I've seen so many questions about these three, including about quality and discounts and I wanted to share my experiences in London of the three over the last 3 months, including details about the service, pricing, diamonds and quality to try to give a neutral view to help others looking for an engagement ring.
Cartier
I started the process believing Cartier were the best and represented the most exclusive of these exclusive brands. Their service did not disappoint. I actually had a diamond from my grandmother, an H coloured 1.59 round cut diamond. I wanted Cartier to set it. I had no proof it was an original Cartier stone.
The service was incredible, the bond street stores were quiet, they had plenty of time and were very friendly despite the set-up being fairly intimidating. My diamond got inspected, the story recorded and within two weeks they had sent it to Paris for final approval. They confirmed it was a Cartier quality diamond and one they would sell, but that their Paris HQ refused to set it without further documentation (I had a GIA certificate that was it).
At this point I looked at a new piece. For a 1.5 Carat (H, VS2) you are looking at about £23,000. After the process above, and me indicating my budget was closer to £17k, they said they would try to do something for me. After a lot of discussions internally and approval from the UK director they said they couldn't offer a discount on Bridal, but would offer me 5% store credit for another item. They did talk about having the ring made in the UK (rather than Paris) but the lead time would be too long (but may have kept cost down a bit).
I said this wasn't enough and they wouldn't sell or arrange for the diamond to be made available at their Heathrow airport store (which does not do engagement rings) such that I could get the diamond VAT free. The only was to get the 20% VAT back was to have someone else by the ring (a non-UK resident) and export it, they would provide the forms.
I spent a lot of time looking at the 1895 rings, I must admit that in comparison to its direct competitors, I was underwhelmed. Some of the diamonds lacked really sparkle and the fact their criteria (although mostly triple excellent) include "very good" graded diamonds, you really feel that you are paying for something very ordinary. I did get to view two GIA certificates and both would have scored very poorly on the HCA.
The very senior sales staff was clueless. Comments like "this is a Cartier colour H so it will be fantastic" made me realise I knew more about diamonds than him (and I had just spent time on a few forums). When they tried to claim they were very competitive these days, and I pointed out what I could get on-line, he didn't believe me, he tried to tell me colour or clarity would be different and I actually showed them the on-line searches and GIA reports. They remained sceptical, but they had lost me by that stage, I was willing to pay more for a Cartier piece, but by this stage I realised they produce wonderful pieces of jewellery, but for something that is ultimately a big stone on a fairly simple piece of jewellery, they offer terrible value for money and offer very average diamonds.
Tiffany
The blue box is famous but a little too common for my liking. I visited the London flagship store on Bond Street and was disappointed with the service when compared with Cartier. The sales team didn't want to spend time with me and I felt like I was dealing with a car salesman.
The rings I did get to see were impressive, I looked at the classic and the Novo. Shaded from the light, they really stood out and were far more impressive diamonds than the ones I had just seen in Cartier only an hour before.
For 1.6 (I) classic Tiffany solitaire, the price was £22,000. Similar prices to Cartier but the diamonds I saw looked far better cut - not that I could really know because as everyone knows, you don't get to see the certification (which is in-house anyway).
Where Tiffany could offer something the others couldn't, is that they can arrange for you to buy your diamond in an airport boutique. This means you get 16.6% off the store price. This is a massive saving, but is not easy. Because Tiffany get sent stock and cannot order, you will have to find out what stock they have a few weeks before your international flight (outside the EU) and then get them to order the diamond in. Without a lot planning, you will likely have to choose from a very narrow selection of diamonds at the airport that they buy in and that you haven't seen before. On the flip side £18k for a 1.6 (I) in blue box is not a bad deal, and the rings I saw stood out far more than the Cartier equivalents which would come in at about £6k more like for like (mainly due to the VAT saving).
I cannot stress how disappointing the experience in-store was.
De-Beers
Their bond street store is stunning and like Cartier you get special treatment and plenty of time. The sales staff really knew their stuff and when I mentioned heart and arrows she commended me for doing my research and talked about their diamonds in a more technical manner, showing me GIA certificates and putting the diamonds in their iris machine which shows light return at each level of the diamond (apparently gives you a better indication of light return that H&A which is just two dimensional). You get to see the H&A pattern. They suggested I bring another diamond in if I like to run a comparison in their machine, which I will do in January.
I liked the fact they select their diamonds based on light return and visual assessment rather than clarity or colour. They were proud to point out their lighting system was not designed specifically for jewellery and facilitated viewing the diamond in normal light and without light to show how well cut the diamonds are. They had diamonds with clarity ranging from IF to SI2 (eye clean) and colours down to J.
The price for an I VS2 1.5 was about £19k, so by far the best value of the three. Their after care service sounded excellent too.
I didn't discuss discount with DeBeers, simply because I felt like I needed to be closer to buying in order to gage whether they really would discount and I will update you all if I get to that stage.
In Conclusion
I was so so disappointed with Cartier, they went from top of my list to bottom. I knew I would pay over the odds and knew that I would get a better diamond from BG or whiteflash, but I didn't quite realise how poor they would be. Tiffany had the stand-out products for me, but their service was shocking, however the airport VAT free option puts their diamonds at best value. De-Beers were my favourite shop and I felt they were light years ahead of the other two in terms of knowledge and their diamond selection is far superior than anywhere else I had been, and price with VAT was the best value.
Living in the UK buying from a US website comes with concerns - particularly in terms of re-sizing. There is no doubt that if brand isn't significantly important, going with a brian gavin or equivalent is the way to go. But for those who want a brand, the above I hope is helpful.
Cartier
I started the process believing Cartier were the best and represented the most exclusive of these exclusive brands. Their service did not disappoint. I actually had a diamond from my grandmother, an H coloured 1.59 round cut diamond. I wanted Cartier to set it. I had no proof it was an original Cartier stone.
The service was incredible, the bond street stores were quiet, they had plenty of time and were very friendly despite the set-up being fairly intimidating. My diamond got inspected, the story recorded and within two weeks they had sent it to Paris for final approval. They confirmed it was a Cartier quality diamond and one they would sell, but that their Paris HQ refused to set it without further documentation (I had a GIA certificate that was it).
At this point I looked at a new piece. For a 1.5 Carat (H, VS2) you are looking at about £23,000. After the process above, and me indicating my budget was closer to £17k, they said they would try to do something for me. After a lot of discussions internally and approval from the UK director they said they couldn't offer a discount on Bridal, but would offer me 5% store credit for another item. They did talk about having the ring made in the UK (rather than Paris) but the lead time would be too long (but may have kept cost down a bit).
I said this wasn't enough and they wouldn't sell or arrange for the diamond to be made available at their Heathrow airport store (which does not do engagement rings) such that I could get the diamond VAT free. The only was to get the 20% VAT back was to have someone else by the ring (a non-UK resident) and export it, they would provide the forms.
I spent a lot of time looking at the 1895 rings, I must admit that in comparison to its direct competitors, I was underwhelmed. Some of the diamonds lacked really sparkle and the fact their criteria (although mostly triple excellent) include "very good" graded diamonds, you really feel that you are paying for something very ordinary. I did get to view two GIA certificates and both would have scored very poorly on the HCA.
The very senior sales staff was clueless. Comments like "this is a Cartier colour H so it will be fantastic" made me realise I knew more about diamonds than him (and I had just spent time on a few forums). When they tried to claim they were very competitive these days, and I pointed out what I could get on-line, he didn't believe me, he tried to tell me colour or clarity would be different and I actually showed them the on-line searches and GIA reports. They remained sceptical, but they had lost me by that stage, I was willing to pay more for a Cartier piece, but by this stage I realised they produce wonderful pieces of jewellery, but for something that is ultimately a big stone on a fairly simple piece of jewellery, they offer terrible value for money and offer very average diamonds.
Tiffany
The blue box is famous but a little too common for my liking. I visited the London flagship store on Bond Street and was disappointed with the service when compared with Cartier. The sales team didn't want to spend time with me and I felt like I was dealing with a car salesman.
The rings I did get to see were impressive, I looked at the classic and the Novo. Shaded from the light, they really stood out and were far more impressive diamonds than the ones I had just seen in Cartier only an hour before.
For 1.6 (I) classic Tiffany solitaire, the price was £22,000. Similar prices to Cartier but the diamonds I saw looked far better cut - not that I could really know because as everyone knows, you don't get to see the certification (which is in-house anyway).
Where Tiffany could offer something the others couldn't, is that they can arrange for you to buy your diamond in an airport boutique. This means you get 16.6% off the store price. This is a massive saving, but is not easy. Because Tiffany get sent stock and cannot order, you will have to find out what stock they have a few weeks before your international flight (outside the EU) and then get them to order the diamond in. Without a lot planning, you will likely have to choose from a very narrow selection of diamonds at the airport that they buy in and that you haven't seen before. On the flip side £18k for a 1.6 (I) in blue box is not a bad deal, and the rings I saw stood out far more than the Cartier equivalents which would come in at about £6k more like for like (mainly due to the VAT saving).
I cannot stress how disappointing the experience in-store was.
De-Beers
Their bond street store is stunning and like Cartier you get special treatment and plenty of time. The sales staff really knew their stuff and when I mentioned heart and arrows she commended me for doing my research and talked about their diamonds in a more technical manner, showing me GIA certificates and putting the diamonds in their iris machine which shows light return at each level of the diamond (apparently gives you a better indication of light return that H&A which is just two dimensional). You get to see the H&A pattern. They suggested I bring another diamond in if I like to run a comparison in their machine, which I will do in January.
I liked the fact they select their diamonds based on light return and visual assessment rather than clarity or colour. They were proud to point out their lighting system was not designed specifically for jewellery and facilitated viewing the diamond in normal light and without light to show how well cut the diamonds are. They had diamonds with clarity ranging from IF to SI2 (eye clean) and colours down to J.
The price for an I VS2 1.5 was about £19k, so by far the best value of the three. Their after care service sounded excellent too.
I didn't discuss discount with DeBeers, simply because I felt like I needed to be closer to buying in order to gage whether they really would discount and I will update you all if I get to that stage.
In Conclusion
I was so so disappointed with Cartier, they went from top of my list to bottom. I knew I would pay over the odds and knew that I would get a better diamond from BG or whiteflash, but I didn't quite realise how poor they would be. Tiffany had the stand-out products for me, but their service was shocking, however the airport VAT free option puts their diamonds at best value. De-Beers were my favourite shop and I felt they were light years ahead of the other two in terms of knowledge and their diamond selection is far superior than anywhere else I had been, and price with VAT was the best value.
Living in the UK buying from a US website comes with concerns - particularly in terms of re-sizing. There is no doubt that if brand isn't significantly important, going with a brian gavin or equivalent is the way to go. But for those who want a brand, the above I hope is helpful.
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