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- Jul 12, 2004
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I recently ordered a “Custom” Crafted by Infinity Diamond !!!
Some background: Until now, I have owned only fancy cut e-ring diamonds: a .75 E-I1 Marquise now set in a pendant, a 1.47 F-VS1 Marquise now in a RHR, a 2.05 D-VS2 Oval that I traded in for my 3.01 F-SI1 Pear, and most recently, a Tiffany .80 Fancy Yellow Modified Brilliant Cushion. So I am a little late in joining the H & A, SuperIdeal, and AGS0 party … but I want to play in the sandbox too.
After a 10-year history with Wink, where he delivered two beautiful tennis bracelets (.33s and .20s FIY), a FIY pendant, and a Richard Homer sapphire recut, I felt it was time to own a round brilliant diamond.
I knew that my round brilliant had to be a Crafted By Infinity Diamond. Why? Because I had previously seen these beautiful diamonds in-person at a Crafted By Infinity “Meet the Cutter” event. As the CBI website says, they plan, cut, and polish the world's strictest, most consistent brand of high-performance diamonds. I have to say, based on my experience as a Gemologist (GIA), cut enthusiast and diamond-addict, that I can attest that this is true. In addition to reaching the highest level of dazzling performance, their diamonds have the mind-clean pedigree, performance, and precision that I desire. I also find it special that they are boutique cutters, actually selecting and producing every CBI diamond in Antwerp. Paul and Lieve have direct involvement in all of the only 1,000 CBI diamonds cut in a given year. It was a no-brainer for me to contact Wink about this latest project.
To begin, I scoured all available Crafted By Infinity Diamonds on Wink’s HighPerformanceDiamonds.com website but could not find the color, clarity, and carat weight of a diamond I wanted to buy. As far as cut was concerned I already knew all CBI diamonds are precision-cut, beyond the requirements of AGS0, so that wasn’t a problem. But finding “MY” perfect carat, color and clarity was a problem. Wink then suggested that I commission a “Custom” cut CBI diamond.
Well that was a new concept to me because ALL of my prior e-ring diamonds were bought at B&M stores where I could inspect the diamonds (and their grading reports) before I bought them. They didn’t have IS or ASET images back then. However, I did know how to read a GIA-GTL report since I had completed the GIA Diamonds and Diamond Grading classes on my way to earning my Gemologist (GIA) Diploma in 1989. Sadly, I never worked in the industry (Software Engineering and Project Management instead) but took the classes for my personal enjoyment as there was no Pricescope back then either.
Wink then sent me an email that described the CBI “Custom Cutting” process:
From Wink: “You tell us what you want and we go looking. When we find something and analyze it, then we call you and tell you what it will weigh and what we believe that it will come out.
At that time you get to pay us, in full. We buy the starting piece, whether rough or just a well-priced poorly cut diamond. We will have guaranteed you something like this: 2.04cts G-VS2. If it comes out down to 2.00cts G-VS2 we will reduce the price to reflect the slightly lower weight. If it comes out something like 1.98 G-VS2 obviously we have not delivered something even close in value to what you asked for and you are either refunded, or we seek another starting piece and start crafting your diamond again. If it comes out a 2.10 F-VS1 you make out like a bandit as you have already paid the agreed upon price for the finished diamond.
In other words, you have no downside. We give you what you were promised or better, or you get your money back. If we produce what we promised, there is no changing of the mind, with the exception of course, that we will always buy your diamond back at 80% of what you paid.
Paul knows what he can buy the starting piece for and what he needs to make a profit and what he stands to lose if he is estimating too high. He then factors all of that in and gives you a price. You get what you paid for, or better, or your money will be refunded.”
That sounded agreeable so I talked it over with dear hubby who said that I should get 2.00 cts. (This same hubby said I should do .20s FIYs for my most recent bracelet). Ouch, I knew that achieving that barrier added an additional premium to the cost. Fine, OK, and because I already owned an F-SI1 pear, I felt that this was a good color/clarity combo for me.
The process started with a conference call in early September. Happily, Wink Jones, owner of HighPerformanceDiamonds.com, and John Pollard, United States Executive for Crafted by Infinity Diamonds happened to be together on business so I spoke with both of them. I told them what my requirements were (a 2.00+ ct., F-SI1) and we also discussed preferred Lower Girdle Halves, Pavilion Angles and other minutia which I’ve become attuned-to.
A week later there was another conference call with Wink in Boise, John in Texas and Paul In Antwerp (spanning 4 time zones) where Paul, who is the Managing Director of Crafted by Infinity Diamonds, presented two candidates that could possibly become my personal Crafted By Infinity diamond (2.15 ct. and 2.30 ct. estimated finished weight). Per Paul, both diamonds were top SI1 clarity and had negligible fluorescence. The larger one had a stronger F color. The estimated finished diameter of the smaller one was 8.4 mm while it was 8.6 mm for the larger. Although there was a slight premium for exceeding the 2.20 ct. mark, hubby and I decided on the larger diamond mainly because of its stronger color. I know that I have color sensitive eyes because I have scored 100% correct on the Munsell Color Hue Test. At the end of the dialogue Paul said he would do a final analysis and give us a go/no go decision in the morning on whether the larger diamond could be cut to Crafted by Infinity standards.
Wink sent me an email the next morning to say that Paul gave the starting-diamond a “GO” and is guaranteeing at least a 2.30 ct. F-SI1 AGS0 diamond cut to CBI standards. I wired money to Wink and now the waiting game begins for a target delivery date of mid-late November.
I am very excited to finally own a CBI diamond and to become part of the CBI family.
Some background: Until now, I have owned only fancy cut e-ring diamonds: a .75 E-I1 Marquise now set in a pendant, a 1.47 F-VS1 Marquise now in a RHR, a 2.05 D-VS2 Oval that I traded in for my 3.01 F-SI1 Pear, and most recently, a Tiffany .80 Fancy Yellow Modified Brilliant Cushion. So I am a little late in joining the H & A, SuperIdeal, and AGS0 party … but I want to play in the sandbox too.
After a 10-year history with Wink, where he delivered two beautiful tennis bracelets (.33s and .20s FIY), a FIY pendant, and a Richard Homer sapphire recut, I felt it was time to own a round brilliant diamond.
I knew that my round brilliant had to be a Crafted By Infinity Diamond. Why? Because I had previously seen these beautiful diamonds in-person at a Crafted By Infinity “Meet the Cutter” event. As the CBI website says, they plan, cut, and polish the world's strictest, most consistent brand of high-performance diamonds. I have to say, based on my experience as a Gemologist (GIA), cut enthusiast and diamond-addict, that I can attest that this is true. In addition to reaching the highest level of dazzling performance, their diamonds have the mind-clean pedigree, performance, and precision that I desire. I also find it special that they are boutique cutters, actually selecting and producing every CBI diamond in Antwerp. Paul and Lieve have direct involvement in all of the only 1,000 CBI diamonds cut in a given year. It was a no-brainer for me to contact Wink about this latest project.
To begin, I scoured all available Crafted By Infinity Diamonds on Wink’s HighPerformanceDiamonds.com website but could not find the color, clarity, and carat weight of a diamond I wanted to buy. As far as cut was concerned I already knew all CBI diamonds are precision-cut, beyond the requirements of AGS0, so that wasn’t a problem. But finding “MY” perfect carat, color and clarity was a problem. Wink then suggested that I commission a “Custom” cut CBI diamond.
Well that was a new concept to me because ALL of my prior e-ring diamonds were bought at B&M stores where I could inspect the diamonds (and their grading reports) before I bought them. They didn’t have IS or ASET images back then. However, I did know how to read a GIA-GTL report since I had completed the GIA Diamonds and Diamond Grading classes on my way to earning my Gemologist (GIA) Diploma in 1989. Sadly, I never worked in the industry (Software Engineering and Project Management instead) but took the classes for my personal enjoyment as there was no Pricescope back then either.
Wink then sent me an email that described the CBI “Custom Cutting” process:
From Wink: “You tell us what you want and we go looking. When we find something and analyze it, then we call you and tell you what it will weigh and what we believe that it will come out.
At that time you get to pay us, in full. We buy the starting piece, whether rough or just a well-priced poorly cut diamond. We will have guaranteed you something like this: 2.04cts G-VS2. If it comes out down to 2.00cts G-VS2 we will reduce the price to reflect the slightly lower weight. If it comes out something like 1.98 G-VS2 obviously we have not delivered something even close in value to what you asked for and you are either refunded, or we seek another starting piece and start crafting your diamond again. If it comes out a 2.10 F-VS1 you make out like a bandit as you have already paid the agreed upon price for the finished diamond.
In other words, you have no downside. We give you what you were promised or better, or you get your money back. If we produce what we promised, there is no changing of the mind, with the exception of course, that we will always buy your diamond back at 80% of what you paid.
Paul knows what he can buy the starting piece for and what he needs to make a profit and what he stands to lose if he is estimating too high. He then factors all of that in and gives you a price. You get what you paid for, or better, or your money will be refunded.”
That sounded agreeable so I talked it over with dear hubby who said that I should get 2.00 cts. (This same hubby said I should do .20s FIYs for my most recent bracelet). Ouch, I knew that achieving that barrier added an additional premium to the cost. Fine, OK, and because I already owned an F-SI1 pear, I felt that this was a good color/clarity combo for me.
The process started with a conference call in early September. Happily, Wink Jones, owner of HighPerformanceDiamonds.com, and John Pollard, United States Executive for Crafted by Infinity Diamonds happened to be together on business so I spoke with both of them. I told them what my requirements were (a 2.00+ ct., F-SI1) and we also discussed preferred Lower Girdle Halves, Pavilion Angles and other minutia which I’ve become attuned-to.
A week later there was another conference call with Wink in Boise, John in Texas and Paul In Antwerp (spanning 4 time zones) where Paul, who is the Managing Director of Crafted by Infinity Diamonds, presented two candidates that could possibly become my personal Crafted By Infinity diamond (2.15 ct. and 2.30 ct. estimated finished weight). Per Paul, both diamonds were top SI1 clarity and had negligible fluorescence. The larger one had a stronger F color. The estimated finished diameter of the smaller one was 8.4 mm while it was 8.6 mm for the larger. Although there was a slight premium for exceeding the 2.20 ct. mark, hubby and I decided on the larger diamond mainly because of its stronger color. I know that I have color sensitive eyes because I have scored 100% correct on the Munsell Color Hue Test. At the end of the dialogue Paul said he would do a final analysis and give us a go/no go decision in the morning on whether the larger diamond could be cut to Crafted by Infinity standards.
Wink sent me an email the next morning to say that Paul gave the starting-diamond a “GO” and is guaranteeing at least a 2.30 ct. F-SI1 AGS0 diamond cut to CBI standards. I wired money to Wink and now the waiting game begins for a target delivery date of mid-late November.
I am very excited to finally own a CBI diamond and to become part of the CBI family.
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