To go with Infinity, Brian Gavin or Union?

[tarator]

SO I can''t decide which of the three I should go with. I want an L, SI2,1k Ideal or Signature cut. In other words I want the diamond to sparkle as much as possible.

Union will most likely be the cheapest. But even if I go with one of their signature diamonds (select ideal) does it even compare with an Infinity? Would I notice a big difference when actually looking at the diamond. Would it significantly sparkle less?

What about the quality of the craftsmanship on the jewelry? Will I notice a difference between Union/Brian Gavin/Infinity?
Anyone who has purchased from any of the three are welcome to share their comments.


Also are there any other jewelers I should look at (that sell premium Ls) let me know.
The downside of Infinity is they don''t do palladium. Union and Brian Gavin do. SO I would have to go with platinum if I went with Infinity.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/25/2009 6:04:21 AM
Author:tarator
SO I can't decide which of the three I should go with. I want an L, SI2,1k Ideal or Signature cut. In other words I want the diamond to sparkle as much as possible.

Union will most likely be the cheapest. But even if I go with one of their signature diamonds (select ideal) does it even compare with an Infinity? Would I notice a big difference when actually looking at the diamond. Would it significantly sparkle less?

What about the quality of the craftsmanship on the jewelry? Will I notice a difference between Union/Brian Gavin/Infinity?
Anyone who has purchased from any of the three are welcome to share their comments.


Also are there any other jewelers I should look at (that sell premium Ls) let me know.
The downside of Infinity is they don't do palladium. Union and Brian Gavin do. SO I would have to go with platinum if I went with Infinity.

I could be wrong but I don't think Brian Gavin offer the lower colour diamonds, ask Lesley to be sure though. Infinity are a branded cut as you know, cut to the very highest standards and consistency, so we would have to have an actual diamond from UD which is also said to be h&a to compare with. Personally if top cut h&a is what you want then Infinity would be the company to go with, especially as they might have a selection of lower colours to choose from - also if you like the brand pedigree then go with Infinity.

The crux of the matter is Infinity are well known for cut and consistency ( I have actually seen one in person recently and it was stunning) , UD stones are more of an unknown quantity in this respect and to the best of my knowledge not a branded cut as such, so we would have to have actual UD stones to compare with to get a meaningful comparison.

If you have any diamonds from UD you are interested in or Infinity, post the links or the info and we can take a look for you.

 

[stone-cold11]

Depends on what you are looking for.

 

[Lula]

Hi, tarator,
I agree with everything Lorelei said in her previous post.

And, as an Infinity owner, I'll add a few things. I've owned two Infinity diamonds. The first one was a .53 J VS 2, which I upgraded to an M SI2. You can see pictures of my Infinity diamonds in a
previous thread by me asking about the value of cut consistency.

In this thread, you will find a post or two by Paul Slegers, the cutter/designer of Infinity, where he explains his philosophy -- for lack of a better word -- of cutting diamonds. His knowledge, experience and passion for the profession of diamond cutting comes through in this post, I believe, and this is important for me. I want to own a beautiful diamond cut with intention and integrity. That's what I get with Infinity - the cutter stands behind the brand.

I have never owned a Brian Gavin diamond, but my understanding from reading PS for a number of months now, is that he and Lesley have a similar commitment to cut quality/consistency. I agree with Lorelei, though, I'm just not sure how many L and lower stones they cut/have in stock.

As for Union Diamond's top-cut stones, I just don't know enough about them, haven't seen videos or photos or IS/ASET images for them, or seen one in real life. So I just don't have enough information to go on. At the very least, as Lorelei says, we'd need to see an IS image for any stone you're considering from Union.

The trick to getting a "lower" color diamond that is a warm champagne or winter white color, full of sparkle and life, and not grayish or yellowish and dull, is to pay for the best cut quality you can afford. There are no shortcuts.

If you add in purchasing a diamond that is lower color AND lower clarity (SI1 and lower), cut quality becomes even more important.

Many companies these days sell their own "brand" of H&A, ideal cut, AGS0 or GIA Excellent diamonds, for which they choose a brand name and claim that they are super-duper-whammy-wowy diamonds.

I owned one of these diamonds before I switched to Infinity. I won't go back. Cut quality and consistency does matter to me, and I appreciate the fact that there is person behind my Infinity, who stands behind the cut quality and the brand.

I also appreciate that there are things about diamond cutting that I will never understand, that go beyond matching a set of numbers/angles/percentages to some prescribed parameters, and this is the expertise I pay for when I buy an Infinity.

 

[Lula]

I forgot to address your questions about palladium.

I think you're confused about the brand of the diamond (Infinity) and the companies who sell them. Wink, of Winfields (now High Performance Diamonds) is who I bought my Infinity from. He does beautiful custom settings (he's making mine in unplated white gold and yellow gold), and sells many brands of settings, but he does not work in Palladium.

If you decide to buy an Infinity stone from Wink, but would like a Palladium setting, you could contact the other vendors recommended here about setting the Infinity for you in a Palladium setting.

For example, I believe Whiteflash sells Palladium settings and will set stones not purchased from them. There may be a setting "fee" in addition to the setting, but it can be done. From what I've seen on PS, Brian Gavin Diamonds' settings are just beautiful, and I believe they, too, will set customer-supplied stones. Just send them an e-mail and ask -- the vendors here are all very helpful. They also all know each other and like each other, so don't be afraid that you are "offending" them.

 

[glitterata]

It''s possible you can get a gorgeous diamond from UD for less money than Infinity. It will likely be less precisely cut, but the difference might not be visible to you without very close, careful inspection, and it''s possible that even if it is, you won''t care. Or you might prefer the Infinity over excellent but less precise cuts, like Sara.

A lot depends on the particular diamonds you''re considering.

 

[Lula]

Date: 9/25/2009 9:57:11 AM
Author: glitterata
It's possible you can get a gorgeous diamond from UD for less money than Infinity. It will likely be less precisely cut, but the difference might not be visible to you without very close, careful inspection, and it's possible that even if it is, you won't care. Or you might prefer the Infinity over excellent but less precise cuts, like Sara.


A lot depends on the particular diamonds you're considering.

Yes, Glitterata is correct -- precise cut is what we call on PS a "mind clean" issue for me. I put tip-top cut first on my list of must-haves in a diamond.

It is true that you may not be able to "see" the differences in cut among well-cut stones. In that case, my advice would be to get the best-performing L you can find for the best price (based on images of the stone -- photos, IS, ASET, etc., and an in-person inspection under different lighting conditions -- i.e., purchase the stone, live with it, and send it back if you're not happy with its performance).

But -- and here's where I went wrong with my first stone -- I would not pay extra for a "branded" stone unless I was sure that the company offering that brand was offering something more than just the name, i.e., top-tier optical, physical, and lab symmetry that is consistent across the brand's stones. If you are going to pay extra for a vendor's "brand," you should find out what exactly about that brand makes it different from any other GIA and AGS graded stone that performs well.

I feel like I got burned with the first stone I bought -- it wasn't what the vendor said it was, and I could have paid less and gone with an unbranded AGS or GIA stone (with good numbers and images), and have gotten just as nice a stone. So do your research and find out what you are paying for!!

That's why I switched to Infinity -- I'm sure I'm getting what I'm paying for.

I am biased (if you couldn't tell!) and that is why I refrain from suggesting stones to people on this forum.

But there are many people here who can help you find the best stone for you. They can suggest stones for you, or you can post the information for any stones you find (AGS or GIA report; photos and IS for sure, and ASET if possible, along with Hearts images if it's being sold as H&A) and you will get much helpful feedback.

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 9/25/2009 6:04:21 AM
Author:tarator
The downside of Infinity is they don''t do palladium. Union and Brian Gavin do. SO I would have to go with platinum if I went with Infinity.

As an Infinity dealer, I''m purposely going to stay out of the conversation about which brand you should proceed with...

But I do want to clarify that Infinity does not actually produce jewelry and thus the decision whether to offer palladium as an option is up to the individual Infinity dealer / jeweler.

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 9/25/2009 8:37:58 AM
Author: sarap333
I forgot to address your questions about palladium.

I think you''re confused about the brand of the diamond (Infinity) and the companies who sell them. Wink, of Winfields (now High Performance Diamonds) is who I bought my Infinity from. He does beautiful custom settings (he''s making mine in unplated white gold and yellow gold), and sells many brands of settings, but he does not work in Palladium.

If you decide to buy an Infinity stone from Wink, but would like a Palladium setting, you could contact the other vendors recommended here about setting the Infinity for you in a Palladium setting.

For example, I believe Whiteflash sells Palladium settings and will set stones not purchased from them. There may be a setting ''fee'' in addition to the setting, but it can be done. From what I''ve seen on PS, Brian Gavin Diamonds'' settings are just beautiful, and I believe they, too, will set customer-supplied stones. Just send them an e-mail and ask -- the vendors here are all very helpful. They also all know each other and like each other, so don''t be afraid that you are ''offending'' them.

Wow, go away for a few days and come back to find people saying REALLY nice things about you. Thanks Sara!

Palladium looks great when it is new, but if you need it sized, or if you look at it just wrong, or whack it on a cabinet, or drop it, well sometimes, way too often in my opinion, bad things happen with palladium. about 90% of the problems we had with rings were with palladium going bad.

We quit making it. Life is so much sweeter now.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Sigh, I will probably now be beseiged with threats from the Anti Palladium Defamation League.

 

[Rhino]

Date: 9/27/2009 9:34:57 PM
Author: Wink
Sigh, I will probably now be beseiged with threats from the Anti Palladium Defamation League.

LOL...

I totally concur your statements about palladium. We discourage clients from getting it too.

 

[tarator]

Well I don''t want white gold, and I don''t know if I can afford platinum, but I might have to rethink palladium. Wink, I sent you a picture of the ring I want designed (in platinum), did you get my email, I''d love a price quote to see if I can afford you to do my work!

 

[tallchickbarbara]

Since I''m a believer in Palladium and both it''s wearability and workability, I''ll simply say that if you type "palladium" into the search field on PS, you''ll see literally dozens of threads on the subject, and loads of feedback from those who''ve owned the metal for a while now. That may also be helpful!

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 9/27/2009 9:34:57 PM
Author: Wink
Sigh, I will probably now be besieged with threats from the Anti Palladium Defamation League.

That''s awesome!

Personally, I think it looks a lot like parts from a polished stainless steel sink, but that''s just my opinion. We''ve sold it upon request, but I can''t get used to it. Then again, it took me awhile to get used to Titanium and Tungsten too...

Aw man, did I just make myself a target too?

 

[litebrite]

In terms of the setting, you can always buy a white gold setting now and upgrade to platinum later, or do a very simple platinum setting and buy a jazzier wedding band later to dress it up.

Some of the people on PS decide to put as much into their budget for the stone as possible, knowing that they might want a larger diamond down the line, so this forestalls Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome for them, for a while at least.

The other thing is that if you think you might want to upgrade your diamond in the future, it''s good to go with a company that has as much of a buy back plan as possible.

Btw, cheers and congrats!