Hello all, I am a younger guy (23) and a diamond buying rookie. I have plans to get engaged sometime next spring. I have a good stable job and am finishing my degree this spring (my girl has 2 years left). I have been saving up and have up to 10G saved up/allotted for the ring. I know that my girl has expressed she is not interested in a large diamond. She is the furthest thing from material imaginable and also happens to have small build and small hands. She is going to be a Mechanical Engineer when she finishes school and does not like the idea or look of a large diamond ring. So here I am thinking if I am buying an average sized ring (1 ct.) I am going to consider a Tiffany & Co. Lucida (because of its trendly style which seems less likly to get caught on stuff). I see a lot of people steering clear away from Tiffany's on this site so I guess I will post my resons for considering buying there and people can give me their 2 cents.
Being a novice and understanding what I have read, Tiffany only carries higher quality rings and has staked there reputation on their cut. I know that I am overpaying & can get a higher quality diamond for the same $ but I do not think the price is that bad. (Over the phone) Tiffany gave me some rings around 10G that were 1ct Lucida's. I looked up the price and the most similar diamond ((roughly) radiant box-cut 1ct G-H VS1 High Qual Cut) on the web around 6G and the platinum x-prong setting was 1G. So the way I see it The tiffany is overpriced about 2-3G (less labor/guarentee costs). To further explain I think tiffany to us is an icon of the luxury side of NYC. We live in way upstate NY and made our first trip together to NYC (first time for both of us). NYC is a magical place to us and I think that Tiffany is an icon of the luxury of NYC. Its like having a piece of NY and a reminder of the magic of our love on her finger. I am planning on our next trip down to go into tiffany's with her "just for fun" to look at all the "super-expensive" rings. Sometime after that I would like to make a purchase. I don't know why I am so eager to overpay for a ring but I can only think of the shock on her face when she drops her jaw seeing she got a real Tiffany ring. She is so humble that she will never gloat about the Tiffany name to her friends but it will be something symbolic between us. And when we are old and hopefully successful in life she will still look at her ring and know that I saved up my pennies working through college to afford a Tiffany ring.
Am I Nutz?
Being a novice and understanding what I have read, Tiffany only carries higher quality rings and has staked there reputation on their cut. I know that I am overpaying & can get a higher quality diamond for the same $ but I do not think the price is that bad. (Over the phone) Tiffany gave me some rings around 10G that were 1ct Lucida's. I looked up the price and the most similar diamond ((roughly) radiant box-cut 1ct G-H VS1 High Qual Cut) on the web around 6G and the platinum x-prong setting was 1G. So the way I see it The tiffany is overpriced about 2-3G (less labor/guarentee costs). To further explain I think tiffany to us is an icon of the luxury side of NYC. We live in way upstate NY and made our first trip together to NYC (first time for both of us). NYC is a magical place to us and I think that Tiffany is an icon of the luxury of NYC. Its like having a piece of NY and a reminder of the magic of our love on her finger. I am planning on our next trip down to go into tiffany's with her "just for fun" to look at all the "super-expensive" rings. Sometime after that I would like to make a purchase. I don't know why I am so eager to overpay for a ring but I can only think of the shock on her face when she drops her jaw seeing she got a real Tiffany ring. She is so humble that she will never gloat about the Tiffany name to her friends but it will be something symbolic between us. And when we are old and hopefully successful in life she will still look at her ring and know that I saved up my pennies working through college to afford a Tiffany ring.
Am I Nutz?