First some background: I am skilled in CAD design and I work in the 3D prinitng industry. My GF had insisted that she didn't want me to spend so much on the ring (what a keeper!). Bonus points is that she is really small size (ring size US 4) so don't need such a big diamond. However, I still wanted to get her something special. What is more special than custom designing your own ring setting?
Casually i started looking at rings online with her and started to take note of her preferences- She doesn't want side stones and only one diamond. No colored stones ( lucky as my original idea had been to go with a sapphire engagement ring)
She commented she liked this ring here, (but no side stones)which is a custom ring from the USA:
see more here:
http://rosestonejewelry.com/portfolio-items/3-stone-vine-engagement-ring/
So, I have something to base my design off!
MY first step was to go to traditional jewellers to see what I am up against. I went to Lee Hwa Jewellry at Suntec City and also Poh Kim. at this time, Lee Hwa was having a 50% summer sale and you could get a 0.3 diamond ring really cheap- like $800! some of their range like Buddha jewels are also very decently priced if you are on a budget.
But of course having done my research online from the previous threads and also online I know to be wary of 'brand name' stores, and not to pay good money for a brand name. these stores are also not really an option for me because they don't do custom designs.
So I set about designing my ring:
First thing is to find a diamond file to base the diamond size off. I got a free 1 carat diamond file from
www.GrabCad.com. From there, I looked up common dimensions of my desired stone size and scaled the 1 carat diamond down to a 0.3-0.4 carat, which was within the budget I wanted to stick to (under instruction mah!)
So My first draft looked like this and took me about 2 weeks to do:
At this point, I am not fully happy with it. The design is abit too squarish and the 2 balls look abit weird.
At this point I must tell everyone that when designing custom jewellry, alot of homework is required. I did some reading up on how stones are set into rings, and minimum sizes and dimensions of fine details of rings and how custom rings are made. All this knowledge helps in the design process to actually make something that can be made by the jeweller and will last long. You also do need to consult a jeweller because they can tell you about certain things you don't know- for example when polishing the ring you will lsoe about 0.2mm of material, so you need to keep this in kind when designing fine details. You can actually learn alot from the rose stone jewellry link above.
So I needed to consult a jeweller. My first stop was to
Diamond Craft at Thomson Plaza, near my house. I was served by Jeffrey I told him what I wanted to do, and showed him my design. He was quite friendy, and also quite interested to know about 3D printing techniques for ring design as he's not used 3D printing before. most shops still use traditional hand drawing and carving from wax. He assured me my design was doable, but he'd need to see the final version and there would have to be some tweaks.
I took a look at his diamonds also. His price range for a 0.3 carat diamond was between 1.8k-2k, with the usual certificaitons- GIA triple excellent, VS2-VVS1 range, but no offer to look at the diamonds through scopes. Jeffrey was nice and knowledgeable about jewellry, and told me my design was more european vintage style. His shop specialises more in Chinese style jewellry. So I would take a look around.
My next stop was to visit the Highly reviewed
JannPaul. I walked in with no appointment and mentioned I wanted to do a custom ring design and was referred to Jann himself. Jann was again quite impressed with my design and said that this hardly ever happens where a customer comes with a design in mind already! He put me at ease because he clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to designing the rings (from our conversation about wax casting molding, 3D printing, wax machining.). I was assured we would be able to work together and asked for a rough quote for his diamonds- 1.7k and above for 0.3 carat, and also the setting would cost around 700-1k depending on final design. I should note that NONE of the jewellers I spoke to will take my final design- they will use my 3D file and 3D model as a reference and still have to make alterations. I was fine with this.
So I started work on my 2nd draft. I spoke to my industrial designer friend, and we threw around some ideas. the second draft looks better, like this:
This is quite good already. some changes are that the prongs has been thickened for more durability, the diamond is higher set.
With this design I did a 3D print of the ring to see how it looks like:
OK it's not very impressive like that, but it looks good up close!
At this point my Girlfriend saw me working on some of this on my PC so unfortunately she won't be totally surprised, but good thing that she affirmed it looked nice and I got to check her ring size.
With this design in mind, I went about to see if I could 3D print the ring in gold myself.
Shapeways and i.materialise offer these services, and you can find their quotes online by uploading a 3D file. I found out it would cost me roughly $200++ sgd to print a ring in 14k white gold. However, I'm not comfortable doing it totally myself as I still need more advice of a jeweller.
I still wanted to check out other jewellers. On my friends recommendation, I went to
Les Precieux at international building and was served by Janice. Janice was very nice and friendly and took the trouble to squeeze me into her schedule. Her shop is small and has quite a luxurious feel and is by appointment only. Her parents own a large jewellry shop so she has connections and can get good prices for stones.
Janice seemed less experienced than Jann in terms of design and she had reservations that my design would be lasting as she felt it would be too fragile. She said that she could use my pictures and files as a reference, and their designer would then do the drawing. She also showed me the following diamonds with their quotes:
0.30 Ct F color VS2 clarity, HCA 0.7 @ $1800
0.31 Ct G color VS2 clarity, HCA 1.0 @ $1750
0.31 Ct H color VS2 clarity HCA 0.8 @ $1700
(I didn;t see the scopes as I had no intention to buy, but Janice did offer.)
She also quoted design fee for the ring to be at $1400 in 14k white gold, which I felt was abit expensive, given I had done most of the work already!
(according to my friend who got his ring from janice, he compared prices between jann paul and les precieux and found les precieux cheaper. he also managed to bargain a $500 discount with her.)
My experience at les precieux was good, and my feel is that if you are buying Larger stones or other unique stones (like 0.6 Ct+, sapphire, etc.) Les Precieux is worth checking out. Janice is very knowledgeable on the stones and jewellry also. but her jewellry style is also more vintage and grander feel. definitely worth checking out.
I looked at Bluenile online to compare the prices of diamonds. when looking at the prices of similar diamonds offered to me by Les Precieux, Bluenile sells at around $1000-$1100 before GST. the problem with blue nile then is that you can't see the scopes and I had reservations working with a online designer for the setting.
I went back to JannPaul for another session to get formal quotes and was served by Joey. I also wanted to look at the diamonds, so I went through the usual 1 hour course etc. I compare the quotes from the 4 jewellers below:
1) Lee Hwa Jewellry
Diamonds seen: none individually. but saw 5 Ring +setting
Prices: prices are cheap due to 50% off sale: range from $800-$2000.
custom setting: does not apply
Pros: cheap. established brand
Cons: no custom. Questionable diamond quality
2) Diamond Craft
Diamonds seen: 3 0.33-0.36 Ct diamonds, all between VS-CCS clarity, Color range D-G
Prices: range from $1800-1900
custom setting: $1000-1400
Pros: price for diamonds is competitive. did not offer GIA certs or scopes, but could have asked. can probably bargain.
Cons: smaller retailer. less stock of available diamonds and cuts. custom setting is expensive!
3) Les Precieux
Diamonds seen:
0.30 Ct F color VS2 clarity, HCA 0.7 @ $1800
0.31 Ct G color VS2 clarity, HCA 1.0 @ $1750
0.31 Ct H color VS2 clarity HCA 0.8 @ $1700
Prices: as above
Cusotm setting: $1400
Pros: I think this place is good for the ability to source a wide variety of diamonds and stones. Custom pieces are very beautiful if they fit your style, especially her rose gold pieces. price is competitive. Can probably bargain. offer GIA and scopes.
Cons: custom setting was expensive!
4)Bluenile
Diamonds seen: several of similar quality to those shown at Diamond craft and Les Precieux.
Prices: range from $900-1k
Custom setting: did not ask, but have heard it is around $1k
Pros: Cheaper, wide variety
Cons: buy without seeing, not comfrotable with working with online designer
5) JannPaul
Diamonds seen:
0.36 Ct F color VS2 clarity, HCA 0.8: $1950
0.36 Ct G color VS1 clarity, HCA 1.0: $1900
0.33 Ct G color VS1 clarity, HCA 1.0: $1750
Prices: as above
Custom setting: Surprisngly, Jann quoted a mere $600 for my custom setting! I know from most people that a custom setting at Jann Paul costs $1200 odd and a normal setting is $550!
Pros: good education, wide range of diamonds.
Cons: not much!
Having seen all the quotes, Its clear in terms of diamond prices that BlueNile comes out ahead when you compare diamonds of similar quality, with the con that you buy without seeing. If you return, do note that the shipping fee is going to eat up your savings very fast! IMO, not worth it. If you are OK with not knowing the HCA etc and all of the diamond u are buying, and want the biggest Carat and a reasonable clarity Blue Nile is the way to go.
Lee Hwa and other normal jewellers- OK, the possibility of getting something cheap is there if you are really on a tight budget. For those guys getting ,married young and not much $, or you lazy to do research, this is your option. I think if you buy when on sale its not bad. but buy at normal prices, go other place.
I was pleased to find that all the private jewellers pricing is quite close to each other for the similar grade of diamonds, +/- $100. JannPaul is certainly competitive with smaller jewellers who have no brand name. I was abit sorry I decided not to go with Les Precieux- Janice service is very good and I think her standard is on par or very close to JannPaul, she is definitely worth checking out. According to my friend for bigger stones her prices are better than JannPaul.
What made the decision for me in this case was the setting- the custom setting design was quite important to me, and JP offered me a low, low price for a custom setting, less than half that quoted by others! I learnt that some smaller jewellers without in house designers usually outsource- that could explain the price difference. ( note: I don't know if this is because I had already done alot of the work myself, or just got lucky, I don't know.). PLus, Jann was the only jeweller who made me feel comfortable he knew what I wanted. Do note earlier I had found out that the cost of production of the ring BY MYSELF will be about $200, so if I'm being charged $600, $400 is a very reasonable price to pay for the jewellers service of design, making the ring, mounting, and making sure everything goes smooth.
I finally went with
0.33 Ct G color VS1 clarity, HCA 1.0: $1750
(GIA 6251415295)
Custom setting in 18k gold: $600
Total: $2350
(I was about to bargain abit, but I realised I had gotten a really good price on the setting, so decided it was fine.)
In summary, there definitely are other worthy jewellers out there other than JannPaul, and are definitely worth checking out. However, for those of you who ONLY went to JannPaul, rest assured they are quite competitive.
I will be getting the final ring in October, I will update then!
Have fun and good luck!
