Engagement Ring Dubai

nubee

Hi All,

I'm planning to propose and surprise my girlfriend with a trip to Dubai for an engagement ring. Im hoping to go in the last week in March or first week in April.
I have a budget of €5,000 but that includes our flights and accomodation. If needed I could stretch another grand but i'd be pushing it.

What I'm hoping to find out is do's and dont's and where to buy and general experiences of anyone who has been there. I wouldnt have any knowledge of diamonds or certification etc.

Any help is really appreciated.

Thanks.

tink2

Hi just do your homework on diamonds before you go, there is great value to be had but also poor quality diamonds being sold. I got my engagement ring in Dubai and I Love it! I am getting it valued at the moment and we got a bit of a lecture off the jeweller as he's seen a few horror stories. Another issue he raised was that the white gold could be poor quality as its mixed with cheaper metals but when I asked if this would be an issue as you would be getting it dipped regularly he admitted I was right. It's good to be aware of these things though. We were also advised not to go less than clarity of SI. Antwerp is also a good place to get a ring and flights are a lot cheaper= more money for the ring!

nubee

Thanks a lot. Im currently trying to learn about the 4c's. I wont have a clue. Did you buy in the Gold and Diamond Park. A friend recommended Cara Jewellers. I will have a budget of €3,000 and not much sway on that. Did you come across any websites with prices. Its one thing knowing what I'm after in terms of quality etc, ill need a fair idea of what I can achieve for my budget.

tink2

nubee wrote: »

Thanks a lot. Im currently trying to learn about the 4c's. I wont have a clue. Did you buy in the Gold and Diamond Park. A friend recommended Cara Jewellers. I will have a budget of €3,000 and not much sway on that. Did you come across any websites with prices. Its one thing knowing what I'm after in terms of quality etc, ill need a fair idea of what I can achieve for my budget.

No worries you are right to do your homework! What I would do is get pictures of the rings you like, diamond size and style etc then get recomendations of jewellers and email them your spec eg
18 carat gold, diamond size etc and get quotes. You will get the best price in person though they can usually make it in 2 days. Happy to help if you need anything else

Axel Lamp

nubee wrote: »

Thanks a lot. Im currently trying to learn about the 4c's. I wont have a clue. Did you buy in the Gold and Diamond Park. A friend recommended Cara Jewellers. I will have a budget of €3,000 and not much sway on that. Did you come across any websites with prices. Its one thing knowing what I'm after in terms of quality etc, ill need a fair idea of what I can achieve for my budget.

Got herself's there - recommend them highly.

sillysocks

Can recommend Cara as well.... been a few years since I got my ring there but they were great. We even returned the next year for weddings rings Any excuse for another trip.

If there's going to be any time gap between proposing and the trip its worth making a trip to a few jewelers here in between so you can get an idea of what she'd like, and on prices here. At least then you can compare and know you aren't spending too much.

Make sure you get one with a recognised certification - I think mine was IGI. That makes it easier when you get home to get it valued as well because the jeweler is only having to check that the diamond listed on the cert is the same characteristics as the one you have, rather than them having to start blind with valuing.

As I say it was few years ago we went over, and to give you an idea on price I think mine was about 1,800eur at the time, that was for a 0.75 carat solitaire in yellow gold (round stone, and I think E colour, and VVS2). So for 3k you'd have a great selection I'd imagine. We had planned on spending more but that was the one I wanted so we were delighted with spending less! Was valued around 3 or 4 times what we paid when we got back.

You need to haggle a good bit when you're there, think they started off at double the price for my ring. And no harm leaving and going for a look in a few other shops in the Gold & Diamond park, even for ideas. But there's a reason that Cara is always busy while the others always seem empty!

When I got back to the hotel room that night I realised the ring was too big (fingers had been swollen from the heat), so we went back to Cara the following day and they resized it on the spot free for me.

Good luck

nubee

Hi all,
Really appreciate your comments and for those coming afterwards heres my experience.
I proposed a few days before we left for Dubai so we went to a few jewellers and took down the exact details of each ring we looked at. As I said my budget was €3,000 so the rings we looked at here we priced between €5,000 - €7,500. I took down the colour, clarity, carat and cut of each.
We arrived in Dubai on a Friday night and ended up on a mad night out with friends. (Just to note, it is a great place for a holiday)

We were a bit worse for wear Saturday morning but we went directly to the Gold and Diamond Park. Its not very big and its exactly as people say, Cara is the only shop with people in it. I was cautious to check that it wasnt full of gullible Irish people who have heard the name and wont go anywhere else but we said we'd start there and go somewhere else later to compare prices. Its a small shop where you'll sit at the counter and they'll get a feeling for what your after and go from there. My fiance wanted either a solitare or an oval diamond. The solitare is popular but they only had one oval loose diamond and I wasnt confident of the setting they were proposing so we scrapped that.

I actually wasnt a fan of any of their settings and wasnt very impressed by the workmanship they were showing me so at the time I was getting frustrated.
My fiance spent ages going through settings and picked two she liked and they said they could make up a ring to match what she wanted. Its hard to explain but its a solitare diamond with tapered ends.

Right, then onto the diamond. They pull out the chart and you see that the best diamonds are obviously D in colour, excellent cut and flawless and they show you these. Unfortunately their ridiculous in price but if I can remember rightly for 1 carat your talking around €10,000 if you were at the top of the scale in everything. We obviously thought that a bit of haggling would soon bring them into line but it wasnt happening. We then spoke to a friend of ours who bought her rings there and she told us what she got and what she paid and that gave us a new standpoint so we started from scratch again looking at F and G colours with VS1 and SI1 and SI2 inclusions around 1 carat in size.

To cut what already is too long a storey short we went back the following day and picked a diamond. White Gold 1.22 carat solitare. G in colour. SI1 Excellent cut for €4,100 (over budget of course) but we felt we got a good deal. All in all we spent close to 7 hours between the two days in the shop so a pleasent experience it is not even though the guys are friendly and all its stressful. We also got them to throw in her wedding ring for €265.

Another thing to note is that they were very keen on white gold instead of platinum. They showed us how platinum gets dull, we said white gold will have to be dipped. Obviously platinum is more expensive so not sure what their agenda was on this one but I certainly didnt mind.

We have had the rings valued by a jeweller in Dublin. The put the engagement ring at €15,000 and the wedding band which was encrusted with 0.33 carat round diamonds at €2,000. The woman in the Jewellers did make it clear that its for insurance purposes only. I think its madness, theres no way in hell that ring is worth 15k. Im guessing the jewellers just dont want the hassle of upsetting anyone but all its doing is increasing the insurance premium. I want to get a second opinion, my fiance is delighted with herself.

Either way we got a diamond ring for less than we would pay in Ireland, based on my limited reaserch id say we got the engagement for 50% less and the wedding ring for 75% less so all in all it was a good idea and its a great place to visit. Just be aware that its fairly stressful.

Oh also once the diamond is selected they will call you to collect it. They will bring you to their workshop which is very basic and full of wee fellas that look over worked. They will use pretty basic tools to fit the diamond and make any changes to the metal work so its not a place for your lovely fiance to be hnaging round.

Also lastly I forgot to mention the certification. The costs vary greatly between GIA, HRD and IGI. Once we got back to the hotel on the first night I googled who was best and that GIA followed by HRD and IGI. They stock all of the above and its worth checking. Ours is HRD.

Hope this helps, apologies for the long winded message but all good if it helps the next lost soul. Thanks again for yere help.