Help Choose The Ring!

[ashown]

I have finally decided to pop the question. I looked around for the rings/diamonds at Jared, Rogers and Hollands, Kay and Zales; but no one came remotely close to the Tiffany’s rings. There is something about the Tiffany’s Novo setting which no one else can offer. So, I finally decided to go ahead with Tiffany’s Novo ring.

My budge is around $9000-$10000. Now, there are four rings I have selected, but having lot of trouble selecting one. Here are the specs:

-0.73 Carat, F Color, VVS1: $10400
-0.66 Carat, F Color, VVS1: $9450
-0.72 Carat, G Color, VVS1: $9150
-0.68 Carat, H Color, IF: $9200

I am having hard time figuring out which one should I choose (simply based off of the specs). So, 4th option is higher on clarity, but lower on carat, color and cost. Contrary, 1st option is higher on cost, color and carat, but lower on clarity. The 3rd option is good on cost and carat, but it’s lower on color and it’ not IF, like 4th option.
I am leaning towards not to consider carat size for these options, since the variation is about 0.07 carats for these rings. Would it be even visible to naked eyes? Any thoughts? Is this the case with color and clarity as well; that the variation is so small that it wouldn’t be visible to naked eyes? Does that make, cost the biggest factor?

Any inputs you can provide would be appreciated. If you have Novo setting in similar specs, your inputs could assist me ev en further. Thanks,

AM

 

[motownmama]

can you go down on clarity even more? (you sure don't need IF)

 

[JulieN]

don't pay for VVS if you can avoid it.

 

[ashown]

I can certainly go down on clarity, but while I was looking at diamonds, I felt that clarity is playing larger role in reflecting light. This could very well be becuse of the the bright lights they have in the store. I am certailny looking for Ideal cut, so all these diamonds should reflect the light at its highest possible efficiency; however, I felt that VVS1 and 2 were noticebaly clearer than the VS. It could be illusion or just a perception too. Thanks for your input though!

 

[HollyDolly]

Cut plays the biggest part in getting the sparkle factor, that's where your focus needs to be.

Does it have to be Tiffany? My stone is from JA and is a 1.4 and came in well under the lower end of your budget. If size is a factor too you might want to consider a similar setting to the Tiffany one from somewhere else as you will get plenty more for the money

 

[JulieN]

Clarity has probably an undectable effect on light unless you get down to like SI2 with pervasive clouds, but even many I1s light performance are not noticeably affected. It can be hard to separate the light performance of a diamond from the, I guess feeling of disgust? or dismissal?, of seeing inclusions.

You can't compare Tiffany to Jared, Zales, or Kay. If you were interested in not paying the Tiffany brand markup, I would head straight to Brian Gavin Diamonds, they make several settings that are Novo like, and have a good inventory of cushions in your size range.

If you want something in the .7 range, James Allen also has a lot that come in around 3K.

If you do want Tiffany, that is fine, too.

 

[ashown]

I guess I really like Tiffany's ring. I have my own reasons to go there too; some of these are:
You don’t have to deal with that drama, which is little common at other places. Such as, Tiffany offers life time cleaning and warranty with complementary twice a year cleaning. Now, at R&H they are charging me about $400 for similar things. There are two types of plans too, one is cleaning only for two years and if you miss cleaning during that time, you lose your privileges. Then, purchase their second plan, which would be about $600 which Tiffany's would offer for free. Moreover, R&H would not even cover for any loose diamond related issues (in future) if you don’t have any of these plans. I had similar experience from a few other places. I don’t want to deal with this.

Another factor is: I don’t have enough information about the product I am buying. Granted I am doing my homework, but we don’t do this every day; neither we guys discuss these things at work or with friends on regular basis. I would rather pay little more money and feel that I am going to get the reliable product than less reliable product for cheap. In near 150 years, Tiffany never had sale for their diamonds (I was told this at Tiffany’s, could be false, but still). This just tells me about reliability of their business. Similar comparison would be absolutely false for other products such as car, because we know more about our car’s ‘science’ than the diamond. Again, this is my perception and opinion based off of my experience.

I truly don’t believe ‘all diamonds are diamonds’ thing. Same ideal cut can be a function of how those cuts were made, what tools were used for that and what accuracy and precision these cuts carry. I think, this makes a different; at least to me.

Sorry, this was lot of verbiage from me, but going back to same questions, would I sacrifice clarity or color for Novo setting?

 

[ecf8503]

Clarity has probably an unpredictable effect on light unless you get down to like SI2 with pervasive clouds, but even many I1s light performance are not noticeably affected. .

ABSOLUTELY. Cut is king. And we can help you here - we have many people who are extremely educated about cushions, as well as other shapes, and can help you find the best performing stone out there (which would probably be even better than Tiffany...).

Clarity has NOTHING to do with optics in 99% of the stones we could find for you.

Brian Gavin does an excellent Novo, and there are several other extremely talented vendors who could also give Tiffany a run for their money in terms of quality.

Now this is just my opinion, but I think IF, VVS, and *most* VS are overkill in the clarity department - you are paying for something you can't see. That said, I am color sensitive and I would rather have a whiter stone while still having it be eye-clean in the clarity department.

Is the Tiffany name important to your lady? To some it is. For me, it's not - I'd rather have the best performing stone out there, regardless of what store sold it to me, and I know I can get diamonds that stand up to or outperform Tiffany and other high end stores from reputable vendors we are familiar with here.

The ring will be on her hand forever... don't base your decision solely on the warranty and cleaning clause.

 

[ashown]

I just wanted to let you all know that I really appreciate your inputs here. I further looked around and finally purchased a Tiffany Novo ring yesterday. May be I was biased, but I never felt looking at other diamonds the way I did when I looked at the one I purchased. I simply followed my heart.

I ended up getting 0.73Carat, G Color and VVS1 clarity. I have already posted some pictures in 'Show me the Bling' section of the forum (title: Tiffay Novo: Ring is Here!'). I really wanted to express my appreciations for all your feedback. Thanks.