Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Need help with local (Toronto) vs. online

Just an update. Decided to go with Leif Benner locally after visiting his gallery today. He's got some very nice work and genuinely seems to love what he does and was more than willing to pitch out some ideas and provide multiple CAD drawings implementing the various ideas before moving ahead with the final design. Also brought the gf with me, she is aware of the whole process anyways and they will actually be trying out a couple ideas which will still primarily be based off the channel design I have linked to from Birks.

I'll be sending the wire to WF tomorrow for the stone itself as-well, so the wheels are turning! Thanks everyone for all the help here, I now know much much more about all this than I did just a couple weeks ago.

Cheers!
 
SFT, awesome news. Great to hear the ball is rolling for you. I actually just got back from meeting with Leif to drop off my diamond and further discuss our design. I think we both made a good choice. I get the same feeling from him, he's a true creative designer, with enough experience making thousands of rings and is truly passionate about his work. Next time you talk to him you can tell him Doug referred you ;)

I did finally get my diamond yesterday and I had to provide Fedex with my authorization to use their broker to charge the $10 brokerage fee and HST on my card. It was a bit of a hassle, but all is good, they didn't open the package to inspect or anything like that. I'm sure the HST was juicy enough.

Also I did get an independent appraisal for my diamond and it was inline with the GIA report and we also both confirmed the hearts and arrow pattern as well. If fact the appraiser felt my stone was closer to one level better on both clarity and colour. But he acknowledges that GIA tends to always lean on the conservative side. He did his assessment without looking at my GIA report first.

Looks like we'll both be getting rings completed around the same time with Leif so keep us up to date on your progress and I'll be doing the same.
 
Wonderful!

Best of luck to you and please come back with an update and pictures! :bigsmile:

Cachette :))
 
All, just a quick update.

I've picked up my ring today and Leif did an amazing job. I'll hoping to post pics soon, but I live in a condo with my g/f and I'll need to find an opportunity when she's not around.

SFT, how's your ring coming along?
 
Sorry for the late reply. I also picked up the ring recently. And like you, I think it looks fantastic. Leif ended proposing something different than what we started with and I did show it to the gf to make sure she liked it and so I ended up with a fully custom new design. My gf will never check this site so I may just post a couple shots of it here in a little to bit to show how it ended up. But yes, it looks fantastic. Very pleased with his work and with the ACA stone from WF as-well. Both top-notch service. I'm likely to propose sometime in mid-June. Glad everything worked out on your end too!

Cheers!
 
Yes - pictures please so we can enjoy the finished product!!!
 
All this talk and no pics. You guys are teases!
 
Several changes were made: we got diamonds set on the sides of the ring (along top-half only) to go along with the top stones, leif proposed removing the sapphire that I initially liked on the Birks channel ring since it crowded it out and I also think it drawed too much attention and instead to use a double-pronged open looking v-setting which makes the diamond look like it is floating and really makes it look very cool. Overall ring is about 1.8ct, centre stone is the WF-ACA I got that I linked to earlier approx. 1.3ct. I can't figure out how to make the photos bigger on this site unfortunately. The thing sparkles, a lot!! :)

Here are the photos:

P5200102_3.jpg
P5200100.jpg
P5200103-2.jpg
 
Thanks for the pics - that is a gorgeous ring! looks amazing - I really prefer this to your original plan (but what I think doesn't count for squat - does SHE love it??)
 
Congrats smoothmoose, its a big milestone! Ring looks great, definitely a unique design which seems to be right up Leif's alley.

My gf loves it, she had input on the CAD drawings and I've shown her brief photos of it to make sure she likes it and she loves it! Anyways, here are some newer photos that have been cropped more to give you an idea. They were shot in natural light (no flash). I also much prefer this design, really looks very elegant and I love the way the diamond looks like its floating in the setting!

So I would like to extend a big thank you to everyone here. It was basically because of this site that I got my ACA stone and found out about Leif and everyone has been really helpful. Now I have a great, and unique ring to show for it!

P5200109.jpg

P5200106.jpg

P5200110.jpg
 
Here's a final shot I took with another camera that allows me to get much closer.

Cheers!

P5211519-2.jpg
 
LOVE that last close up shot! I love it when you can see the whole diamond - no obstructions!!! and double prongs ---- yummy - my favourite!

Congratulations - you did very well putting this together! Can't wait for the engagement details... and some hand shots.... :wink2:
 
Seriously that side profile close up is sick especially with the floating effect. I'm very thankful for all people on this board as well. Helped me find a great diamond, save a bunch of dough, and find a local designer like Leif that is talented and provides the local lifetime service. I'm glad my learning experience helped you as well sft.
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top