Customizing prongs - help!

[blueberrydot]

I have found the *almost* perfect wedding set at a jewelers - both the engagement ring and the wedding band are half eternity and they are the best that I've found yet out of the many half eternity settings that I've seen thus far. I forget the brand, but it starts with an O, and I *want* to say that it's Odile or Onile, but I just googled both of those names and nothing's coming up, so I believe I have the name wrong (although I'm sure it starts with an O). Anyway, I absolutely love the size of the diamonds, I love how they are set, I love the heft of the metal and really almost everything about it - except for the prongs on the engagement ring. They look a bit fat and bulky, and I would really love prongs that are thin and delicate. I mentioned to the jeweler how substantial the prongs looked, and she told me that prongs "have" to be like that, to protect the diamond. Now I know this isn't necessarily true, because I've seen plenty of settings with pretty, delicate prong work.

My question is, if I buy this set, is it possible to have the prongs on the engagement ring customized to be exactly how I would like it? I know I could just keep looking and try to find a set that matches ALL of my specifications perfectly, but the price on this setting is at least $500 less than ANY other similar wedding sets that I've come across, so I'd really like to buy this particular set.

 

[Circe]

It''s not tough at all with an experienced benchman - my jeweler made my prongs smaller and more delicate almost as a matter of course when he was cleaning and tightening the prongs. Took him less than an hour. Just be sure to find someone who knows what s/he''d doing ....

 

[blueberrydot]

Thanks for the info, Circe! I''m a little worried that my jeweler might not be that helpful when I tell her that I want the prongs modified. While I was looking at other settings and discussing with her what I liked and disliked about some settings, she was very quick to say "We can change that for you" or "We can have that made the way you like." However, when I mentioned that I like prongs to be smaller, she just said that that''s the way prongs "have" to be, so that threw me off a bit. I didn''t ask specifically for them to be changed, only commented on how bulky the prongs looked, but I''ll mention it the next time I go in and hopefully she''ll have a better answer for me.

 

[Michael_E]

Having it the way you like it may not be in your best interest. It all depends on where you want the prongs to be thinner and how long they are. The longer a prong is and the thinner it is, the more flexible it is and the greater the chance that it will either bend or break during use, letting your stone go. If you are just talking about making the tips smaller, claw shaped or something along those lines, it should be fine. BUT if you have a high setting with longish prongs I would re-consider asking to make those types of prongs thinner, (you wouldn''t ask to have motorcycle tires on your car so that it would look better and this could be similar). Do you have a picture ?

 

[oldminer]

If the seller warns you that the prongs may not properly secure your diamond and the diamond subsequently becomes lost due to a prong bending, they may not be responsible so you need to insure your ring right away if you have insisted on alterations that may have an effect on durability or security of the diamond. I have seen exactly this scenario play out in an arbitration panel dispute some time ago and it cost the plaintiff far more than the cost of the diamond to pursue their claim. Their final victory was very hollow and they had to aacpet that a large part of the responsibility for the loss of the diamond was their own insistance on an unrecommended design of the prongs.