Buying Diamond Ring

i think there isn't a fix rule as the more facetit is, the better a diamond is. But Charlotte Ateliar has the most facets.

Personally, i have seen all three and find Lazarre the best among the three. In terms of value, may be is brilliant rose.
 


I think it's a personal choice whether you want more facets or not. Having more facets may add to the sparkle as there are more areas for light to reflect back. Other important factors would be colour and clarity.

Personally I would go for Brilliant Rose as you can trade in 100% of the value for a bigger diamond. I'mnot sure if the other 2 types of diamonds allow u to do the same. I know that Destinee only allows a 1 time trade in. BR allows unlimited trade ins.
 
tks Starystarynite & goooogal,
looks like BR has a better buying value.
I tot Cut is the most impt C for diamonds so i tot no. of facets will affect the cut.
Have been browsing thru the web and it seems the most ideal is 58 facets for diamond (which Fuego & Destinee falls into)
But Soo K** is recommending BR which has 66 facets..confused. :s
Unable to find the no. of facets for Lazare on the web...may have to check it out @ La**y.
 
Any comment for GH celestial? 73 facets
Diff abt BR & Celestial?
Anyone could adv of trade in value for both cos both mention got 2yr full value trade in?
Can enlighten abt international cert from HRD, GIA, ASG?
thanks.
 
hello, just to add on a bit on wats said on the facet cut. More cuts doesn't necessarily mean its better becos even if its juz a cut more, it may turn a clear diamond blur. So if the sales person says that theirs has the most facet cut, doesnt mean theirs sparkles the most.
 
Hey guz,

I have a qn. I had narrow my proposal ring choice to either Desiree or Brilliant Rose. Cos both seems to sparkle more than conventional diamonds. But each sales person says diff things.

SK: Brilliant Rose is intenational brand. If u mention Desire outside of Singapore, ppl will laugh at u cos they won't know the brand. (seriously thats wat the sales person said!) But brilliant Rose is international, meaning in New York, ppl know abt it.

LH: Brilliant Rose is not a natural cut..blah blah (i can't really rem what the guy says) So its not a pure diamond (or something like that)

What ya guz think? Right now i am very inclined towards the BR diamond.

But wat about Tiffany's. I thought it must be really expensive (like 7k and above)? Thus I never considered it. But wld like some opinion on diamonds from places like tiffany, larry etc
 
oh btw,
The B.R that i want to get is
0.32, F, VS1 at about $3000.

The Desiree is
0.31, D, VS1 at $3200

Is it too expensive? As in am i being ripped off?
 
Hi Hayashi, i'd go for the BR as the colour diff between D and F is very negligible.. you can't tell w the naked eye. But the price diff is $200 and not worth it. Furthermore, BR allows unlimited trade ins and upgrades in your lifetime, while I'm not sure if Destinee only allows a one time trade in. My feel is, if you can't tell the diff between the 2 diamonds, why bother to pay more??
 
Hi Hayashi,

find tat ur BR is more exp as compared to wat i bought last wk leh..... hv u cfm e price with e sales person? do u hv soo kee member card? can get 5% discount... last wk hv 1 promo whereby there's a $200 voucher off.... not sure now still hv...
 
Hi Shers,

I had rounded up the price. ok here's the exact amt

BR:
0.31 VS1 F - $2817
0.32 VS1 F - $2912
0.36 VS1 F - $3116

Destinee (realised i spelled that are desiree in my previous post!)
0.31 VS1 D - $3197 (2 yr trade in. and they don't have the 1.3 trade in rule)

I don't have soo kee card leh. Can lend me? hehe. And yup now still have the $200 voucher. If u buy above 0.30 then got 200. Below 0.3 is $100 voucher.
 
oh the price for the BR is after the discount and 200 voucher

BTW is it me or are larry jewellary damn ex? I read the post here and ppl are buying larry or tiffany at 5 digit value!

I also paisey to post my 0.31 caret question! haha
 
I think I will be getting BR. I had the SA to bring down 0.31, 0.32 and 0.36 to compare. Then I can decide on the caret size. I am waiting for them to call me once the diamonds arrive.

I have not seen all. I did not go to Janet (the one at Shaw), Larry, Tiffany, Gold Heart, Taka, Princess (quite alot!). But i think Larry n Tiffany is out of my budget. I only have max 3k to spend.
 
hey gooogal, just saw ur post.
i agree with u. actually the sales manager also advice me against getting a D instead of F color rating. He said an alternative is to spend that 200 extra on an higher caret value. ie get a 0.33, F and VS1 instead of a 0.31, D, VS1

anyway, so u guz think a BR is ok rite? As in, the sales tells me its not a natural cut such as 57 facets diamonds, so its not good?
 
Hi Hayashi, I agree that you should get a higher carat value as opposed to a better colour grade, since D and F belong to the same colour "band" (D,E,F) before the next band (G,H,I). However, another $200 for a 0.02 diff in carat is not worth it also in my opinion. The diff is simply not noticable to the naked eye. I would advise you to get the 0.36 F diamond instead since the price is still lower than the Destinee yet the size is noticably bigger.

Having more facats on your diamond is a personal preference. If you are a purist, you would go for the Ideal Cut from Lazare. Personally I would say that the Ideal Cut is a good choice as it shows more of the diamond's "fire". More facats creates more scincillation which as some may say, "blurs" the diamond. However, I dun think there's a trade in scheme for the Lazare diamond like the BR or Destinee.

But the Destinee in my opinion is very over priced. I would recommend you visit an independent jeweller like Janet at Shaw Centre for more options if you're not in a hurry to buy. You may find some better deals there.
 
Hold on, just to make sure i get some facts right first

Destinee is Ideal cut right? Meaning 57 facets. And B.R is 66 facets with 16 arrows. Seriously speaking, both diamonds sparkle exactly the same to me. I choose BR because it had 16 arrows instead of 8, which i thought is quite nice. OUt of the norm. But then again i'm no expert. Its just my layman preference thats all.

If i want to buy at Larry or Tiffany, how much should i be prepared to pay? For instance, with LeeHwa and sookee, i estimate around 2.5 to 3k for their signature cut.
 
Not sure if Destinee is Ideal Cut although they claim to have AGA triple 0 certification. However, if I'm not wrong BR (which is really a fancy, round cut) comes with GIA certification for 0.3 carats and above. In any case, if you like the BR, go for it!

For Larry and Tiffany, you can expect to pay a lot more for the same carat weight due to their brands...maybe above $4K for the same carat weight range of 0.30-0.35.
 
Hi,

4K is outta my budget. Yesterday, i happened to be at Taka. So I just drop into Tiffany to take a look. Wow. I randomly asked for the price of a proposal ring - 20k. Ooookk. hehe. I had to pretend "mm. good ring...mm" haha

I think before I get B.R, i will go take a look at GoldHeart's Celestial and Larry's Lazare first. Thanks guz
 
Hi hayashi,

pm me for my configuration.... ya u shld c goldheart celestial too... now hv 10% + 10% discount... also hv full value upgrade within 2 yrs but dun need x1.3 of e price... i also looking at tis 3... dun noe y i buy B.R also...
 
Googal, yup BR does come with a GIA cert.

But one thing is i'm not very satisfied with the setting. Not quite nice. I read Janet can reset the diamond even if not buy from them? I may go check out their settings available first.
 
Hayashi, Janet can design a fully personalised setting for you. I would suggest you see her and tell her that I recommended you. She's very friendly and nice and there's no hard sell at all. Just go take a look at her diamonds and compare with those you see in the other shops. She even has fancier cuts that you can't find, eg Asscher, pear, emerald, corona (like Tiffany's Lucida), etc. You'll be amazed! I'm a happy customer myself.
happy.gif
 
googal, if I go to Janet, will I be able to get a intnl certification such as GIA or AGS? Cos I can't tell if the diamonds are what sellers claim to be, at least i have the cert to be sure
 
Hi,
I just checked out Celestial from GH.
Here's my overall feel. There is a star on the table of the diamond. It looks nice using the scope (i don't know what they call it). To me it seems nicer than what i see on a brilliant rose cos what B.R has is the 16 arrows.

BUT!!!! This may seem funny to u. The sales girl that was promoting the celestial to me, spoke like an ah lian. The whole feel i got in the end is some auntie trying to sell an expensive diamond to me. Which made the worth of the celestial drop tremendously to me. I suppose its silly u may say, but somehow i just can't shake away that feeling! In anycase, they quoted a 0.32, VS1, F at $2950.

OH another funny thing. The sales girl was trying to persuade me to get a VS2. But all long i wasn't comfortable with VS2. I wanted at least VS1. Then she said VS2 can't see even with a magnifier and she gave me a small hand held magnifier. I took a look. Lo and behold i saw a small black dont on the table! Talk about slap in the face! She even said "look closely ...closer some more". Althou u can't see it with the naked eye, it justs only strengthen my belief that i shd get at least a vs1. Even thou they say vs1 and vs2 is same, just that it differentiates the position of where the inclusion is. hah

So right now, my choice is as follows in preferential sequence.
1) B.R 0.32, VS1, F
2) Celestial 0.32, VS1,F
3) Destinee 0.32, VS1, F

Another idea i have is this and i need some opinion. B'cos i don't like the setting designs i see from all the boutiques so far, can i get a loose B.R and then bring over to Janet and ask her to design a setting for me?
Also, my friend bought a platinum ring. He says whitegold will turn out of shape, as in it won't be a nice circle shape after wearing it for long. Is that true?
 
Sure you can buy a BR diamond and get Janet to set it, but why dun you see her diamonds 1st?? Dun rush into buying the BR 1st till you've at least checked out her diamonds... really white and excellent quality.

As for white gold going out of shape, that only happens if the ring is too thin. If the gold band is thick enough, it won't go out of shape easily. I used to have a platinum ring but I've reset my ring in gold cos platinum is harder and more costly to resize in future.
 
Hi Hayashi,

I'm not a gem expert, but just sharing what I've learned on our diamond shopping:
happy.gif


VS2 are ok as long inclusions are not on the main table and there are not too many inclusions. You can ask to see the certificate which will show where the inclusions are and what type of inclusions.

Platinum is a softer metal than gold, but it is more durable ie. gold prongs can break, but platinum prongs will just bend. However, platinum is 3 to 4X the price of a whitegold ring. I saw a simple setting (something like Tiffany) which is about $400 in whitegold, but will cost >$1,200 in platinum.

The other thing about whitegold is that they will turn slightly yellow over time as the rhodium plating wears off. Platinum will stay the same color as the first day you bought it!

Good luck with your diamond ring!
 
Hi Lastminqueen, I think it's the other way round...platinum is harder than gold. Gold is the most mallable metal meaning it can bend most easily. White gold is made of normal yellow gold mixed with nickel or chromium to give it the white colour. It should not plated with rhodium.
 
hi LMQ, i read that post before. totally forgot abt that piece of info.

Now that i've re-read it, it seems platinum is not much use is there? Except for it being a rare metal? White gold is harder so prob won't bend or get out of shape. Only thing is it will turn yellow. But let's just say platinum is $500 more expensive. If we buy white gold, we save $500. Then we can use this $500 to polish the ring, which probably can last us around 15 years? Considering its cheap to polish the white gold (arn $30?). Besides, there are ppl who don't wear their proposal ring very often after marriage.
 
Hi Hayashi,
I agree with u. There are pros and cons for either choice, so in the end boils now to personal preference. I went with the platinum in the end coz I will be wearing my ring and didn't want the hassle of polishing. Also, I found that whitegold turns yellow q quickly for me, mayb coz my skin's chemicals r not gd :-P but for some of my friends, they can wear for years and still look as gd as new.
 
i read up abit more on platinum vs white gold. for now, my feel is that i will get white gold for proposal ring. But for wedding bands, i may get platinum.

A couple of reasons:
1) Much much less likely to get skin irritation with platinum. If (only if) u got skin irritation problem, then with wedding bands, it will be bad since we probably wear wedding bands daily?

2) Althou platinum is softer than white gold, getting a PT950 platinum ring will make it hard, thus making it more resistant to warping from daily use

3) No polishing hassle like LMQ said. (I am quite particular with this. I will simply hate to go down to jewel stores just to plate white gold)

4) Feels heavier on the finger. (somehow heavier is a better feeling to me)

5) Even thou platinum can get scratched, i read (from many different sites) that a scratched look may be nice. Anyway i dont want my ring to look exactly the same as when i bought it. Old looking things has its own appeal as well (to me at least).

Just sharing my thoughts
 
Hi hayashi,

wow u so sweet... lucky gal... u searching proposal ring for her urself... good luck...

btw, for B.R u k change e setting if u dun like e current... but need to wait abt 10 days lor...
 
Solitaire refers to one single diamond (any type, not necessary round or ideal cut) on the ring setting. Destinee is the Brand of the diamond Lee Hwa is selling.
 
Yup, the heavy feel of platinum is nice! I've small fingers...my ring size is only 3.5. Even then, my little ring felt heavy in platinum compared to the whitegold one. We bought platinum wedding bands in the end as well
happy.gif


Hayashi, your gf is one lucky gal!!!!
 
no la. its me whom is lucky.

after searching for info on diamonds, i still don't know my gf ring size. haha. must try to figure it out somehow.
 

Hi Hayashi,

Just got a BR today - 0.42C, E, VS2 at 3000 from the Tampines Mall outlet. I got 5% discount for card member (though i'm not one) and another 10% discount on that. So go ahead and try asking for more discount if you planning to get BR. Lemme noe if you need details on which sales person and manager..
 
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