Simple solitaire - hand forged or CAD?

[lemonlimekisses]

Hi everyone,

I'd like some feedback on what I should with my antique cushion.

I want a very simple, delicate solitaire setting. I already have several "inspiration" pieces in mind - namely, Leon's double claw cathedral solitaire, or Victor Canera's Alaria solitaire.

I've received several quotes for both hand forged and CAD. I'm just not sure where to go. Obviously, the CAD settings are much more manageable, price-wise.. but I only want one engagement ring. And I suppose I am curious as to whether PS-ers think that a hand forged solitaire is worth it? I know what I would do if I was going for a halo. But this is a much more simple setting.

Please put aside the obvious answer of "whatever works with your budget" and let me know if you think a hand-forged solitaire is unnecessary. Or totally worth it!

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gypsy]

I don't think it's worth it. But that's me. I haven't seen a solitaire design yet that is unique enough that I would be willing to pay for the hand forged version of it. And I've seen a ton of solitaires I adore that are CAD (the BGD Elegance is my personal favorite).

 

[Amour_Et_Diamants]

I don't think it's worth it. But that's me. I haven't seen a solitaire design yet that is unique enough that I would be willing to pay for the hand forged version of it. And I've seen a ton of solitaires I adore that are CAD (the BGD Elegance is my personal favorite).

+ 1. IMHO

 

[momhappy]

A simple solitaire is not worth hand-forged in my opinion either.

 

[mrs-b]

Hi lemonlimekisses

I have the BGD tapered Tiffany and I think it's one of the most elegant solitaires I've ever seen. It's a dream to wear and it makes the most of the diamond that any solitaire setting possibly could. So I vote 'no' to custom.

 

[nyquestioner]

I used to not understand why people would choose handforged for a solitaire, but after comparing nice CAD settings to the handforged settings more closely (including the setting Leon made for "Boston Jeff," which sounds like basically what you want), and after living with my own LM ring for a while, I get it. The perfect proportions, the just-so delicacy of the claw prongs, etc. So I would choose handforged if you are a very detail-oriented person _and_ budget is not an issue, i.e., you don't have to sacrifice in any other area, because the difference is not enormous.

 

[lemonlimekisses]

I used to not understand why people would choose handforged for a solitaire, but after comparing nice CAD settings to the handforged settings more closely (including the setting Leon made for "Boston Jeff," which sounds like basically what you want), and after living with my own LM ring for a while, I get it. The perfect proportions, the just-so delicacy of the claw prongs, etc. So I would choose handforged if you are a very detail-oriented person _and_ budget is not an issue, i.e., you don't have to sacrifice in any other area, because the difference is not enormous.

Yes, that is the solitaire that I received a quote for. It is perfection to me. But it's also 1k more. (Not to mention other concerns I have about working with him.)



Everyone, I appreciate the feedback! It's easy for me to get overwhelmed, so it's very helpful to hear other perspectives.

 

[Gypsy]

Do a search on people's experiences with their Leon solitaires. There was a time where quite a few of the stones in them were become loose.

 

[Acinom]

There are beautiful cad/cast solitaires out there. Normally I would say a handforged ring would not be worth the extra investment, unless there is intricate (Art deco) detailing or a special design. However, there is just 'something' about the Boston Jeff. I just love the proportions. For me it would be absolute worth the extra investment. The people around you would probably just see a 'simple solitaire', but I am sure you would enjoy the extra ooomph. Good luck in making your decision!

 

[ringbling17]

It's funny but I am thinking about resetting my diamond and have the same dilemma. I found two settings that I love but one is under $1k and the other is close to $3k.

Both are rose gold with a six prong head, but I am just stuck on whether its worth it for me to get the more expensive hand forged or just get cast.

My wallet and head tells me to just stick with the cast.

Let us know what you decide. As of yet I am still undecided.

 

[FancyDiamond]

It's funny but I am thinking about resetting my diamond and have the same dilemma. I found two settings that I love but one is under $1k and the other is close to $3k.

Both are rose gold with a six prong head, but I am just stuck on whether its worth it for me to get the more expensive hand forged or just get cast.

My wallet and head tells me to just stick with the cast.

Let us know what you decide. As of yet I am still undecided.

+1 about my wallet and head/brain. If I wanted a haloed ring, I would have picked VC or Leon, no doubt. Yet, for a simple solitaire, I am Ok with A CAST ring.

I wanted a 6-prong, Tiffany style solitaire setting. I found two on WF's website plus the Vatche version. The least expensive one is a few hundred dollars. The medium price one is a little over $1000. Vatche is the most expensive of the three, and is about $1000 more. They all look the same to me, but I remember DS recommended the Vatche solitaire setting to someone. Since I value her opinion highly, I chose it. Wonder if she changes her mind now after having seen the delicate VC version?

Sorry about the thread-jack. Butterfly17, don't tell me you are getting rid of your gorgeous halo setting (the one in your avatar). Oh no! Really? Why?

 

[lemonlimekisses]

It's funny but I am thinking about resetting my diamond and have the same dilemma. I found two settings that I love but one is under $1k and the other is close to $3k.

Both are rose gold with a six prong head, but I am just stuck on whether its worth it for me to get the more expensive hand forged or just get cast.

My wallet and head tells me to just stick with the cast.

Let us know what you decide. As of yet I am still undecided.

Hi butterfly17!

I'm still undecided! Mine is between $1.5k and $2.5k.. not as much of a difference as yours but still substantial enough. I'm not sure what to do. My sweet bf says whatever would make me happier. As of this morning, I was leaning towards cast. Yesterday, I was all on board the hand forged train.

And mine would be rose gold too! Good luck with your decision - btw, the ring in your avatar is crazy beautiful!

 

[lemonlimekisses]

There are beautiful cad/cast solitaires out there. Normally I would say a handforged ring would not be worth the extra investment, unless there is intricate (Art deco) detailing or a special design. However, there is just 'something' about the Boston Jeff. I just love the proportions. For me it would be absolute worth the extra investment. The people around you would probably just see a 'simple solitaire', but I am sure you would enjoy the extra ooomph. Good luck in making your decision!

This setting is beautiful to me! Have you seen the one on the forum with a 1.6 OMC? I think the user's name was ksmom or similar. It is in rose gold. AMAZING. I've saved that picture for months.

But working with Leon makes me uncomfortable and my communications with him thus far have been a tad bumpy. So either way, I think he would be out.

I am detail-oriented and admire simple, well-made items. So I could see the value in going hand forged, even if everyone else would think it was nothing special.

ahhh, I'm going back and forth just responding to this thread!!

 

[ringbling17]

Hi Fancy,
No. I am keeping that one. I want to reset my ACA. It's currently in a whiteflash harmony platinum setting (which was supposed to be a temporary settung until i could figure out what I wanted) but I want to get rose gold now and I want a six prong head.

The setting I want is from BGD, but I do love the tiffany you are talking about. I had the WF version when I first got my diamond and it is beautiful. I want the Tiffany half round BGD this time.

The hand forged setting is from VC. I know it is hand forged , but the price seems high for rose gold, but what do I know. Maybe I am being cheap?

For what it's worth, Vatche settings are superb. I had the Royal Crown twice and I can tell you that they were pretty much perfect. On par with Tiffany quality.

I think Vatche actually worked for Tiffany's bf he branched out.


Excuse the typos. I'm in my phone and can't see what I am typing.

 

[ringbling17]

Hi lemmonlimekisses,

I think you should go hand forged if you are certain you won't want to change your setting in the future. I am not certain of that yet, so that's why I can't decide.

BTW, I had a Leon Mege as well. Lol! I think I was the first person on here to get one of his rings.

One thing I didn't like about his ring is that he sets them very low. Something to consider but I also think diamondseeker2006 noted that as well.
I think I even asked him if he could make my ring 8 mm high (it was a 2 carat ACA) because I was used to that height on my Royal Crown and he refused.

Then later on he talked about it to other clients.

I only know that bc there was someone on this thread that mentioned a conversation with him about this and she posted about it.
She also noted that after he made that ring, everyone started coming to him.

Or at least that's what I remember about the post.
Hmmm, maybe I will have to look it up again.

Anyway, he is one of the best here but he might not give you exactly what you want. That's all I'm saying.

Off to find that post.

 

[ringbling17]

by frankiextah » 09 Dec 2010 01:31


a funny story he told me during the meeting: a lady many years ago commissioned him to set a solitaire diamond, and had requested him to set it "very high" (according to his terms). they had multiple heated debates but she would not budge. Ultimately he forced her to sign a contract so that she would NOT complain in the event that she changed her mind. she ended up loving the ring so much that she posted pics online and since then phone calls and orders flooded in. eventually this ring was sold to another person in california somehow, and he received a phone call from that person requesting a resize service. LM asked how she found him - it was the inscription on the shank that brought her to call him. He told me that he was actually embarrassed to admit to have made this ring but at the same time it was the gateway to all the businesses he has since received !


Okay, I actually found it. And for the record, I didn't request him to make it very high. I am pretty sure I asked for it to be as high as my Vatche Royal Crown. Which was around 8 to 8.5 mm. I like seeing the culet on my diamond. And if you look at my old threads of his ring, you can see that the ring was not high at all. The diamond itself was 8.2 x 5 so I didn't want the culet touching the donut on the bottom.

And you see, in that case, I was right because he even admits that all his business started flooding in after I posted his ring.

Also, he is not correct about the part about the lady in California asking him to resize the ring. When I decided to resell it, I contacted him for the woman (who I happened to know from another diamond website so we already knew each other) to find out if he could resize it and set her stone into. Otherwise she wouldn't have purchased it from me. She didn't "find" his inscription on the shank.
She wouldn't even have bought the ring and paid me what she did, if it hadn't been an LM.

And he never forced me to sign anything on any contract. I honestly don't remember a heated debate or multiple heated debates. I only met with him once to drop off the diamond, tell him what I wanted, we discussed the height and I left. I didn't even see him again until I picked up the ring, which was 4 weeks or so later.

He knew I was planning on selling it and reassured me that he would be able to resize and reset her stone for a very small fee.

And to read that he was actually embarrassed about the ring is pretty funny. Embarrassed about a ring that made him popular.

Okay, sorry for the threadjack.

 

[lemonlimekisses]

Hi lemmonlimekisses,

I think you should go hand forged if you are certain you won't want to change your setting in the future. I am not certain of that yet, so that's why I can't decide.

BTW, I had a Leon Mege as well. Lol! I think I was the first person on here to get one of his rings.

One thing I didn't like about his ring is that he sets them very low. Something to consider but I also think diamondseeker2006 noted that as well.
I think I even asked him if he could make my ring 8 mm high (it was a 2 carat ACA) because I was used to that height on my Royal Crown and he refused.

Then later on he talked about it to other clients.

I only know that bc there was someone on this thread that mentioned a conversation with him about this and she posted about it.
She also noted that after he made that ring, everyone started coming to him.

Or at least that's what I remember about the post.
Hmmm, maybe I will have to look it up again.

Anyway, he is one of the best here but he might not give you exactly what you want. That's all I'm saying.

Off to find that post.

hi butterfly17,

I have no intentions on changing my setting. this is it! I don't even want to think about upgrading until much, much further down the line.

Is the height of the setting strictly a personal preference thing or does it also help the stone look bigger/brighter/better? I like low settings but I think that's more because I DON'T like high settings. Should I go for something in the middle?

The hand forged I am considering is also Victor Canera. So beautiful. And communication with him has been a lot easier than with Leon.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[ringbling17]

I think the height of the ring is a personal preference. As I mentioned in my above post, the diamonds height was about 5mm, so I wanted the culet about 3 mm off my finger.

LM had made a ring once for someone on another diamond forum (which is how I found him) and she knew what she wanted but didn't have any input because her fiance surprised her.
Later on when she got the ring, she complained that the culet dug into her finger and it was annoying. Sort of like those Tiffany diamond by the yard necklaces.
I was also worried about the culet getting damaged if it was right on the shank, touching the metal.
Lastly, I like being able to clean the diamond with a baby toothbrush so it's easier if the culet is reachable.

That's why I wanted my diamond set that high.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Some of the ladies have already told you some of my experiences, but I am one who had a LM solitaire and later changed to the Vatche U-113. I will tell you that because I have changed to an AVR and may end up with some kind of antique style setting eventually, but it is not because I don't love the Vatche, because I do.

Like Butterfly, my solitaire setting was also too low, even though I specifically said to not make the diamond too low. I never really loved it because of that, and obviously later I changed to the Vatche which I felt looked much better with my Tiffany Legacy band. Medium height is a very nice height, and that is what I consider my Vatche is. I agree that I would not want too high or too low.

So between the LM and Vatche, I prefer the Vatche. It looks just as good or better, in my opinion. And there have been at least two people here who have had structural problems with LM's solitaires.

If I were you, I'd get a quote from Engagement Rings Direct (if you haven't already) since you have a cushion. Show them pictures of the rings you are interested in. That might be a good extra option. They certainly made an incredible setting recently for Valmanin (but it was for a round).

I think Victor does beautiful work and would not hesitate to use him, either. But I have to say, in the case of a solitaire, a fine quality cast setting can be every bit as nice as a hand forged. Sometimes they are better.

 

[Acinom]

There are beautiful cad/cast solitaires out there. Normally I would say a handforged ring would not be worth the extra investment, unless there is intricate (Art deco) detailing or a special design. However, there is just 'something' about the Boston Jeff. I just love the proportions. For me it would be absolute worth the extra investment. The people around you would probably just see a 'simple solitaire', but I am sure you would enjoy the extra ooomph. Good luck in making your decision!

This setting is beautiful to me! Have you seen the one on the forum with a 1.6 OMC? I think the user's name was ksmom or similar. It is in rose gold. AMAZING. I've saved that picture for months.

But working with Leon makes me uncomfortable and my communications with him thus far have been a tad bumpy. So either way, I think he would be out.

I am detail-oriented and admire simple, well-made items. So I could see the value in going hand forged, even if everyone else would think it was nothing special.

ahhh, I'm going back and forth just responding to this thread!!

Ah yes! It's this beauty from Ksmom:

But you need to work with a vendor you feel comfortable with.
I second that working with Victor is great. Have you seen the setting he made for the 5.34 stunner from Arkieb?

 

[lemonlimekisses]

Some of the ladies have already told you some of my experiences, but I am one who had a LM solitaire and later changed to the Vatche U-113. I will tell you that because I have changed to an AVR and may end up with some kind of antique style setting eventually, but it is not because I don't love the Vatche, because I do.

Like Butterfly, my solitaire setting was also too low, even though I specifically said to not make the diamond too low. I never really loved it because of that, and obviously later I changed to the Vatche which I felt looked much better with my Tiffany Legacy band. Medium height is a very nice height, and that is what I consider my Vatche is. I agree that I would not want too high or too low.

So between the LM and Vatche, I prefer the Vatche. It looks just as good or better, in my opinion. And there have been at least two people here who have had structural problems with LM's solitaires.

If I were you, I'd get a quote from Engagement Rings Direct (if you haven't already) since you have a cushion. Show them pictures of the rings you are interested in. That might be a good extra option. They certainly made an incredible setting recently for Valmanin (but it was for a round).

I think Victor does beautiful work and would not hesitate to use him, either. But I have to say, in the case of a solitaire, a fine quality cast setting can be every bit as nice as a hand forged. Sometimes they are better.

diamondseeker - thanks so much for your input! It is very helpful to hear different people's perspectives. I do have a quote from ERD and am definitely considering it. They make lovely settings and I don't doubt that a solitaire from them would look great. It is reassuring to hear others recommend them for their settings.

 

[lemonlimekisses]

There are beautiful cad/cast solitaires out there. Normally I would say a handforged ring would not be worth the extra investment, unless there is intricate (Art deco) detailing or a special design. However, there is just 'something' about the Boston Jeff. I just love the proportions. For me it would be absolute worth the extra investment. The people around you would probably just see a 'simple solitaire', but I am sure you would enjoy the extra ooomph. Good luck in making your decision!

This setting is beautiful to me! Have you seen the one on the forum with a 1.6 OMC? I think the user's name was ksmom or similar. It is in rose gold. AMAZING. I've saved that picture for months.

But working with Leon makes me uncomfortable and my communications with him thus far have been a tad bumpy. So either way, I think he would be out.

I am detail-oriented and admire simple, well-made items. So I could see the value in going hand forged, even if everyone else would think it was nothing special.

ahhh, I'm going back and forth just responding to this thread!!

Ah yes! It's this beauty from Ksmom:

But you need to work with a vendor you feel comfortable with.
I second that working with Victor is great. Have you seen the setting he made for the 5.34 stunner from Arkieb?

ahhhhh that beauty from ksmom. Amazing! I also love her diamond. sighhhhh.

I don't doubt that working with Victor would be a great experience. That's what makes this so hard! And he's sent me some images that were just so lovely - simple and delicate and well crafted.

 

[lemonlimekisses]

I think the height of the ring is a personal preference. As I mentioned in my above post, the diamonds height was about 5mm, so I wanted the culet about 3 mm off my finger.

LM had made a ring once for someone on another diamond forum (which is how I found him) and she knew what she wanted but didn't have any input because her fiance surprised her.
Later on when she got the ring, she complained that the culet dug into her finger and it was annoying. Sort of like those Tiffany diamond by the yard necklaces.
I was also worried about the culet getting damaged if it was right on the shank, touching the metal.
Lastly, I like being able to clean the diamond with a baby toothbrush so it's easier if the culet is reachable.

That's why I wanted my diamond set that high.

Thank you for the explanation on height! It makes me think about what would be best for me. I really appreciate it, butterfly17!

 

[m-2-b]

I may be in the minority here, but I love my hand forged solitaire! Something about the delicacy of my ER that does not compare w/ my other cast pieces... Just my 2 cts for what it's worth!

 

[ringbling17]

I may be in the minority here, but I love my hand forged solitaire! Something about the delicacy of my ER that does not compare w/ my other cast pieces... Just my 2 cts for what it's worth!

I love your setting! That's the one I want!

 

[m-2-b]

I may be in the minority here, but I love my hand forged solitaire! Something about the delicacy of my ER that does not compare w/ my other cast pieces... Just my 2 cts for what it's worth!

I love your setting! That's the one I want!

Thanks, Butterfly! Let us know what you eventually decide to do on your ER!

 

[AVC4Me]

How did you finally set your stone? I am facing the same decision with an AVC.....would love to hear an update!

 

[VRBeauty]

Last we heard she wasn't sure about her new setting. Hopefully she's since fallen in love with it1

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/setting-is-done-images-are-in-feeling-lukewarm.203475/

 

[Gypsy]

Oh. I do hope she updates. I adored her ring and thought it was perfection.

 

[ame]

I don't think hand forged for a solitaire is necessary, but for pave is probably worth every red cent. So maybe for the wedding band you pair it with?

I just recently saw the BGD tapered Tiffany in person (it's on my short list for my reset) and it really wowed me, because it's elegant and dainty and was very well made. It moved to the top of my list after I saw it in person, actually.