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post #26686 of 31832
2/16/13 at 1:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by California Dreamer View Post

Congrats Jason. From experience, I can say that the next 25 years are the hardest. After that it gets better.

My son is 18 and (sigh) I totally agree.
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post #26687 of 31832
2/16/13 at 2:25pm
All good advice re: rings so far. I'll just add a couple quick points. Advice below assumes that the stone is round brilliant, for grading etc.

1. Have a jeweller you can trust. There are anecdotes about people taking your finished ring to "resize" at the back of their shop and swapping your diamond for something else in the process. I went with a wholesaler well known to our family in Toronto (I'm Canadian and used to go back every year). I ended up with a great diamond with excellent finishing at an awesome price with a separate independent assessment for insurance purposes.

2. Read up and educate ++++. I highly recommend the forums at pricescope.com. Learn about grading systems. GIA is baseline minimum. However, there are GIA "triple excellent" stones that do not perform well to your eyes mainly because GIA cut grading is determined by measurements only. Mine came with an AGS grading with laser light analysis. At the end of the day, I picked a very well-performing stone, both on paper and to my eye.

3. Precious metals are personal preference. Anecdotally, if you can get platinum, I would choose it over white gold as white gold has a lot more nickel than I thought it would. Platinum is 95% pure platinum, correct me if I am wrong. To each his own.

4. Don't get lost in choosing the stone. You are doing this for your future life partner. All the stuff mentioned before. Ditto.
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post #26688 of 31832
2/16/13 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iSurg View Post

All good advice re: rings so far. I'll just add a couple quick points. Advice below assumes that the stone is round brilliant, for grading etc.

1. Have a jeweller you can trust. There are anecdotes about people taking your finished ring to "resize" at the back of their shop and swapping your diamond for something else in the process. I went with a wholesaler well known to our family in Toronto (I'm Canadian and used to go back every year). I ended up with a great diamond with excellent finishing at an awesome price with a separate independent assessment for insurance purposes.

2. Read up and educate ++++. I highly recommend the forums at pricescope.com. Learn about grading systems. GIA is baseline minimum. However, there are GIA "triple excellent" stones that do not perform well to your eyes mainly because GIA cut grading is determined by measurements only. Mine came with an AGS grading with laser light analysis. At the end of the day, I picked a very well-performing stone, both on paper and to my eye.

3. Precious metals are personal preference. Anecdotally, if you can get platinum, I would choose it over white gold as white gold has a lot more nickel than I thought it would. Platinum is 95% pure platinum, correct me if I am wrong. To each his own.

4. Don't get lost in choosing the stone. You are doing this for your future life partner. All the stuff mentioned before. Ditto.

 

More great tips, to follow on from PS.

 

I'd just add on the Platinum front - you can never resize it. If your wife intends on getting pregnant at any stage, her fingers will swell and she won't be able to wear it until she returns to pre-pregnancy weight.

 

And definitely look OS - UAE is great for gold. Not sure about diamonds, though. 

 

I have a friend whose parents made their fortune importing and selling diamonds in Singapore - and the prices there are much better than here. 

 

And look at other gems aside from diamond, unless that's what she really wants. My GF loves sapphires and rubies so I'll get off easy when the time comes rotflmao.gif

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post #26689 of 31832
2/16/13 at 2:55pm
I second pricescope. I even trawled through the thousand pages of "show me your bling" pictures to get examples of the ring design to show my jeweller the style I wanted.

My only last piece of advice is to remember its a happy occasion and to enjoy it. If you feel like the jeweller is too pushy- tell them to bear it and take your business elsewhere.
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post #26690 of 31832
2/16/13 at 3:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thebrownman View Post

For the married men here, how did you go about choosing an engagement ring?

Whoa! Hanging up the boots hey BM...

With our engagement ring, we sourced a diamond broker, and picked the appropriate stone, no doubt you learn about cut, colour, clarity etc... From there a setting was made up. Saved oodles this way with a beautiful product, as you know with jewellers there's an insane mark-up. Mrs always says people always comment her on her ring. All the best mate!
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post #26691 of 31832
2/16/13 at 3:51pm
Thanks fellas, so much info and I've barely touched the tip of the iceberg.
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post #26692 of 31832
2/16/13 at 4:32pm
^Tbm congrats!!! icon_gu_b_slayer[1].gif
Btw delet your Internet history a mate of mine was searching then wife found it on the drop down bar.....
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post #26693 of 31832
2/16/13 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thebrownman View Post

For the married men here, how did you go about choosing an engagement ring?

I use to run a jewellery biz So i Got mine wholesale and found a design i liked and got it replicated from one my guys.

Advice would be
1) set your budget first
2) dont buy anything online .. Stats are deceiving you need to see what you buy
3) dont pay for what you cant see. In my experience on 4c's the most important C is cut followed by colour. Cut determines how much the diamond sparkles. A very sparkly and white 1carat diamond will stand out alot more than a poorly cut, G 1.5carat diamond. Equally dont pay for flawless, vsi etc that you need a microscope to find. Better off investing that money into colour or size.

Send me a msg if u want contacts etc.
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post #26694 of 31832
2/16/13 at 5:06pm
Doublepost
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post #26695 of 31832
2/16/13 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thebrownman View Post

For the married men here, how did you go about choosing an engagement ring?

Choose it together with her after popping the question. After all, you're starting out on a lifetime of shared decision-making. Why not give her the major say on something that will potentially affect her every day of her life?

If you treat the joint choice of rings as the first big step in preparing for the wedding, there's no reason it would not be a romantic thing to do with her. IMO anyway.
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post #26696 of 31832
2/16/13 at 5:36pm

Gents,

 

Further to my post yesterday, here are some photos from this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C&J Connaught

7.5E UK (outsole measurements are 29.6cm x 10.3cm)

Very lightly worn

Topied

Original box and bags

 

$325 (+postage)

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post #26697 of 31832
2/16/13 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TehBunny View Post

^Tbm congrats!!! icon_gu_b_slayer[1].gif
Btw delet your Internet history a mate of mine was searching then wife found it on the drop down bar.....

From what iv heard some married men probably need to do that as well : )

Brownman maybe watch Guy Ritchies Snatch for a diamond trafficking ideas "Stealing Stones and Breaking Bones"....

On a serious note, I must say there's an incredible bank on knowledge on this thread, looking forward to reading FXH's report on the ring buying game!
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post #26698 of 31832
2/16/13 at 7:04pm
DB, good call.

Have you been busted, TehBunny?

A friend once said to me, use Bing for 'sensitive searches', no-one checks Bing.. LOL
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post #26699 of 31832
2/16/13 at 7:05pm
If anyone's interested, I've dropped prices on all the ties I'm selling (now from $15, most new or literally worn once Made in Italy Herringbone stock). Also, Brooks Brothers Chambray now down to $35 in Medium Slim Fit. PM for info smile.gif
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post #26700 of 31832
2/16/13 at 7:07pm
Hey guys, apart from this thread, what other threads do you follow on SF?

I pretty much only look at this one, the affiliate threads of people on here (Jason, for example) and that's about it. Haven't branched out into other ones. Any recommendations for interesting reads/diverse opinions? smile.gif
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