Having your ring made long-distance

[alene]

I have a question about ring maintenance if you had your ring made/set not locally. What do you do for regular maintenance? Do you have it inspected locally and only send to the jeweler who made it for repairs? What about pave settings? Do they have to be sent back even for minor repairs, like replacing tiny pave stones? What about things like resizing? Cleaning? Polishing? How much of a pain is it? Do you think it makes sense to try to find someone locally or should location not be a major factor when choosing where to have your ring made? I've had a solitaire for several years that basically required no maintenance but am now considering a more intricate setting and wondering if having it made long distance is going to be a pain in the long run.

 

[NOYFB]

I can't speak for all vendors, but I have 2 rings that were custom made by BGD. They are under warranty as long as they aren't worked on by anyone else. I would let a local jeweler clean and inspect the rings, but I would only send it back to BGD for any kind of repair, resize, etc. In fact, my RHR is on it's way back to BGD right now to have the setting tightened. In all honesty, I wouldn't trust anyone else to do any kind of repairs on my rings other than the man that created it himself. I have had some bad experiences with local jewelers in the past.

 

[alene]

Thanks Lil! Sounds like as long as the ring doesn't require frequent repairs, it shouldn't have to be sent back and forth too often. Wonder if it's different with pave rings since they require more maintenance, I imagine.

 

[MqLove]

I'm in Australia, and my ring is from the US. I just sent it back for an alteration, but this is mostly because all my local jewellers were going to charge 3+ times more than the insured postage. I plan on getting cleans/polishes/prong tightening done here, if possible, because it should be cheaper, although my city is known for being very expensive for this type of thing - too much disposable income, not enough competition.

(Although I'd love to see more answers on this topic as to what others do)

 

[alene]

Thanks for chiming in! Wow, if you can ship back and forth from Australia (I hope you don't have to do it too often), seems like domestic shipping should't be too much of a hassle. I too would love to hear from others to get a better idea what most people do.

 

[Sparkly_Girl]

Hi There,

We are having my ring custom designed by Oscar Heyman, who is definitely NOT local. Regular inspections/minor repairs will be done locally by the jeweler here who has the OH relationship. Anything beyond that and we have to send it back to OH....

 

[ZahraLeyla]

I'm in Australia, and my ring is from the US. I just sent it back for an alteration, but this is mostly because all my local jewellers were going to charge 3+ times more than the insured postage. I plan on getting cleans/polishes/prong tightening done here, if possible, because it should be cheaper, although my city is known for being very expensive for this type of thing - too much disposable income, not enough competition.

(Although I'd love to see more answers on this topic as to what others do)

MqLove, what city are you in? I'm in Perth, and have the same dilemma. My ring is being made in New Zealand, and it cost us almost $1000 to ship it there with insurance. I can't be doing that everytime something needs to be fixed, but I don't know of any decent jewellers here who I'd be willing to trust with my ring.

I love that we can get a ring made virtually anywhere in the world these days, but hate the thought of having someone else 'sub-par' have to work on it for me.

 

[susimoo]

I'm in Australia, and my ring is from the US. I just sent it back for an alteration, but this is mostly because all my local jewellers were going to charge 3+ times more than the insured postage. I plan on getting cleans/polishes/prong tightening done here, if possible, because it should be cheaper, although my city is known for being very expensive for this type of thing - too much disposable income, not enough competition.

(Although I'd love to see more answers on this topic as to what others do)

MqLove, what city are you in? I'm in Perth, and have the same dilemma. My ring is being made in New Zealand, and it cost us almost $1000 to ship it there with insurance. I can't be doing that everytime something needs to be fixed, but I don't know of any decent jewellers here who I'd be willing to trust with my ring.



I love that we can get a ring made virtually anywhere in the world these days, but hate the thought of having someone else 'sub-par' have to work on it for me.

Hi fellow Aussies!

Well I am Scottish living in Perth for four years, so I hope I count.

I have been on a few threads asking just that. Who do we go to? I know that HOT, who posts here all the time, is having a similar dilemma as she is having a beautiful BGD setting made and needs to have her centre diamond set here in Perth.

HOT did suggest a place Ross Ezekiel in Barrack Street and they were kind enough to remove my diamond from its old setting without charge. However, I am unsure as to what standard their repairs would be on platinum, fine prongs, pave etc.

My diamond has just arrive in the USA for its new setting, so I will be in the same boat as you all. There is no way it is feasible to return it there every time it needs checked etc.

Looks like we might need a Perth PS GTG to go in search of our chosen jeweller/bench.

Keep us all posted if you do find someone to your liking and I will do the same.

 

[MqLove]

I'm in Canberra, and I don't know who I'd trust to do serious work, haven't really been happy with anyone I've gotten quotes from, they all like to sell their own product - bagging online jewellers, or saying that a standard prong setting isn't secure and they'll happily make another from scratch... for $1000+! (Setting only, not the shank) Hopefully all I'll need doing is standard polishing, I'm glad I didn't end up going with pave.

My ring can be fully insured with AusPost, so I can do it without costing too much, but I don't like the 2 week turnaround.

 

[Gypsy]

None of my pieces are made locally. Here's what I do:

Pave repair-- send back to original vendor.
Polish-- local polishing is fine.
Cleaning-- local cleaning is fine.
Tightening stones-- send back to original vendor.
Any other major repair-- original vendor.

 

[susimoo]

None of my pieces are made locally. Here's what I do:

Pave repair-- send back to original vendor.
Polish-- local polishing is fine.
Cleaning-- local cleaning is fine.
Tightening stones-- send back to original vendor.
Any other major repair-- original vendor.

Gypsy

Thank you for the above information. I always appreciate your opinion/point of view.

Being in Australia right now, if I had an issue with my setting it would mean a $440 round trip for my ring, before any repair cost.
It would also mean approx 2 - 4 week waiting period and no doubt a lot of hassle from fedex/customs along the way. They never fail to deliver their own little soap opera of bureaucratic madness.

That is why it took me a long time to decide to go through the reset process. In the event something happens to my reset I will have to make decision then as to what is appropriate.

Sorry for the thread jack.

 

[milton333]

I have not owned a pave ring, but this question comes up a lot with folks shopping for e-rings who are reluctant to buy online. I wore a solitaire for 15 years without any maintenance. Any time you pop into a jeweler's, they are happy to clean and inspect prongs for free. Despite being active, wearing my e-ring 24/7, and banging it around a good bit, it never needed prong tightening. I'm on my second e-ring (upgraded stone), and I've had it for more than 4 years without any maintenance required.

Obviously, a pave setting is going to be a bit of a different animal. A setting with a large diamond is going to be different. IMO, whether it's worth sending back to the creator for work depends on cost of the setting and whether it is custom work or a stock cast setting. But a local jeweler should be competent to diagnose any issues and perform routine cleaning and maintenance.

 

[melave]

hi all especially Perth people

I had chris petrou in london court set my cc sapphire into my setting i bought from ID. I think he did a good job, but i am not an expert. It only cost me $20

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Petrou-Jewellery/161136163909799#!/pages/Chris-Petrou-Jewellery/161136163909799?sk=wall

http://www.aussieweb.com.au/business/petrou+chris/1788115/

If you have your gtg, maybe you might want to check him out? He does the setting and another guy does the jewellery making. He is pretty abrupt on the phone, but he was ok in person. So, funny, he asked if i was a jeweller??? Still haven't worked out why he asked that.

 

[susimoo]

Melave

Thank you. I will him into my list of jewellers to check out.

 

[ZahraLeyla]

Maybe we should start a separate thread for the Perthies so that we don't hijack this one? ETA: new thread here [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/forum/rockytalky/perth-australia-psers-who-repairs-your-jewellery-t170519.html?uid=45733']https://www.pricescope.com/forum/rockytalky/perth-australia-psers-who-repairs-your-jewellery-t170519.html?uid=45733[/URL]

I think Gypsy gives sound advice, in a context where shipping and insurance aren't extortionate and there are reputable local vendors. Unfortunately in Perth, there just isn't enough competition in the jewellery market, and even less education among consumers, so it's quite difficult to find high-quality vendors here (in my opinion, anyway). Would love to be proven wrong though!