Diamond wedding band--HELP!

[luckyguy]

I need as many responses from you guys and gals as I can get...

O.K.; O.K.; I got a 3 stone engagement ring for my fiance. That was the easy part.

Go in ask for GIA certs and deal straight up. Now, I''m trying to buy a platinum wedding band with channel set round brilliant diamonds and am at a loss. I have no idea where to start or what to look for as far as quality goes. When I bought my fiance''s engagment ring, I shopped loose stones; however, I doubt that is how I will be able to purchase a wedding band. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions on how to go about checking out and buying diamond wedding bands?

I went out and looked in some stores today and saw some platinum settings with about 1 caret total weight worth of diamonds running all the way around the setting. It looked nice, but I have no way to varify what all the stones are--their proportions, color, etc.--or what the ring is worth. What to do?

Just so you know, the wedding band will be sitting along side the following three stone engagement ring: a simple, elegant, polished platinum four prong setting with a GIA certed 1.27 carat, SI2, E, round brilliant cut center stone with excellent proportions (simply amazing to see). The side stones are both 0.33 SI1, E color round brilliant cut stones with excellent proportions as well. If you have any suggestions as to what type/style of wedding band to get to match this ring and/or how to go about shopping for this type of ring, I''m all ears.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Mara]

We got our stone appraised and are having the final ring piece appraised for insurance purposes so that is our way to tell what quality and what the ring piece itself is worth, we already know what the stone is worth. If you are considering appraisals, you can do it this way too for peace of mind.

From what I have seen of retailers, if the stones in the settings are small, they don't have alot of information on them. I have found online sites that sell similar channel settings to what you speak of, and they will typically tell you what size the stones are, color, and clarity. G/H VS is pretty common for settings such as this, but I have also seen G/H and SI as well. If the stones are pretty small (e.g. .01-.04), the clarity will not matter *as much* as it would in a larger stone. I've seen I1 baby stones in settings where you can't even tell because the stones are so small.

But if you want to be sure that the stones are of the same quality as your center stone, try having the setting made. If you know what style you want, take a picture into your jeweler and have them design it for you. It is not always that expensive either, depending on what you are having done. Especially if you are copying a branded setting..which normally you pay more for in retail.

We are having our setting made and I specified I wanted the stones (.03c each) to be G VS as that is what our large stone is. I don't know if it makes a huge difference if they would be H SI but I figured better safe than sorry and the price difference was negligible. Also I don't know how they gauge small diamonds like that on cut, but I also specified that I wanted the 'best cut small stones' they could find. We will see what we get!

However, most of the settings I have seen, even retail purchases, that have small stones in them, either channel or prong set, are pretty sparkly. So I'm optimistic.

Hope this helped somewhat. Also if you are still looking and don't know specifically which setting you want but have a general idea, I posted a bunch of links on a thread about 2 days ago for Lugus, a bunch of url's and websites that sell settings only that I have found in my online travels. Many of those sites carry channel eternity and/or similar styles and most of them also give the specifics on the quality of the small stones in the ring itself.

Good luck!

 

[luckyguy]

Thanks for the tips on getting a setting made Mara...sounds like a good idea.

I will also try to find the links that you mentioned.

I believe that I am narrowing down my search, and I would like a platinum setting such as a channel set eternity band with about 1 to 1.10 ctw. I want the stones to be near/same quality as my center stone.

If anyone else knows where I can compare prices of similar rings, I would appreciate knowing that info. The more comparisons and info I can find, the more informed I will be to make a decision (Mara, I'll find your links as well).

Thanks again to all!