Cost of Custom Rings

[Lugus]

By now I''ve learned more than I''ll ever need to about diamonds, but I realized today I know very little about the rings themselves. If I get custom rings designed, how do I know I''m not getting ripped off? I''ll descibe the rings:

The engagement band will have four, individually set side diamonds. Two wil be ~.10 cts, two will be ~.15 cts . The main stone, which I have already, will be set in a six prong setting. The wedding band will have six individually set diamonds and will fit flush against the engagement ring. Tcw for that will be ~.75cts. The rings will both be in platinum, very thin, and the designer will be working off a different design that he makes.

So how much do I pay for this?

Seperate question, if I wanted to purchase the side diamonds on my own, how much would this effect the cost? And do any of the venders on pricescope offer diamonds in this size?

 

[Lanee]

Good question, I wondered the same but, forgot to ask since we're not ready to buy.

 

[ringbling17]

HI Lugus,
I don't know the exact price of what it would cost for your particular setting, but I can tell you my experience.
I contacted a very popular ring designer about doing a custom piece in platinum, with no diamonds. I wanted a Stuller type euro shank, with scallop prongs, approximately three mm wide. He said that it would cost me approximately $1600 to have it made, including a nonrefundable CAD fee of $200.
When I asked him how much it would cost to have a particular ring that I found on his website made, without diamonds, he said that it would be $2000. I thought that was a bit high, because he most likely kept the same mold from the original ring, so it wouldn't even be a "real" custom made piece for me. Plus, he is very busy, so it would take him about 6 to 8 weeks to make it.
As for the 6 diamond wedding band, I contacted another vendor who recently started to make small H&A's, from 0.02 carats and up, and they said it would cost $1695 for 7- 10 pointers (total carat weight of ~.70, all F/G VS clarity H&A's) in a common prong anniversary type platinum band.
Another thing I want to point out, they mentioned to me that the band would be about 3.5 mm wide with the 7- 10 pointers, so the band you want with 6- .125 pointers may be a bit larger than 3.5 mm.
How wide would you want the band to be?
I believe you can purchase the smaller diamonds seperately if you want and I think it would be cheaper as well, plus you know that you are getting great quality diamonds.
I don't want to mention names, but look up at the banner and contact them!!!

 

[Mara]

Check out www.tradeshop.com. He has awesome work and he has an email quote form you can use to ask questions and get quotes. He responds within a day. It's awesome. It is a great way to get an idea of how much you may be spending on a custom setting and his rates are pretty competitive!! I priced him out for a diamond bracelet. He also sells side stones and/or smaller accent stones.

Here was our experience with our local Aptos jeweler...we wanted a band that had tiny .03c stones all the way around it with 4 small unobtrusive prongs holding the center stone. We had seen something similar with michael b designs, they had a pave/bead set ring with .45c of stones for $2700. I found it elsewhere for $2400. Still pricey. We had our ring custom made, they did a mold and everything, in platinum (its HEAVY and very secure), with the small stones prong set as opposed to bead/pave (safer) with 1ctw of G/H VS quality stones for $2000. So we got more stones, better quality stones, and a handmade custom safer setting for $400-700 less than retail. Pretty cool!

I definitely am a fan of custom work now if you know what you want and don't want to pay designer/retail markups. I would email tradeshop.com and see what his thoughts are. You can attach pictures to the email if you have things you have seen that are similar...and take a look at his online gallery for pictures of all the stuff they are working on, its so cool to see the molds, etc.

Have fun!

 

[Lugus]

Thanks everyone, definately going to check out tradeshop. Would still love more thoughts from the forum.

Mara, did your small stones have certifications with them? How did you control the quality of them? If I walk into a jewelry store and say I want ideal cut stones, I've already learned that just isn't enough, as I've looked at some awful "ideal" stones.

 

[Mara]

To be honest, I wasn't too concerned about the small stones, esp because they were .03c which is *very* small. Stones that are that small just sparkle in a very basic way IMO and you can only tell that its a diamond, shape does not even play into it from a viewing perspective when they are this small. I told our jeweler we wanted G/H VS quality small stones (probably foolish as again..VS vs SI in a .03c stone is still nothing visible..you can barely see the stone!) with the best possible cuts. We were also talking about 24 stones, so I didn't expect the jeweler or the designer to scrutinize and/or run reports on any of the small stones, but I just stressed to our jeweler that we wanted maximum sparkle over all else..as the small stones really just end up looking like a blur of sparkle.

But you are looking at stones more around .10c/.15c which changes the scope of things IMO. Once the stone is more visible to the eye as a true diamond, in that case, you may want to pay more attention to the cut. I know that Whiteflash carries ACA stones as small as .10c and maybe even smaller. That could be fun! Set against your awesome SC stone, the ACA stones would probably be amazing. I would email Leslie at WhiteFlash and see what her thoughts are. I think they may be who Kayla was referring to below. WF also does custom settings I think.

BUT I would still do the tradeshop quote just to get an idea of what he would charge you. That way if WF or any other vendor you are considering using comes back with a $500 more price for the same work (minus stones), then you may want to raise an eyebrow, etc. Use the tools at your disposal to try to price match the best price if possible.

 

[Lugus]

Sounds like a good plan Mara.

 

[cowboystu]

If you can come to singapore, or feel comfortable dealing with someone over the phone, flowerpower and I have used (I am actually not done yet) a guy here in Singapore. He will be designing my wedding band when I am back in the states. He already told me he has done overseas work before.

Just to give you and idea, this ring, in 950 Platinum is costing about 850 Singapore Dollars...so depending on the strength of the US dollar when I actually pay for it, should be about US$480.

Flowerpower got a slight variation of the royal crown setting by Vatche
(www.dvatche.com) made for about S$600 (~US$340) in Platinum...

I don't expect that many people would actually go for this option, but for those who do...it is a great alternative.

Stu

 

[Beith]

The following is my experience.

1) I went to a jeweler for a custom 14k white gold ring. It is a 3 stone design with fairly thin band. I provided him the stones. The center is 1 ct rb, 2 side stones are .25 ct rb. He first created a plastic mold so I could review the design and made adjustments. The cost for the ring and setting of the stones are only $150. The ring turned out to be great but I could not wear it daily. It turned out that I was severely allegic to 14k white gold. I developed bumps and rashes on my finger after prolonged wear

. The jeweler quoted $400.00 for this ring in platinum. I chose 14k since it was my first experience with custom ring and I did not want to make a mistake. It turned out that it was still a mistake anyway.

2) I went to the same jeweler for a custom 3 stone design sapphire ring for my mother in law. This time it is in platinum. Center stone 2.96 ct sapphire and 2 side diamonds are .5 ct each. Cost for mounting and stone setting: $700. This ring is substantially thicker as compared to the previous one.

3) Recently I tried to save some money and pursued a new venture. I bought a 2.19 ct radiant cut center stone. I went and picked up a ready made Platinum mounting for $209. I then purchased two .17 ct each color G, VS princess cut sides stones from another dealer for $217. Finally, I took them to a jeweler setter and he set the stones, sized the ring for $57. The ring turned out only ok.

It looks good on the finger but at close up: the prongs are too thick, the workmanship is lousy, the center diamond is off centered and not level, the side stones are mounted crooked.

I consider this new venture a partial failure.

 

[rbjd]

I've read many good things about Greg at ringdesigner.com. There's also a pretty good explanation on that site of what to look for in a ring.

 

[resilient]

Does anybody know whether platinum ring prices in Singapore is cheaper than in the US? Is there any Singapore jeweller that carries ready made engagement ring settings like Stuller, Vatche, etc.?

 

[valeria101]

Just one word here... I am not sure that 'custom made' means the same thing each time. Some settings would be assembled from ready-made parts, some be made from scratch (cast, fabricated...) with different techniques being priced differently.

With five stones awaiting little prongs to be made for them, the numbers cited here seem very reasonable. I would expect 3-4k bar the sidestones, and take 2k as very good news. No idea about the band though.

You could easily hire a jeweler for a month with the same amount in my dear hometown. Not unreasonable in the US though.

 

[cmcwill]

I would recommend emailing Bob at WhiteFlash. He was outstandingly fast and eager to help me, and was able to get a price quote within 24 hours. Of course I just wanted one of their rings modified with sidestones, it might take longer if you have a 'vision' in your head of what you want the ring to look like. He also asked me what grade sidestones I wanted, so you could have some flexibility and control there. And Bob was also very gracious and not put off when I had to email and tell him I had a surprise engagement and would not be needing his services...for now at least!

Colleen