Please Help...Is my wife's engagement ring irrepairable?

[Icecream]

We bought this ring from a family friend of my wife's. It is Natalie K. The setting is such that, all 4 tips of the prongs have tiny diamonds in them. One of the diamonds fell off soon after I gave the ring to my wife, so her family took it back to their friend to fix. We got back an ugly, carbon-covered diamond on the tip.

I didn't want to deal with that guy anymore, so I took the ring to a few jewelers in the mall to just take that tiny diamond out and replace it. What I thought was a simple problem was actually much deeper - apparently our center stone is not sitting right and the prongs need to be tightened or what not. Easy enough...However, the prongs are covered with diamonds as evidenced in this pic:

http://i.imgur.com/9o7Gq.jpg

Because of this, 3 jewelers in the mall told me they didn't want to touch it because they were afraid of messing it up and having diamonds fly everywhere or something of that nature! They said they can't guarantee their work and don't want to mess with it

It makes me feel like this ring is irrepairaible! I even went to Jared, and they straight up told me this ring "was beautiful but is not worth the trouble of fixing it and upkeeping it." This REALLY made me upset because the ring holds a lot of sentimental value for my wife at this point. I don't want to give it up.

I don't know what to think anymore...I don't want to exchange the ring or have the original jeweler fix it because I think he's the one who caused this problem in the first place. I refuse to deal with them any longer.

My concerns is:

Looking at the pic and how the prongs are, are these mall jewelers I spoke to right? Is it basically impossible to fix prongs and tighten a center stone when the prongs have diamonds on them?

I'm taking this to an independent, established family-owned jeweler in our area on Monday...They are licensed Natalie K dealers so hopefully if they can't fix it, they can send it out to Natalie K and they can...Ugh.

I really hope this ring isn't done for :/

 

[04diamond<3]

wow. sorry about all the crud everyone's giving you over this! I believe every ring is repairable! It sounds like everyone you've been going to just isn't confident in their own work (which if that's the case, they shouldn't be in the jewelry business). Anyways, I was going to suggest exactly what you are planning on doing. Independent jewelers tend to have better quality everything and stand behind everything they do because they want you to be a life long customer. I really hope they can help you. And I'm with you - don't give up! If this one tomorrow doesn't work, I'd find another independent jeweler. And if that still doesn't work, I'd send the ring back to the designer. Really hope tomorrow's successful!

 

[CharmedOne]

I just want to say, I'm sorry you are going through this. It's not you fault, things like this just happen. I don't think it is hopeless. Just take a breath and wait to see what happens on Monday and go from there. I do wish you all the best and again I'm sorry you are going through with such an important meaningful purchase and I hope you can get it all worked on Monday with the jeweler.

 

[Karl_K]

wow. sorry about all the crud everyone's giving you over this! I believe every ring is repairable! It sounds like everyone you've been going to just isn't confident in their own work (which if that's the case, they shouldn't be in the jewelry business).

Wow that is rough.
These types of settings are a real pain to work on and there are very few benchmen who should even try.
Who wants the liability after someone else already messed it up on top of that.
They are very smart to turn it down.
Sending it back to the designer for repair is the best option if they will repair it after someone else messed with it.
If they wont I would contact some of the appraisers on here and see if they know of a benchmen capable of this kind of work who might be interested in a challenge.
It wont be cheap to have done.

 

[yssie]

Adding your pic to PS' file store as the link will be deleted soon:




The problem is that a lot of the independent jewellers who would be able to take on this sort of repair job won't want it, because they don't want the liability as Karl said, and because their time and skills are demanded elsewhere. I definitely agree that sending it back to the original designer is your best option.

 

[TC1987]

These are two jewelers that might be able to fix it: Wink Jones at http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/ or Michael E. (Edgett?) at http://gemshoppe.com,, first. Michael E. is a bench jeweler, and Wink Jones either is or has connections with a good one.

 

[minousbijoux]

No advice, just sympathy

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Most mall jewelers are chains and do not even have an on-site bench. That is never a good place to take a piece of jewelry for repair. In this case, you have found the right solution and that is to go to a jeweler who carries Natalie K and have them send it to the designer for repair. I always choose a very high end jeweler to do work for me (sizing or repairs) because they normally will have a good bench.

I will add, though, that this type of setting is not one you can wear all the time because pave is going to be lost unless it is treated with a lot of TLC! As in, take it off when doing any kind of house work, cooking, etc.

 

[oldminer]

Just about anything can be repaired when it comes to jewelry. Sometimes, even the best repair might show a bit, but modern laser repairs have allowed far better results than what used to be years ago. In the photo you supplied, I don't see anything which looks broken or worn right now. Maybe it was on the other side of the ring, or this was a "before" damage photo.

Don't give up. If the ring looks the way it does in the photo on both sides, then I doubt a repair is going to be a bid deal. These rings with tiny diamonds in the prongs are generally best repaired by the original maker. I'd never recommend this kind of style detail since repairs are scary for jewelers to attemptm but there are quite a few of these in use that no one is having a problem with.

 

[kenny]

Blow up of area in question since your externally hosted pic violates PS rules and may soon be deleted.

 

[Icecream]

Thank you for your kind words and advice everyone. I really hope this licensed Natalie K dealer or Natalie K themselves can take care of this. At first, I was worried getting this thing right would cost too much. Now I'm worried that it can even be done at all. The thought of having this ring being permanently defective for my wife makes me really down. I know it's just an object, but you know, the sentimental value of it...

Oldtimer, the prongs themselves aren't damaged, it's just that they need to be tightened or re-tipped or something. All I know is that the diamond isn't "sitting" right at this moment because of one of the prongs.

Again, thank you for all your posts and sympathy. Each post made me feel a little better. Any other advice is welcomed.

 

[marcy]

I would think the maker of the ring or one of their authorized dealers would fix it for you. Good luck with getting it fixed.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I can't address the specific ring or manufacturer- rather general experiences we've encountered, and how they affect consumers.

When it comes to micro pave work- there are many things that can not be repaired effectively. There's not a lot of metal on a well made pave set diamond- so if the polisher is a little heavy on the polish wheel even a really well made hand forged piece can lose a stone days or months later due to the work.
The point is- it's a nightmare trying to work on complex micro pave repairs. In many cases you really need to re-make parts and start from scratch to effect a durable, non visible repair
In this regard any piece can be re-made by the bench who made the ring in the first place. I suppose that's a sort of repair. But it can cost as much as a brand new ring.

The other thing is that in many cases it's actually better if people don't try and repair such rings with third parties- initially at least.
The issue is that many jewelry stores offer repairs, and work is hard to turn down.
All too often we've heard of ( and seen) complex rings with botched repairs- which puts the consumer in a terrible position with the manufacturer- go to where you purchased first for repairs, is my consumer advice.

 

[SB621]

My ering that DH proposed with was a Natalie K ring. It was purchased at a licensed family owned jewelry store up in New England that had a great bench. However, when we moved away and then later on had issues with the ring, Natalie K did absolutely NOTHING to help us. We didn't pursue it because at that point I knew I wanted a different setting for my wedding set. We still have my Natalie K ring and at some point in the future I will turn it into a RHR with a colored stone.

Anyhow I just wanted to say goodluck - I hope they can fix it. But if not then see if he can be turned into a RHR and take your lovely wife out ring shopping for something new perhaps for her birthday or your next anniversary. Turn it into a fun date. Hopefully that will take some of the disappointment away if this setting continues to have issues.

 

[Icecream]

My ering that DH proposed with was a Natalie K ring. It was purchased at a licensed family owned jewelry store up in New England that had a great bench. However, when we moved away and then later on had issues with the ring, Natalie K did absolutely NOTHING to help us. We didn't pursue it because at that point I knew I wanted a different setting for my wedding set. We still have my Natalie K ring and at some point in the future I will turn it into a RHR with a colored stone.

Anyhow I just wanted to say goodluck - I hope they can fix it. But if not then see if he can be turned into a RHR and take your lovely wife out ring shopping for something new perhaps for her birthday or your next anniversary. Turn it into a fun date. Hopefully that will take some of the disappointment away if this setting continues to have issues.

Thank you for relating your story, I'm sorry to hear that you had that sort of trouble. Are you saying Natalie K doesn't do repairs?

 

[Icecream]

Most mall jewelers are chains and do not even have an on-site bench. That is never a good place to take a piece of jewelry for repair. In this case, you have found the right solution and that is to go to a jeweler who carries Natalie K and have them send it to the designer for repair. I always choose a very high end jeweler to do work for me (sizing or repairs) because they normally will have a good bench.

I will add, though, that this type of setting is not one you can wear all the time because pave is going to be lost unless it is treated with a lot of TLC! As in, take it off when doing any kind of house work, cooking, etc.

The guy at Kay didn't see why it wouldn't be possible to get the center diamond to sit right again - he told me to to let them ship it off to their repair center. I told him I'd think about it, and then I went and checked out some stuff online. Apparently Kay's repair center has devastated some peoples' e rings, so I decided not to do it. But yeah, it seems like these mass chains and mall jewelers may not be of the highest caliber.

 

[CharmedOne]

Thank god you didn't go with Kay. I can't tell you how many people have had their rings lost from the maul jewelry stores. I would wait and see what happens tomorrow. Honestly, I would stay away from those kinds of stores. Sorry, but it truly is for the best.