HELP!! I need an experts opinion of a Cartier 1895 ring

[mraloha]

This is my first time buying a diamond and wanted some input on a ring that I'm planning to buy in the next few days from Cartier. On its way from New York.

It is a Paved 1895 Solitaire setting, round brilliant with the following specs. Priced at $16,800. There seems to be very little inventory out there in the 1.00-1.15 carat at all of the higher end boutiques. Here in Hawaii, we have Harry Winston, Cartier, Tiffany (don't care too much for it), De Beers and some other higher end brands. They all seem to be very low on the 1-1.5 carat rings.

I priced one out at blue nile for kicks and found a similar spec/setting for around $15,500.

I was at HW last year and priced out a little over a 1 carat at $15k. A similar ring today was pricing between $22k-$25k. I can't justify the ridiculous increase. Cartier seemed to have jumped as well, but not as severely as HW.

Well here are my specs for the Paved 1895 Solitaire:

Carat-1.09 carat
Color-H
Clarity-VVS1
Cut Grade-Excellent

Finish
Polish-Very Good
Symmetry-Excellent
Fluorescence-None

Table-57%
Depth-61.9%
Medium-Slightly Thick Girdle 3.5%
Crown Angle-33.5%
Pavilion Angle-41.4%
Crown-14%
Pavilion-44%

 

[farmer gal]

What about something like this and upgrading the setting later on

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2632200.htm

Setting?
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/rounded-open-cathedral-diamond-engagement-ring-625.htm

http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/sleek-line-solitaire-engagement-ring-313.htm

http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/legato-sleek-line-solitaire-engagement-ring-729.htm


For the money I would rather hit the 1.50 mark, but that's just me

 

[slg47]

can you get Cartier to bring in several diamonds for you to compare?

this one does not score well on the HCA (pricescope.com/tools/hca) but that is only one tool for evaluating cut. If you can compare this one to others that score well on HCA then you can let your eyes be the judge.

 

[Frenchcut]

I entered your figures in the HCA and got only a 3.9 score - worth buying of the price is right.

It sounds weird for a Cartier diamond (I've had my Cartier e-ring last week and it scored 0.7 on the HCA, I didn't expect you could find one with such a low score), are you certain you didn't misread one of the figures? Otherwise you should ask them to show you other options...

 

[mraloha]

Aloha, thank you for your input. I haven't seen the ring yet, I will go and see it tomorrow. Again, it seems like there is very little inventory with Cartier in the 1.00-1.15 ct. range. I'll give it another shot with them tomorrow about getting other rings to look at.

I'm pretty sure I put in all of the figures correctly. I try and rerun them again.

Best Regards,

 

[stci]

Is this possible to take pics of this beauty to show us?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

It is actually not unusual to find Cartier or other high end brands with less than ideal cut stones. Since I know about cut, I'd never pay the price premium for a brand name ring unless the stone was ideal cut. Otherwise I'd save a few thousand and get a perfectly cut stone elsewhere!

You should be getting this cut quality, in my opinion, when you pay for Cartier, Tiffany, etc.:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2231232.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8134/

 

[mraloha]

Will have pics up on sunday.

 

[mraloha]

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Gorgeous! Congratulations!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I could not be happier for you!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Frenchcut]

Congratulations! I happen to have a 1895 without pave (haven't taken the time to post pictures yet) and I'm in love with it so I can imagine how you feel

Take good care of your ring and enjoy!

 

[mraloha]

thank you all!!! my wife really likes it. we had a great experience with our salesperson in hawaii.

i know i probably would have gotten more bang for buck buying a non luxury brand, but this is what my wife wanted. you know what they say, "happy wife, happy life."

i looked at some non luxury brand diamonds with good gia papers, but I have to be honest, none of the independent jewelers in the area had settings that matched cartier's (as well as other luxury brand) craftsmenship with the metals.

it pretty much came down to getting my wife what she wanted. overall, i'm very happy with the purchase and experience at cartier.

T