Thanks for sharing your experience! Does the fact that they use 10k gold make any difference to you? I ask because 10k isn’t traditionally considered to be “fine jewelry” and to me that feels like a deliberate choice on the part of LB (DeBeers) to position MMD in a “lesser” category, if that makes sense.
I know 10K gold is not generally considered "fine" but my issue with silver is that it tarnishes. As for gold and rose gold
plated silver, the plating wears off. 10K gold is still a product that will last a lifetime, even if I wish it were 14K.
Ever since Lightbox was announced, there has been speculation that the imprint's goal was to malign the reputation lab diamonds. Common speculation was that the diamonds were going to be poorly cut and of poor color/clarity. That turned out not to be true.
Lightbox has evolved. The initial marketing heavily focused on teenagers with the idea that "this is diamond jewelry you wouldn't mind if you lost on the beach." They were
never going to offer gold. They were
never going to go above 1 carat and most of their pieces would be small carat size, focusing on "fun, trendy" design. The models they use now are older. Their latest designs have been solitaires with larger stones. And, of course, they now offer 10K in three gold colors.
I don't know if there's some secret plan to use LB to make lab diamonds seem lesser. All I can say is that they do seem to be responding to customer demand and updating. It might be that they've realized no one sees mmd quite as "costume" (not to mention the absurdity of not caring about losing a $500 necklace at the beach) but they are still hoping to distinguish it from bridal. But that's just
my speculation.
I would not be the least bit surprised if in 3 years time DeBeers is announcing a new line of lab grown bridal rings. They'll divorce it from LB so it can seem "premium." And it will be very popular.