Buying an engagement ring

I am a female who was proposed to recently-- and romantically, in Regents Park, London. The proposal is more important than the size of the ring!

In fact, we decided to not buy a diamond, but rather a white topaz Pomellato that is so unique as an engagement ring!

http://www.pomellato.it/noflash.htm

Diamonds are a liability, too much a status symbol, too common, but also take advantage of poor workers in Africa. My ring has amazing Italian design, gets lots of compliments, and we saved lots of money. It was about $2000 GBP-- about $3000 USD.

You can get Pomellato in Torino (Turin), and probably all over Italy. It's also carried in Selfrigdes. Don't play the diamond competition game-- you'll always lose to someone.

If nobody bought diamonds, they'd have no mines to work down.

And then where would they get their Chibuku tokens, eh?

It reminds me about "Blood Diamond" true epic about exploited Africans in past working for pennies and taken advantage by colonialism but I guess modern world would use term "job creation"!

I would try to avoid diamond in the ring by all means.

There are actually huge jewellers selling online which do not glue their stuff together. I coincidentally had "Blue Nile", the largest online retailer as a case study in a training I am currently in: They do not have "Bahnhofstrasse"-rents and a very lean "just-in-time" business which is so much cheaper that they hand over quite some part of the savings to the customers... all diamonds are certified, the company is public and stock traded.

http://www.bluenile.co.uk/

There were others in my lesson as well, but diamonds.com only ships to the US.

I cannot give you first hand experience as we went for a totally different style from a German jeweler called Niessing.

If solitair, I personally would go for a really nice design instead of the largest ice-berg... but that ́s me, I know. My favourite designs:

http://www.gebrueder-schaffrath.de/e...ction/liberte/

Get a moissanite and call it a love diamond, it could be the secret pledge that neither you nor your partner can ever divulge.

I tried this, but Amazon refuses to ship rings to Switzerland. Did you do anything special? Edit: I found it, you have to start with Amazon global, but they do not have the cheap rings, not all of them anyway. Still good though!

Fortunately, I have an eminently sensible house-frau who not only despises diamonds but also, without any prompting from me, declared one day "Let's just elope, this whole wedding thing is madness"...or something like that. How could I refuse?

I can second Blue Nile - a pair of diamond earrings ordered online one day, followed by a telephone call from their customer service to check the delivery address, arrived two days later and they're stunning. Fully certified too.

The website has a host of diamonds, in all available cuts, for a range of budgets. For something different and stunning, check out the Asscher cut diamonds!

I would second that. We stayed in a little boutique hotel called De Witte Lile. Amazing place, and a huge choice of diamonds and rings. Just make certain that you don't book a weekend that coincides with a Jewish holiday, because most of the reputable dealers there are Jewish.

Cheers

Jim

Congratulations Breezy!

I went through all this recently so can help some. I am not sure if you're looking for a UK/US-style ring or one of the more modest Swiss-style rings.

If you're looking for a US-style one and happen to be heading to the US sometime soon, I can definitely recommend the Diamond District in NY. You DO need to know which places to go to and which places to avoid like the plague, though.

I can give you a recommendation for a dealer if you like.

Otherwise Blue Nile and Diamond on Web do decent stones at decent prices.

Inexpensive then

hi breezy, it depends where near zurich you are, you know, i'm in zug and we have just ordered simply wonderful engagment rings, exactly what we wanted, looked for something like that in many shoops but failed! it's lohri, i guess you know but just in case!

and - they have their own production so you can order something really exclusive, specially for you!!!!

Neugasse 9

6300 Zug

041 710 26 13‎

hope you will find what you want - good luck and congratulation!

kumana

I gather the prices will be high in Switzerland even though they should be 8% cheaper (15% VAT less 7.6% IVA)?

As someone said and I agree; it is the meaning of it, not something based on ones salary.

Depending on what you want exactly and how you want to buy it.

i.e. go to jewelers with her and choose the clasp and diamond or to spring it on her.

If spending a substancial amount it might be worth going to Hatton Gardens in London. You get exactly what you want and they will have it ready for you in three hours (diamond in clasp, ring cut to fit finger) and you will get it at trade price. The other half is well impressed and it is interesting to understand all the differences of the diamonds in cut, clarity etc etc and the prices really vary.

If you are going to Hatton Gardens, I can give you the name of the Jewish trade jewelers I used. I must have screwed them down because I sat there waving a bundle of notes prepeared to walk out and I had four of them with their calculators seeing if they could do the deal. Might not be the romatic scene you would want though.

It's just a piece of metal. Just bend a metal hanger into shape smooth the sharp edges and gave it to her

It really is a shame they changed the pulls on coca cola cans in the 80's.

Comment:

I second "Vince" that the service at KURZ is very proper, reliable and unique compared to other such stores. My parents bought my watch (not a ring! ) as a graduation present at KURZ. They went through the same process of sitting down upstairs and giving advice, etc. This was years ago but even now I still have it serviced there, to replace the battery, etc. They are the most reliable.

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Other possibilities for diamond rings:

1) Gassan Factory [Amsterdam, Holland]

You can see diamond cutters and diamond polishers at work on the 1-hour free diamond tour. You can also purchase diamonds and jewellery, or have them custom-made there.

http://www.gassandiamonds.com/

2) Ponte Vechio (Old Bridge) [Florence, Italy]

There are jewellery and goldsmith shops lining this bridge, showcasing some of the finest Italian jewellery.

Photo:

http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/1741038.html

http://www.hickerphoto.com/ponte-vec...9-pictures.htm

I'm so glad my wife hates diamonds and suggested we elope.

Hi all,

I had a look at the Blue Nile website and really like the "design your own ring" possibility. Can anyone who has already ordered from there tell me how swiss taxes and customs were handled when they shipped to Switzerland? Do you only have to pay the 7.6% VAT or do they also charge customs duty?

Thanks a lot in advance!!!

You might be able to get yourself a bargain.

Looks as if it is cheaper to get engaged this year than last

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8143901.stm

Bought the ring a few weeks ago. Did a tour around a few shops in Zurich and settled on buying from the guy who seemed the most agreeable. Lady was very happy and we are all set.

Thanks one and all.