Faulty Repair Work

[Stuck in Greece]

Ring: Platinum 1.52 Princess cut/ 4 prong / baguettes side-stones

I live in Greece now. I recently took a tumble down a set of stairs & knocked out the diamond from my engagement ring. I made my first mistake by assuming that any jeweler would be able to fix 2 bent prongs & re-set the diamond. When I got the ring back it was awful! Here are a few of the problems: 1. When they put the head back onto the ring, they did it off-center (so the Princess diamond is not straight when viewed from the top). 2. There was a clump of the adhering agent? (whatever connects the head to the ring''s setting) that is very noticeable. 3. When they took off the original head they melted/welded it off very un-evenly, so the ring''s setting has this jagged border that the off-centered head is on. 4. The head of my ring sits up very high (so the whole diamond can be seen when viewed from any angle) but now when you look at it, the bottom tip of the diamond is pushed to the right (completely crooked) because when they re-shaped the prongs, they did not put the same amount of curvature in the two right prongs.
So, my questions: I took it to a new jeweler (supposedly ''the best'' in Athens) and they told me that they don''t know if they can fix it - they are unsure if they can take off the head and replace it without making a whole new ring. Is this true?? (I thought head- replacement was common?) And, should I be worried about anything else that the jeweler might have done to de-value my ring?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Now lets see - that piece of string would be about 2 inches long

Really need some digi photo's before we can help ya Darling.
If you dom not have a camera then scan it in a flat bed scanner.

 

[Stuck in Greece]

Hi again. Here is a picture. I couldn't get too much detail from my scanner, but I think you'll be able to see that the diamond is slanted. Please let me know what you think...thanks.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Wow - you did not chip the girdle in such an expose setting!

I see the crooked problem. Not hard to fix. Come visit me in Australia

You need to find a good jeweller - go to a jewellery district or find a place where they make diamond jewellery onsite.

It is fixable
but be sure to insure the diamond against chipping before you take it.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Now when I cut the ring out and look at it with some reference point the stone is off a little, but it is only a few degrees.
Are you sure it was not like that in the first place? It is not uncommon that when something like this happens that you can get over wrought and see things 10X more than what is really there?

For instance did you ever notice that the baguette on one eide is higher than on the other side? Few people ever do. But when something bad happens and you start going over a precious thing with a fine tooth comb - well - you get my drift.

 

[Stuck in Greece]

Hi. Yes, I am positive that my ring wasn't crooked before. (However, I don't see the baguettes are crooked now--I know that I scanned the ring in slightly slanted and maybe that is why the baguettes look off-balance?)
Before the ring was repaired, the head was straight and the bottom point of the diamond was perfectly suspended over the meeting point of the prongs.

I guess (as Feydakin's repsonse mentioned) the jeweler just really didn't know what they were doing. Most Greeks don't wear diamond rings and in the very few cases where I have seen diamonds, they have been in Gold settings. In fact, the repair place kept on asking me if I was sure it was platinum. (I don't know why this didn't tip me off to run from the place!)

Anyway, thanks for the advice. After reading all of the replies I will wait until I get back to the States to have the head replaced by a more qualified jeweler.

 

[katbadness]

Oops.. Sorry folks. I meant to PM not post a message.