Recommended jeweler''s in London?

[Ed]

Hi,
My first post here, but just wanted to say how useful this website has been for my diamond purchase. I''ve recently made a trip from the UK to Antwerp to buy a diamond + platinum ring. The diamond is beautiful, perfect cut, and is exactly what I was looking for at a good price. However after examining the setting quite closely when I got home, the craftsmenship of the setting seems a bit sloppy. One of the prongs is crooked and there are several plier marks. Also there is a line at the bottom of the ring where they resized it that they didn''t fully polish off. I''m a bit frustrated as I spent all of my time concentrating on finding the perfect diamond, but the poor setting detracts from the finished product. I can''t easily go back to Antwerp now to fix.

As with most people on this forum, I''m a bit of a perfectionist (although my girlfriend is not!). After I propose to her (and check for actual ring size), I would like to get an expert jeweller to correct the setting and give the ring a really high quality look - like a Tiffany''s ring. Can anyone recommend an extremely good and trusted jeweler in the London area?

 

[Princess-G]

Hi,

I was in Antwerp last week looking to buy a diamond, long story but I decided to do some more research before going back and I now have several diamonds to view later this week. Would you mind telling me where you purchased your stone from and did you need an appointment to see them.

Several jewellers I spoke to in Antwerp advised me to have my stone set in the UK, so I too have been looking for jewellers in London. And although I haven't used them yet I was very impressed when dealing with Daniel Prince both in his quick response, honesty about the setting and price. We will be using him to set my diamond in a brushed platinum tension ring. He is located in Hatton Garden and his website is www.danielprince.co.uk.

Hope this helps

 

[oldminer]

http://www.jewelleryvaluer.com/index.html

This is a link from my website to a Valuer in Leicester, UK.
He seems to be an independent appraiser and possibly would make time to suggest a trusted friend in London to you. He has an email address, etc on his website. Maybe give him a try.

 

[Ed]

Thanks OldMiner and Princess-G. Will try both.

Princess G,
I ended buying my diamond from a place called Diamondland, website is www.diamondland.be. They're fairly touristy, so you should book an appointment and do research on the diamonds they are proposing ahead of time. They showed me 4 diamonds. One diamond was far superior to the others (scored within AGSO 0 range) and was the one I ended up getting. The others ranged from good to poor on the HCA and other similar tools I used.

The saleslady was good and strongly recommended the better cut diamond and used the other diamonds just as a comparison. However, I would imagine that they may try to sell some of the poorer cuts to the tourists and the less informed.

As for the price, it was slightly lower than an equilavent diamond from the online vendors here, so I think I got a decent deal.