more than my budget
I've since spoken to Celine from Best Diamonds though. They also do Crafted by Infinity diamonds, based out in Antwerp Belgium but have an office in London too. I've sent her my specs for both the diamond and setting and she promised to get back to me shortly.

I can't go lower than an F as I can start to see some yellow in G. It's something I noticed looking around Hatton Garden. F would be as low as I would want to go. I might consider an SI1 though as long as it's eye clean.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

@KKJohnson
Someone beat me to the 0.6 lol
The .62 F looks lovely though.

Right now I need to decide if I'll be happy buying a diamond that has good dimensions and a HCA score of around 1 or going for something like a Crafted by Infinity or Whiteflash ACA

Thanks for your input guys.

Hi!

I think that if you buy a diamond from BlueNile etc with great angles you're probably doing better than most. The HCA score is a rejection score really - often they'll say if it's less than 1 that's better for stones that should be viewed from further away, like earrings or pendants. Once you have an HCA of less than 2 you potentially have complementary angles, but you need to see the stone in person. So don't feel '1' is the magic number - aim for less than 2 and then you need to see the stones.

There are many people on here who buy diamonds from BlueNile etc and they are very happy. The diamonds have complementary angles and look great. They may not have perfect perfect hearts and arrows and that may have an impact on performance, but in the real world with cost savings etc that may be what works the best for you. Only you can decide that. BlueNile has a decent returns policy. You could buy an unset diamond, ASET scope it yourself, post the images here and get feedback on them. Obviously then you would need to get the stone set (via BlueNile? I kinda believe on getting the supplier to also set the diamond). It depends on how much work you want to put into this process I guess.

Oh, I had a friend who bought a stone from BlueNile and she had to return it, but the fine print for her meant paying for the shipping back and that was actually nearly £100. So yeah. Beware of that too, two or three stones later that could eat into your budget.

I also looked into Whiteflash ACA - they are beautiful and I lusted over them. There's import tax to consider, which is a pain.

Sorry to harp on about the colour thing, but be aware that although you will be able to see the yellow in a G of a diamond that isn't so well cut, it's honestly scarily much more difficult in these super well-cut diamonds. Seriously - I was also not prepared to get anything less than an F. I mean in my dreams I would still love an F, I'd also be extremely happy with a G, the better cut the diamond the more difficult it is to see body tint. Equally - it is body tint and if you can see it and are bothered by it then keep to F - but please only make that decision once you've seen the different colours in the super ideal spectrum if that's the route you want to go, because you may be pleasantly surprised, and most people will notice size over colour (within reason).

Definitely give Durham Rose a chance. Everyone there is wonderful and helpful and depending on what you want they may be more financially viable than you think, especially if you're not going custom. They also do stock settings. You could get a white gold Stuller setting (I know I have mentioned them before, I'm sure there are other choices, it was just the selection that I browsed through in my process so I know that Durham Rose can definitely obtain them), it would be lovely and I wouldn't think it would be too expensive. I guess the difficulty in England is that the settings can be really expensive, even the really simple ones. You can then compare prices to the settings on BlueNile for example and you may find there's not much difference in it if at all.

Celine from Diamond House I also spoke to, and she has access to the same CBIs that Durham Rose do. You won't 'save' on the diamond by going through her but I don't know what their setting costs are like. Worth a check I'm sure.

Some people would say that by the time you are educated enough to really care about the cut, you're better off putting as much of your budget into the main stone, spending less on the setting initially, and in a few years if your partner really wants, upgrading on the setting with some more funds. (Oh, with CBI and ACA if you want to upgrade you only need to pay $1 more to get a new diamond, whereas I think with places like BlueNile you have to spend double? Worth a think too, I know upgrading isn't so common over here but still worth thinking about).

I didn't think I would ever be able to afford a CBI with all my other criteria that I wanted to meet, but when I saw them in person I realised I couldn't really accept anything else, so I made some alternative compromises. Oops. So yeah, realise I'm quite biased here (couldn't you tell?).

 

[OoohShiny]

Wise words from Lykame in this thread!