Krissie
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
- Messages
- 1,088
Hi there,
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as a (relatively) long-time lurker! We live in London -- I''m American and he''s British -- and we''ve been looking at rings since April. I found the PS forums back in April and have spent a good amount of every day reading through all the posts -- this place is addictive!!
Anyhow, as some of the UK folks here can attest, diamond standards here just aren''t the same as they are in the US. We got quite frustrated by what was offered at the B&Ms here. We took a quick holiday to NYC in early May, where we strolled up and down 5th Ave and the diamond district. Very early on, I fell in love with the Cartier settings but not the price!!
Of course, I came back to London and checked out the PS forums to see what you all had to say about Cartier -- and I wasn''t surprised, as it was the same I''d heard from my diamond-knowledgeable friends in the US. For the same price we were seeing at Cartier, I knew we could get a 1.8 - 2.0 G, VS1 H&A in a setting of my choice. We scoured WF and GOG on a daily basis, and I nearly drove myself mad looking at all the potential settings! I really fell in love with Mark Morrell and we decided that''s the route we would go -- somehow, my boy would finnagle getting a diamond from overseas, then getting it to Mark, and then getting it back here.
It all became very complicated ... and just in the past couple of weeks I started thinking longingly of the Cartier settings. Something told me that it''s what I would always want, deep down ... despite all the facts I had learned about markup etc., and knowing it would ultimately mean a smaller diamond. In terms of name recognition - I knew it would get me nowhere. No one cares here, and most of my family (I come from a very rural community) has never even heard of Cartier! There''s just something about the way the diamonds felt on my finger, I can''t explain.
On Saturday we went to the Bond Street location and we had the kindest sales associate. She must have shown me 12 rings when all is said and done. There was nothing intimidating about it at all - right up front we told her our budget, and she showed us rings within that budget, slightly below that budget, and slightly above that budget. There was no pressure at all and we were there for almost 2 hours!
Boy did I fall in love with the last ring I tried on. I couldn''t even disguise it -- we were just "looking" and I didn''t want to act too committal about anything, but immediately my heart skipped a beat. It was the Declaration d''Amour setting with side baguettes - if you haven''t seen it in person you really should -- I had never before tried on a ring that felt so "right" on my finger -- it''s perfectly integrated and I loved it from all angles.
As I was completely entranced, the lovely sales associate explained the process of reserving a ring -- and to my ultimate surprise (and DELIGHT) my boy said "let''s do it!"
Withiin 5 minutes they had brought us a lovely tray of 2 champagne flutes and a dish of chocolates. I was in absolute shock!!!
It''s seriously more gorgeous than anything I could have imagined. I won''t get the ring until the official proposal (which he''s surprising me with sometime later this summer/fall) and already I''m looking longingly at my bare left hand. I want my ring ASAP!!
The specs that I can recall (don''t have the cert w/ me)
Declaration d''Amour with side baguettes
Platinum
1.11 carats
D
VS1
I can''t recommend the Cartier service enough. We were wearing shorts and flip flops, looking like greasy twentysomethings, and they spent so much time making us feel welcome.
I just wanted to share my happy story and introduce myself to you all - I feel like I know you already, given the amount of time I''ve spent lurking here!!
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as a (relatively) long-time lurker! We live in London -- I''m American and he''s British -- and we''ve been looking at rings since April. I found the PS forums back in April and have spent a good amount of every day reading through all the posts -- this place is addictive!!
Anyhow, as some of the UK folks here can attest, diamond standards here just aren''t the same as they are in the US. We got quite frustrated by what was offered at the B&Ms here. We took a quick holiday to NYC in early May, where we strolled up and down 5th Ave and the diamond district. Very early on, I fell in love with the Cartier settings but not the price!!
Of course, I came back to London and checked out the PS forums to see what you all had to say about Cartier -- and I wasn''t surprised, as it was the same I''d heard from my diamond-knowledgeable friends in the US. For the same price we were seeing at Cartier, I knew we could get a 1.8 - 2.0 G, VS1 H&A in a setting of my choice. We scoured WF and GOG on a daily basis, and I nearly drove myself mad looking at all the potential settings! I really fell in love with Mark Morrell and we decided that''s the route we would go -- somehow, my boy would finnagle getting a diamond from overseas, then getting it to Mark, and then getting it back here.
It all became very complicated ... and just in the past couple of weeks I started thinking longingly of the Cartier settings. Something told me that it''s what I would always want, deep down ... despite all the facts I had learned about markup etc., and knowing it would ultimately mean a smaller diamond. In terms of name recognition - I knew it would get me nowhere. No one cares here, and most of my family (I come from a very rural community) has never even heard of Cartier! There''s just something about the way the diamonds felt on my finger, I can''t explain.
On Saturday we went to the Bond Street location and we had the kindest sales associate. She must have shown me 12 rings when all is said and done. There was nothing intimidating about it at all - right up front we told her our budget, and she showed us rings within that budget, slightly below that budget, and slightly above that budget. There was no pressure at all and we were there for almost 2 hours!
Boy did I fall in love with the last ring I tried on. I couldn''t even disguise it -- we were just "looking" and I didn''t want to act too committal about anything, but immediately my heart skipped a beat. It was the Declaration d''Amour setting with side baguettes - if you haven''t seen it in person you really should -- I had never before tried on a ring that felt so "right" on my finger -- it''s perfectly integrated and I loved it from all angles.
As I was completely entranced, the lovely sales associate explained the process of reserving a ring -- and to my ultimate surprise (and DELIGHT) my boy said "let''s do it!"
Withiin 5 minutes they had brought us a lovely tray of 2 champagne flutes and a dish of chocolates. I was in absolute shock!!!
It''s seriously more gorgeous than anything I could have imagined. I won''t get the ring until the official proposal (which he''s surprising me with sometime later this summer/fall) and already I''m looking longingly at my bare left hand. I want my ring ASAP!!
The specs that I can recall (don''t have the cert w/ me)
Declaration d''Amour with side baguettes
Platinum
1.11 carats
D
VS1
I can''t recommend the Cartier service enough. We were wearing shorts and flip flops, looking like greasy twentysomethings, and they spent so much time making us feel welcome.
I just wanted to share my happy story and introduce myself to you all - I feel like I know you already, given the amount of time I''ve spent lurking here!!
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