I have a loose sidestone.. AGAIN!!!

[MelissaSue]

Okay.. so I''ve been engaged for 7 months. I brought my ring in toward the beginning/middle of april to get inspected.. and they told me I had a loose sidestone (I have a three stone ring.. for those who don''t know). So I was a little upset that I had a loose stone so quickly.. and it took them a week to repair it.. so I was a little bummed.. but whatever.. I got my ring back and all was good..

but today while I was driving to work.. I realized I have a loose sidestone again. I don''t know if it is the same one or the other one, because I obviously don''t always put my ring on the same way.. and I don''t really even know which one was loose to begin with, because I was not the one who discovered it was loose the first time. But I felt it was a little loose when tapping on it with my fingernail.. i can''t feel it move around anymore right now.. but I can hear it if I shake the ring next to my ear..

So anyway.. is this normal to have stones be loose twice in 7 months? Especially not even two months after it was just in getting inspected? I mean yes. my ring gets normal wear and tear.. but its not like I do any heavy manual labor with it on..

 

[niceice]

Loose stones are more common than you might imagine and time has little to do with it... There are two primary reasons why diamonds loosen in the settings, the first is that the seat for the stone was drilled improperly and the second is that the ring gets banged around a bit - probably more than you might realize... We''re always amazed at the little gashes we find in our own rings when we stop to polish them and find ourselves wondering exactly "how we did that" because we truly are careful with our jewelry and take it off a lot to avoid a lot of the problems that can occur when jewelry is worn all the time... Oh, there is a third way that diamonds become "really" loose and that is when people try to move them with their fingers and twist them to try and determine whether the diamond is loose and how loose it may be

You''ve got the right idea in tapping it on the side of the ring with your finger to determine whether it is loose... If you hear a subtle clicking sound, the stone is loose. If it''s one of ours, get ahold of us and we''ll help you ship it back to us for prompt repair... Or you can take it to a qualified jeweler for tightening, it shouldn''t take more than a day or two for them to get to it and the expense should be really minimal if all the stone needs is tightening.

On the lighter side... The best thing I''ve ever been told about something that I brought in for repair was when I brought my new truck into the shop complaining about a little noise that I could hear in the air conditioning vent when I was driving... The guy actually suggested that I try turning up the radio... Yea, I almost killed him but I had to laugh. Lots of jewelers use Super Glue to fix loose stones that won''t tighten up because the seat was drilled improperly because it''s cheaper and faster than trying to fix it... I''m not suggesting it, just saying be aware of it.

 

[Ukieza]

How much money does it cost to fix a loose stone? On average. What''s the least someone has paid and what''s the most? I''m curious to find out. I''ll be having to pay for this after I buy my girl a ring.

Thanks!
Ukieza

 

[niceice]

Date: 5/26/2005 10:22:07 AM
Author: Feydakin
Definately go back and get it retightened..

But I need to take Robin & Todd to task on something.. I think saying that

Lots of jewelers use Super Glue to fix loose stones

is hardly accurate or fair to the vast number of jewelers that take great pride in their work.. I''ve only ever seen a handful of rings set with glue, and all but one were done outside of the US.. the one that was done was an invisible set that the customer told us after it fell out on us in the ultra sonic that she didn''t have the money to ''fix it right''..

It might be unfair to you Steve because you obviously take pride in your work as we do with ours, however I can''t count the number of times this subject of loose stones has come up in a room full of jewelers and the vast concensus for "solving the problem" of a stone that kept coming loose was a drop of super glue placed under the stone along the edge of the prong... I''m not saying "glue the stone in" but "tighten it with a spot of glue". Please also note that I didn''t say "all jewelers" but "lots of jewelers" some will, some won''t, but it is something for a customer to be aware of that''s all.

 

[Lebowdia]

The real problem is more likely the stone is a little to small for the setting and/or the seat was not correctly cut to the actual stone size. The seat is like a ledge for the diamond to sit on. A good seat and workmanship will have no room at all for wiggle. It should be so precise that you can''t fit a human hair because there is no gap.

Look at the diamonds under a microscope ( GIA Gemscope) The stone should have no gap between the diamond and the gold

 

[Lebowdia]

A good Jeweler will not charge you to re tighten a stone within a reasonable period of time. We use platinum head assemblies. They are very durable and with top notch setting work we anticipate at least 5 years minimum before any maintainence is needed on the stones. The goal is many more years than that.

To answer your question in Cincinnati expect $30.00-50.00 on 1 Ct and under. This is assuming the setting work was done correctly and the ring quality is good. This includes refinishing and rhodium plating.

Howard Lebow
Lebow Diamond Brokers
Cincinnati,Ohio

 

[MelissaSue]

My jeweler won''t charge me to retighten the stone.. its just a pain in my butt.. My jeweler is about 40 minutes away.. and then i have to leave them my ring for almost a week.. and its just frustrating to have to do less than two months after I just had it done!

Thanks for all the input though.. I''m hoping they''ll fix it right this time! My sidestones weren''t originally set by my jeweler. its an A Jaffe semi-mount.. so its not really the jewelers fault!