Expert Advice Please!!!

[EHR2009]

I posted this in Jewelry earlier, but I thought I would try my luck in Rocky Talky...

So my fiance and I had our wedding bands handmade because we used the gold from his mother''s wedding ring to inlay into a 5mm platinum band (which apparently is a difficult task). The jeweler we used was recommended to us by my fiance''s step-mother, who has worked with him on many occassions in the past (she is a jewelry designer). We received the rings in the mail, and his ring is obviously uneven, which is made more obvious by the fact that there is a strip of gold running through the middle of it, so there are not equal amounts of platinum on either side. I took it in to a jewelry store to have it measured, and it turns out that it is 4.5mm wide on part of the ring, and the rest is 5mm. To me, this seems like a pretty big difference.

I emailed the jeweler and politely expressed my concern, and he frankly told me that handmade rings will not be perfect, and that they worked very hard to get the gold in the middle, and nothing could be done at this point. The gold strip (which apparently is the difficult part) looks fine, but the actually ring itself (made of platinum is obviously uneven!

Does anyone have knowledge about how difficult something like this would be to fix? Is it possible to just add more platinum to one side to even it out? I would have assumed that he would have immediately offered to fix it with sincere apologies, but instead he said that nothing could be done at this point.

We haven''t paid for the ring yet, but it is not so simple that we could just send it back and say "No, thank you" because my fiance''s mother''s gold is in the ring. I am planning on calling him to express that I am not happy with it, but if he refuses to fix it, I just don''t feel comfortable spending a rather large chunck of change on something that doesn''t look right to me. I understand that it is handmade, which comes with its imperfections, but this seems like a rather large and obvious imperfection!

I''ve attached a photo, but it is difficult to tell from the picture.

Do you guys think that I should just live with it and let it go, or should I stick to my guns?

 

[girlie-girl]

I'm sorry EHR, but I do not see an image? Could you try and attach it again please.

ETA: I tracked down the other thread (https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-i-need-some-advice.114139/ ) and have brought back the pic with me.

 

[EHR2009]

Thanks, Girliegirl!

 

[EHR2009]

Can you guys see what I see (I know it is difficult to tell with a picture), or do you think I am just being too critical?

 

[rickster123]

The top platinum strip is narrower than the bottom platinum strip. Is what I see.........with that being said, I have no idea if this process is "we''ll do the best we can but it may not be perfect"........or they just screwed up. Somebody else will have to chime in with advice. I think, if unfixable, with everything involved (MIL, finace, her gold) your ultimate solution may be to live with it. It still looks really nice and certainly unique. No ultimate worries.

 

[EHR2009]

Thanks, Rickster. Anyone have any idea how easy/difficult this is to fix?

 

[tyty333]

...I dont know if it is fixable either but just wanted to say that it is a lovely ring and I love the sentiment! It is truely
not very noticable so if it cant be fix I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[LJS300]

I don''t know anything about fixing it but I wanted to say that I agree with Rickster and I think it looks lovely, unique and handmade, and hopefully you''ll be able to focus on the ring as a whole and not the lack of perfect symmetry and love it...? Good luck.

 

[Diamond Explorer]

It is pretty obvious that the inlay strip is off center. Clearly a mistake that resulted from poor measurements or tool calibration. I cant understand how they can send a project out looking like that. They should definitely remake the ring, so that it is right. If they refuse they are clearly not a good operation.

 

[ajourklaus]

EHR2009,

The ring is definitely off.
This is a straight forward simple job. For a real professional that is.
Also certainly it can be repaired. It is a pretty easy but time consuming process with a laser.

I am repeating myself again. A bench jeweler that lets out such work is either incapable, or he does not care what type of quality leaves his bench. Both cases are not acceptable to me.

I would give him one more visit; maybe he had a bad day and is actually capable of doing it.
Although hearing his remarks, I am not too confident. He sounds like one of the many bad apples in my profession. Makes me sick.


I think you should cut your losses and find the best bench jeweler in your area and have him take care of it.

I apologize for being rude but I am starting to have enough of all the rubbish that is spread around by many so called jewelers.