Buying an engagement ring in New York.

ronancugs · 15-11-2016 5:50pm #1

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice. I'm going to New York in march and im thinking of proposing to my girlfriend (assuming she says yes) I want to get the ring over there. Now iv been reading other forums and web pages and it seems kinda daunting. The diamond district sounds like hell on earth and everyone is trying to scam you.
If anyone has any experience with buying rings in ny I'd love your advice. I'd like to know the best places to go and whether I should steer clear of the diamond district.
Any of the forums I've read on boards.ie are at least 5 years old, so I'm assuming things might have changed since then.
Thanks in advance.

SarahMollie · 15-11-2016 6:00pm

One thing I'd say is that the exchange rate isnt in your favour and is likely to worsen in coming months (according the the business guy on Newstalk this morning).

ronancugs · 15-11-2016 6:59pm

Ya I figured that (although I didn't think it would worsen) but I'm assuming the equivalent ring in Ireland would still be more expensive. Well I'm hoping anyway!

Gumbo · 17-11-2016 12:23am

We bought in NYC 2 years ago.
We had done our research before hand with regards to rough budget, the 4 C's etc (I proposed with a dummy ring here though).

We had a few jewellers in mind and when she seen the one she wanted we talked. Ended up buying her wedding band also to get the match.

We agreed a price and slept on it (really just going back to hotel and googling the company, checking the GIA Cert online etc) and bought.

Had to have it valued here for insurance and it's insured value is just over double what we paid. The exchange rate was around 1.3ish at the time of our trip also.

One thing to worry about is that it will be cold there at this time of year and your GF's fingers will be quite shrunk, even if you don't think they are, when you get home you will notice it so make sure it's tight fitting over there.

We learned this the hard way, but luckily enough my mam was back over the following year and we had kept in touch with the jeweller over Facebook/LinkedIn etc so he knew to expect the ring back and he resized and cleaned it

Theboinkmaster · 17-11-2016 1:56pm

We got ours in Hanikens and couldn't fault them - well worth it IMO.

GustavoGaviria · 17-11-2016 4:28pm

I went to Hanikens based on recommendations here and I could fault them. Found them very pushy, they wheeled out Mr.Haniken couple of times to try and seal the deal. He kept repeating that he sends 8000 Christmas cards to Ireland to happy customers. The proposal happened hours before so the GF was still buzzing and we had been in Tiffanys on 5th Ave who were lovely knowing full well we were just soaking up the experience.

I would recommend a scouting mission first. We went to Diamond Exchange in the Empire State Building with a inflated budget and seen some proper expensive Rings, that requires an appointment. In the Diamond district we just wandered around the shops. But beware your swimming with Sharks and be prepared for hard sales pitches.

When we went back to her relations & broke the news her Cousin put us in direct contact with Italian Ring makers in little Italy who supply diamond district dealers. They didn't have a shop front and we visited their workshop and got a bespoke ring made for cost. So we got lucky and cut out the middle man. Did mean waiting 3 months for the ring, we waited for friend on holidays to bring it back.

ronancugs · 17-11-2016 8:51pm

Ya I really need to do some more research, only really started in the last few days.
That's good advice on the cold weather and her fingers ha, would never have thought of that.

Thanks for the advice.

ronancugs · 17-11-2016 8:56pm

GustavoGaviria wrote: »

I went to Hanikens based on recommendations here and I could fault them. Found them very pushy, they wheeled out Mr.Haniken couple of times to try and seal the deal. He kept repeating that he sends 8000 Christmas cards to Ireland to happy customers. The proposal happened hours before so the GF was still buzzing and we had been in Tiffanys on 5th Ave who were lovely knowing full well we were just soaking up the experience.

I would recommend a scouting mission first. We went to Diamond Exchange in the Empire State Building with a inflated budget and seen some proper expensive Rings, that requires an appointment. In the Diamond district we just wandered around the shops. But beware your swimming with Sharks and be prepared for hard sales pitches.

When we went back to her relations & broke the news her Cousin put us in direct contact with Italian Ring makers in little Italy who supply diamond district dealers. They didn't have a shop front and we visited their workshop and got a bespoke ring made for cost. So we got lucky and cut out the middle man. Did mean waiting 3 months for the ring, we waited for friend on holidays to bring it back.

Can you remember the name of the ring maker in little Italy?
Thanks for the advice!

GustavoGaviria · 18-11-2016 12:10pm

ronancugs wrote: »

Can you remember the name of the ring maker in little Italy?
Thanks for the advice!

I'll Pm you

Homer · 23-11-2016 2:11pm

Hanikens actually do the majority of their business with Irish customers, and have a great ongoing relationship for many years with the various crews from Aer Lingus. We bought the engagement ring and wedding band from them and they were fantastic to deal with. If you go visit them chances are you will meet George one of the owners and he takes a personal interest in every customer that visits them. Don't be put off by the appearance of what you might expect to see when you visit. They are one of many counters within a bigger diamond dealers building within the diamond district. I agree the exchange rate is terrible at the moment but still savings to be had if you do your homework.

Faith · 02-12-2016 10:05am

Mod Note: Dublinchic, welcome to boards.ie

. Please ensure you read forum charters before posting. I've had to delete your post as it breaks our rule regarding recommending suppliers - you need to either have 20 posts on boards, or be a member for 2 months, before we allow recommendations to be posted.