Please Help! - Michael B./ pave setting question

[karfu]

Hi all-

First time poster. This is a great forum you''ve got here!

My girlfriend and I both love a particular type of ring by Michael B.- a 4 row pave diamond setting. Does anyone have access to any pictures of this ring? I can''t find anything on the internet!

I am trying to have someone remake this look because the price at the local retail store was a bit expensive ($6600). I''d rather spend the money on the center (radiant cut) stone.

Also, I have been told (by my mother!) not to get the pave rows around the entire ring, as per Michael B. designs, because, though they look nice now, they can''t be resized later on in life. Any truth to this? If so, will pave only 3/4 around the band solve this problem?

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[diamondlil]

Hi Karfu and welcome.




I have a 4-row pave diamond wedding ring (8 mm wide). I have not mastered the picture-posting thing yet, but I have seen pictures of similar rings on the web. One that pops into my head at the moment is an eBay store called 5th-ave-jewels. They have several pave eternity bands that might help you.




I originally wanted an eternity pave band, but I got the story about never being able to resize it too, and I got nervous. I ended up getting stones two-thirds around the band. Of course I've had my ring for 10 years and never had to resize it. I do sometimes regret not getting the stones all the way around, but we did save a little by only going part way. The sizing issue should be a consideration depending on the person. My ring size has not changed at all in 17 years of marriage so it's probably safe to say they won't at this point, but I know several people who have had to have their rings resized a couple times through the years.




Good luck.


Diamondlil

 

[Mara]

Solomon Brothers has pictures of the 3 sided Michael B pave ring (don't think they have a 4 sided one) I think...run a search online, I found Michael B settings all over the web (pictures). I would definitely have one custom, the MB settings are ridiculously expensive. I loved the thin one row pave e-ring and had something custom made to look like it, but with prong-set stones instead of pave (safer for daily wear) and about double the ctw of the pave for less $$ than the retail cost of the MB.




About eternity style (all the way around the band) rings...that is what mine is, and I love it. You can have it resized but there is work involved to have that done. So you would not want to get the ring if you planned to resize it often....mine is a little big but I guess that's better than too small. If we have kids and my fingers swell, I plan to wear it around my neck on a chain or similar and just wear my e-ring. I would definitely not let a little thing like 'having to resize would be a pain later' stop me from getting the setting that I really wanted. Resizing CAN be done, but it will be more pricey than just resizing a typical non-eternity band.




Check out pictures of my ring in archived posts..and also search for 'Michael B' in previous archived posts here as well, people have asked questions about custom vs retail before. MB settings are popular for the beautiful pave look but yes, their pricing is very exhorbitant!!!




Good luck!

 

[Mara]

Actually I see that SB took their pix down as did EscobarDiamonds...guess they are trying to keep MB settings from being replicated (website said it was per request of the designer). This is just hilarious to me because the internet permeates everything, and people can scan in pictures from magazines or advertisements and get the file that way. So it's all a moot point regardless.

Just like disabling right-click can be got around by screen shotting the page.




Anyhow...that said, I ran a quick search and found some pictures on random websites...here is one of the 3 sided rings from MB. Named 3 sided because it has pave on the top, and two sides. I don't think there is a 4 sided. This is the chunkier setting. There is also a thinner setting that is also 3 sided but less width...I will post that next.




These settings are lovely!

Enjoy and good luck!

 

[Mara]

Here is the MB slimmer 3 sided style. Definitely more my thing than the chunky look.

Would suggest though that if you get this custom replicated, try to get prong set or make sure that the pave is very secure. For everyday wear, our jeweler did not want me to get pave eternity because he said if you are hard on your hands or wear your ring all the time (I do), the small stones are more easily lost. So we did small prong-set--the difference visually is almost nonexistent and it's much more safe. Something you may want to discuss with whoever does your custom job are these types of options.

 

[karfu]

Thanks for your quick responses! The pictures are a big help.

The one we saw had 4 rows- 2 in the middle and one on each side (pointing outward). It is basically the 3 row with one extra middle row. The salesperson said the band was 4 mm thick.

While I don't plan on having to get the ring resized, I also realize that this is a possibility. I was told that the way that the rows of pave are place on a rounded object (the band), enlarging the band would cause the pave to pop out- that I would need to have all the diamonds reset on the band. One salesperson even said that people just buy something else entirely when the time comes to resize. I think I may go almost eternity, but leave a little room, just in case.

One other question-

Not sure if you would be able to, but can Mara (or anyone)give me a ballpark figure (in 1000's) of what the following stone should cost:

2.30
F-G color
vs1
very good/ideal cut

thanks again. Very helpful forum.

 

[pauls girl]

Hi,

I have a 3 sided Tacori ring that looks very similar to the first one that Mara posted above. I LOOVVVEEE it. My diamonds go all around the ring. I couldn't imagine having my ring any other way. As lovely as the ones that do stop half way or 3/4 around the ring, I prefer the look of the solid band of diamonds. I inherited my mom's fingers, which are long and thin - so even when I was at my heaviest, my fingers were always the same size that they are now. I did consider the resizing issue when we were first special ordering the band for about a second, but I had wanted a ring like this for a long time. Now, I couldn't imagine having any other ring in the world.

-PG

 

[Mara]

Robert..you can run some data for pricing on the pscope homepage by typing in your parameters and then checking AGS and H&A to get the best cut responses. you will see a range of pricing then. I ran a quick search using F-G, 2.25-2.35c, H&A AGS 0 cuts only (very good or ideal) VS1/VS2 clarity (SI possibly but in a stone this large, you'd have to be really careful on eye-cleanliness) and found ranges of between $21-26k and similar. Depends on the vendor you use and also the actual cut, just how good it is.




I think I have seen the 4 sided (as you mention) in a magazine, it was very bold! Seemed larger than 4mm. As PaulsGirl noted...when we were considering the ring, we considered the resizing thing for all of a second. I did not want this same ring with only diamonds partway around or 3/4...I thought it looked unfinished and definitely was not the look we were going for. Our jeweler agreed. So we did the eternity and I have not regretted it since.

 

[TheDiamondangel]

Just a suggestion...make sure she tries on that style before buying. Some people love the way the pave looks, but once it's on their hand it is so uncomfortable they hate it.

 

[suskoch]

Hello,
I own the engagement and wedding 3-sided micro pave rings (never heard of a 4 sided?)and have had them sized before and you can't even tell. You just have to have your jeweler sent it back to Micael B. and he will size it up or down. Get the eternity, not 3/4!

 

[gingerBcookie]

Have you tried www.pearlmansjewelers.com?

 

[chialea]

----------------
On 10/27/2003 2:35:58 PM Mara wrote:


Just like disabling right-click can be got around by screen shotting the page.
----------------

*cough*

You could also get around this "disabling" by using a more reasonable browser. I was stunned how annoying and unusable the web had gotten when I used IE after having used Mozilla, Safari, and Omniweb for years. For one of those old fogies (in tech terms), it's really painful. It's also pretty much solved by switching browsers.

 

[stepkec]

Hi Mara/Ideal Rock,
Would you be able to post a picture of the Michael B replica you had made as well as the name of the jeweler you used? I am obsessed with the 3-sided pave ring/setting but can''t stomach the price! I''d love to see what the prong-set looks like compared to the pave - my understanding is that pave work similar to Michael B''s rings is extremely labor-intensive.

Thank you!

 

[Mara]

Hi Step...here are my ring pictures:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-ring-oops-i-mean-rings.14091/

You can see the prong set very clearly in those pictures. I loved the MB settings, but the pave would probably not have held up very well on my hand. Also, we got more carat weight out of the custom job for less $$ than the MB rings. I liked the idea of using a different head as well...I don't absolutely love the MB heads...they are too spiky and tall.

My rings are not 3 sided pave though....with both bands fitting together it seems like that may have been waste since once you have the w-ring next to the e-ring, 2 sides of the rings are hidden against each other. I would also be interested to hear how the 3 sided rings hold up with the matching w-ring rubbing against diamond and diamond and metal and metal on that one side.

Anyway hope this helps. The original MB rings are stunning, but if you don't want to pay the price for them...I highly recommend finding a great jeweler and going custom. I like knowing that my rings are just a bit different.