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Buying engagement ring in New York - any recommendations?

mack1

Hi All,
Heading to New York in a couple of weeks with herself to pick an engagement ring, just wondering if anyone had any advice etc with regard to where to shop? I've heard that the diamond district can be a bit dodgy if you don't know where to go.

I have a list of jewellers from friend's and family but you can never have too many!

Any recommendations welcome!

Thanks in advance!
M

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jameshayes

Tiffenys on 5th - if you have the dosh of course.. Was in there once (not looking for a ring) but wandered over that way to have a look and WOW they have the biggest selection!

mack1

Quite the mark-up too. I will pay for a diamond, but not a little blue box!
But we will go in there a look for the experience if nothing else!

bluerosebright

Hi there,

I am a regular lurker on this forum as I am recently engaged, but I haven't posted before and I promise I am not a spammer

Firstly congratulations - New York is a fabulous place to get engaged! We got engaged in New York over Christmas (it was the happiest time of my life so far). When it came to buying the ring, we had done loads of research and we actually went to a ring designer on Fifth avenue (very close to Saks). The mans name was Mark Turnowski and he has a website - www.engagementringsdirect.com - I couldnt say enough about him - H2B let him know beforehand what the budget was and when we got there he had a selection of stones in different sizes/colours/clarity etc all within that pricerange ready to view. That way we could examine them and decide on what we were willing to sacrifice/prioritise etc.

First we picked the diamond (he has all the instruments there that let you examine it in detail) and then we picked the setting (as it happened, we fell in love with a premade setting, but he also designs individual settings according to your specifications).

He has a little office in the same building as the GIA (certificate company) - the office is nothing special though and the building is old, so it is not like the Tiffanys or general jewellery shopping experience. (even though it is on 5th avenue it is not a bit posh) We went to Tiffanys anyway to get that experience, but the price difference was scary!

My fiance and I read about him on the diamond website www.pricescope.com - he has alot of great reviews on that, but read them yourselves before making up your minds! We got the ring valued recently and it is worth over double what we paid for it ( I know that's not the point, but aside from me saying yes, I think thats what H2B is happiest about!!) . We also visited Barry at www.exceldiamonds.com - again, a lovely person, I jst fell in love with the sparkliness of the one at Marks.

Anyways, just thought I would share as I hadnt heard of anyone here usin either of these companies and we were a bit nervous heading over, but I reassured myself that if all else failed there was always Tiffanys

He proposed at the top of the Rockefellar centre in the snow - best day of my life!! I have a big smile on my face here just thinking of it

Enjoy every minute of your trip - if you have any other questions, dont hesitate to contact me!

Das Kitty

We bought our Wedding rings in New York from Salvatore & Co. in the Diamond District.

The area does have a dodgy feel as a lot of the shops haven't been done up in years, presumably to save a few bob and there's lads outside of the doors trying to get you into their shop.

We had been recommended to go to Salvatore before our trip so we kept the heads down and kept walking.

They're actually in a big diamond department store but if you go in the door beside their sign they're the first on the right inside the door.

We found them excellent and got great bang for our buck.

And by the way, ignore completely the prices on the bands, they turned out to be meaningless. The ring I got had $2.5K on it and I got it for $1K

www.salvatoreandco.com

willowthewisp

Tiffanys New York.
Brought the Mrs there and picked out her own.

Its a fairytale for any woman. Proposed in the Limo on the way and then just arrived outside the shop. You cab make an appointment with a specialist and with the low value of the dollar you will do well.

Sizzler

Tiffanys is an absolute rip off! Stay clear. You are basically negating the whole reason for going to New York by going there to buy a ring, might as well stay at home and go to Boodles! You are getting zero bang for your buck there. You are just paying for the name, their 5th avenue high rent building and multiple well dressed sales staff.

mack1

Thanks of the help all!
Much appreciated.

Poncherello

Mack not sure if you have left yet I also am a lurker on this forum having recently gotten engaged.
I too went to New York and couldnt recommend it more.
PM me if you want the name of the guy we used. He came recommended from a good friend over there(my best man)
From my research you will save about 60% in Tiffanys and approx 80% in Diamond District. I think I would have gone to Ts for the experience(for her) if I didnt have the contact.
Make sure you know about the 4Cs etc before you walk into the Diamond district. www.bluenile.com is a great place to learn and more importantly to price diamonds in New York. You can add 10-15% premium for the same stones in Ts.
Best of luck

Satu

My boyfriend and I planned on getting the engagement ring in new york. We made a visit to Tiffany's and the Diamond district. We were both very uncomfortable with the selling process in the diamond district and also the cut of the diamonds that we saw there. We went to a guy who does a lot of deals with aerlingus staff and we had also heard of the same guy from friends. In the end we didn't buy in NY and I am so glad that we didn't. Yes I could have had a huge rock for the amount of money that my good man spent here in Dublin, but there is no comparison in terms of the quality of the diamond and how it is cut and set that we got in the end, from what we looked at in the DD. A few things I noticed in relation to the rings in the diamond district were:

The settings can be quite clunky and sometimes not very secure. Friends of ours bought their ring in the place we visited and when they returned home to get it insured they were told that it would have to be reset as the diamonds were not secure and could fall out.
The cut of the diamonds is not as good as you would get from a noted jewellers either in NY or Dublin
There is a tendency for you to be sold a low colour but high clarity diamond, e.g: D, VVS1, and the colour is so important when it comes to the sparkle!

If you are going to buy in this area, haggle, the price will be dropped enormously. Also, it might be worthwhile just buying the diamonds loose and having it set back in Ireland.
In relation to Tiffany's the cut of the diamonds and the settings are so elegant and beautiful, that I thought the price is understandable, pricey, but oh so nicey! However there is no negotiating on the price, which is something you can do here in Ireland.
Well, that was my experience, but it is such a personal decision, and I think trust your instincts and don't make a hasty decision. It's a lot of money.
Best of luck with the shopping, and congratulations, it's such a wonderful time

Sizzler

Satu wrote: »

My boyfriend and I planned on getting the engagement ring in new york. We made a visit to Tiffany's and the Diamond district. We were both very uncomfortable with the selling process in the diamond district and also the cut of the diamonds that we saw there. We went to a guy who does a lot of deals with aerlingus staff and we had also heard of the same guy from friends. In the end we didn't buy in NY and I am so glad that we didn't. Yes I could have had a huge rock for the amount of money that my good man spent here in Dublin, but there is no comparison in terms of the quality of the diamond and how it is cut and set that we got in the end, from what we looked at in the DD. A few things I noticed in relation to the rings in the diamond district were:
The settings can be quite clunky and sometimes not very secure. Friends of ours bought their ring in the place we visited and when they returned home to get it insured they were told that it would have to be reset as the diamonds were not secure and could fall out.

The cut of the diamonds is not as good as you would get from a noted jewellers either in NY or Dublin

There is a tendency for you to be sold a low colour but high clarity diamond, e.g: D, VVS1, and the colour is so important when it comes to the sparkle!

If you are going to buy in this area, haggle, the price will be dropped enormously. Also, it might be worthwhile just buying the diamonds loose and having it set back in Ireland.
In relation to Tiffany's the cut of the diamonds and the settings are so elegant and beautiful, that I thought the price is understandable, pricey, but oh so nicey! However there is no negotiating on the price, which is something you can do here in Ireland.
Well, that was my experience, but it is such a personal decision, and I think trust your instincts and don't make a hasty decision. It's a lot of money.
Best of luck with the shopping, and congratulations, it's such a wonderful time

Hey, pretty sweeping statements there. As I said in a previous post, Tiffanys is great if you want the *experience* and you are prepared to pay top dollar for the name and live off that, but it does not represent value for money. You can get similar style rings in most places...in fact you wouldnt even have to leave Dublin! And the price probably wouldnt be too different either! You are paying for the brand, diamond , setting....in that order !

If you are go into the diamond district without a clue what you want and are not a haggler then you will be steamrolled invariably and end up with an off the shelf ring. The above example probably represents ONE jeweller and to be fair the same could happen here in Dublin (and you would have got shafted for 2 or 3 times the price). Like anything else, ask to see examples of rings they have made up bespoke or examine the one you are buying carefully, the problems you have listed above should be relatively obvious, eg "clunky" setting, if you cant identify that then of course you will get sold sh1te!

Plenty of links about buying in NY on other Irish message boards and I think you will find the good outweighs the bad hugely.

Das Kitty

I'd also like to add that colour and clarity are over-rated. People want the best in both of them, when realistically, no one would notice if you dropped a rating on either. The colour of mine (which we got in London mind you) is F/G and it looks as white as any D I've seen to my eyes. Similarly a couple of minute flaws aren't going to be noticed. Compromising a little can get you a few extra carat points. When we were pricing mine I would have been able to get only 0.5 carats for the same price in the top clarity and colour when I got 1 carat's worth of stones. If you really want sparkle it's the cut you need to concentrate on really.

Back on the Big Apple. I think Tiffany's is a lovely idea, that proposing in the Limo story sounds great. Unfortunately our budget is pretty tight so we just wanted the nicest rings for our price.

It's gas really the way the currencies have gone that you can go and buy something in Tiffany's and it will still be cheaper than the same thing in your local Irish jewellers.

Ginger83

We are just back from New York and purchased an engagement ring there. She's very happy thats one of the main things as she got to pick her own.
We went to Salvatores & Co in the diamond district as it was recommended and she picked an 18k white gold ring,princess cut, F/G colour. There are 3 stones, the main one 0.75ct, and the side ones are 0.25. The clarity was the main issue I had as I'm no expert but we settled for VSI-SI. She was more than happy with what she picked. We received a certificate for the ring and got the deal for $2,400. (I will be having it valued here also)

Das Kitty

Ginger83 wrote: »

We are just back from New York and purchased an engagement ring there. She's very happy thats one of the main things as she got to pick her own.
We went to Salvatores & Co in the diamond district as it was recommended and she picked an 18k white gold ring,princess cut, F/G colour. There are 3 stones, the main one 0.75ct, and the side ones are 0.25. The clarity was the main issue I had as I'm no expert but we settled for VSI-SI. She was more than happy with what she picked. We received a certificate for the ring and got the deal for $2,400. (I will be having it valued here also)

That's who we bought our wedding rings from. We got a very pleasing valuation here on them! I was delighted with their service and had some fun bartering with them for the best price. We couldn't get anything that was even a patch on them here for our budget.

Congrats on your engagement by the way!

Ginger83

Hi Daz, do you mind me asking where you got your valuation done here please? Did you get an IGM cert or jeweller's cert in New York?

Das Kitty

Got it done in a jewellers in Galway.

There's a thread here about valuations:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055086107&page=2

jollygood

Go to Hanikens! We did the usual - Tiffanys, DeBeers etc, total rip off. Had an amazing couple of days in the diamond district. Did our research into the 4cs and went armed with a list of jewellers to visit. First stop was Salvatores who seemed to be giving a great deal and were also v nice. But then we went to Hanikens who just blew us away. They were really professional, very nice and not pushy. We bought the diamond separately then the setting and the result was amazing. Not only is it the most beautiful ring I have ever seen & the quality and workmanship is top class, but I can't tell you how amazing the price was. Of course we were unsure if we had bought a bona fide product that matched up with what they claimed it was - colour, carats, cut & clarity - and so we then took it to Macys for a valuation....it was like the antiques roadshow sitting there waiting for the result...anyway, the gemologist there said it was a gorgeous ring with brilliant workmanship and then valued it at double than what we paid. When we got our irish valuation, it was triple - not that I will ever resell it, but we would never have been able to afford that ring in Ireland and I honestly can't rate Hanikens highly enough. Plus the experience of visiting all the jewelers in the district was amazing - lots are desperate trying to get you to look at their stuff and lots try and rip you off but it is all part of the fun. Enjoy...I would love to do it all over again! Go there, mention the Aer Lingus discount and if you say there is a ring in Salvatores you are interested in, they will drop their price even more - it seems there is a bit of a rivalry going on there!