Engagement Rings - Advice

[EViS]

It's getting to that time in life when the deed needs to be done and a ring put on her finger. The absolute ideal would be a Graff diamond ring. I appreciate I'll end up paying a lot for the brand name, but this would mean as much to her as the ring itself. So, I'm after a little advice - primarily from an affordability aspect;

Having not ventured into a Graff store yet, I can only guess base prices. Anyone care to get the ball rolling and see how much my eyes water?
I have also 'heard' that Graff are open to bartering on price. I fail to believe this would be the case, but does anyone have any insight?
Do exclusive retailers such as Graff have January sales? Or am I kidding myself?
Is there much of a market for purchasing a pre-owned Graff ring? How much of a discount could be expected and which dealers would be best to speak with?

So is the first reply going to be 'if you need to ask, your obviously cannot...'?

[rehab71]

If you don't ask you don't get. I got 400 quid off my wife's engagement ring I know Tiffany don't do discount but not sure about Graff.

[skeeterm5]

I would suggest buying the best quality diamond you can afford, and don't worry about the brand.

If all she cares about is the brand name then buy the cheapest they have.

S

[Rollin]

EViS said:

It's getting to that time in life when the deed needs to be done and a ring put on her finger. The absolute ideal would be a Graff diamond ring. I appreciate I'll end up paying a lot for the brand name, but this would mean as much to her as the ring itself. So, I'm after a little advice - primarily from an affordability aspect;

Having not ventured into a Graff store yet, I can only guess base prices. Anyone care to get the ball rolling and see how much my eyes water?
I have also 'heard' that Graff are open to bartering on price. I fail to believe this would be the case, but does anyone have any insight?
Do exclusive retailers such as Graff have January sales? Or am I kidding myself?
Is there much of a market for purchasing a pre-owned Graff ring? How much of a discount could be expected and which dealers would be best to speak with?

So is the first reply going to be 'if you need to ask, your obviously cannot...'?

[Mabbs9]

I think bartering means exchange of goods without money. Not sure they'll do that. I wish you very well, exciting times. Don't forget to plan a cool way of asking, she'll be recounting the story forever.

[mikees]

Ecain on here. Much much better value and quality

[egroeg]

mikees said:

Ecain on here. Much much better value and quality

Seconded

[Troubleatmill]

Thirded.

His work is amazing.

Pop over to the watch sub forum. Look for ecain63.
"Something unusual on the bench today". And see his handy work.

He is a top bloke too.

Edited by Troubleatmill on Friday 18th December 21:49

[MG CHRIS]

Rollin said:

EViS said:

It's getting to that time in life when the deed needs to be done and a ring put on her finger. The absolute ideal would be a Graff diamond ring. I appreciate I'll end up paying a lot for the brand name, but this would mean as much to her as the ring itself. So, I'm after a little advice - primarily from an affordability aspect;

Having not ventured into a Graff store yet, I can only guess base prices. Anyone care to get the ball rolling and see how much my eyes water?
I have also 'heard' that Graff are open to bartering on price. I fail to believe this would be the case, but does anyone have any insight?
Do exclusive retailers such as Graff have January sales? Or am I kidding myself?
Is there much of a market for purchasing a pre-owned Graff ring? How much of a discount could be expected and which dealers would be best to speak with?

So is the first reply going to be 'if you need to ask, your obviously cannot...'?

Yea I thought the exact same thing.

[williaa68]

Once it is on her finger no-one will know it is Graff. Buy a stone, get it set - as above there are many recommended both on here and elsewhere. If she's that obsessed with the name, think very carefully before you put a ring on her finger! I would imagine a 1 Ct stone at Graff (and by the sounds of it she will want bigger!) will probably run you about £10k at Graff. You could source independently for half that.

[ColinM50]

EWvis, is she really that shallow that all she wants is the right name? What happened to a style that YOU like, since you're the one buying it?

[EViS]

I can see how this has been interpreted the wrong way. She is far from shallow and quite frankly would be just as happy with a no brand couple hundred quid ring. There is a very good reason why a Graff would be the most appropriate and it's something I would really want to offer as long as it doesn't overly bust the bank - hence the questions.

[GroundEffect]

Don't buy a diamond ring just because it's a tradition. Diamonds from the gem-stone point of view are huuuuuugely overpriced.

fking De Beers.

[Jim the Sunderer]

You aren't the bloke a few months ago who's fiancee made him buy a ring from her uncle Doug?

[Huff]

http://www.automec.co.uk/collections/brass-fitting...

IBTL


(OP: More seriously - good luck to you both.)

Edited by Huff on Sunday 20th December 01:17

[CNNCHI]

"She [...] quite frankly would be just as happy with a no brand couple hundred quid ring."

Just a thought- when you tell her how much this ring is actually worth, is she going to feel comfortable wearing it day-to-day? The ring I got was worth a whole lot less than a Graff ring, but even so my fiancée keeps taking the bloody thing off when she gets home out of fear of scratching it or losing the diamond. Impossible to talk sense into her.

Ecain off here made mine - he helped me start to finish and my fiancée was thrilled with the result, so a solid recommendation from me. It would be very worth sending him an email with a photo or a rough idea and get his thoughts- [e-mail].


Everything above aside, good luck!

[Itsallicanafford]

I've never heard of this brand but I bought my wife's engagement ring from Boodles on bond street. I got a chunk of money off (I'm sure this only off-set the fact it was overpriced by a small margin). If you don't get a good deal walk away, from my limited experience, you should be getting a good discount on engagement rings.

[g3org3y]

mikees said:

Ecain on here. Much much better value and quality

Or Nightmare. My fiancée is delighted with hers.

[SWAT78]

Practical advice that I don't think has been offered yet:

Get something 'ring shaped'. If the engagement ring is wavy and unusual, you may need a custom wedding band to fit against it.

Wedding band will need to be the same material otherwise one will wear down the other. And then yours may need to be the same if you want matching. So 1 platinum ring now can easily mean 3 in total. Suspect budget isn't a concern of yours, but thought it worth mentioning!

[BrettMRC]

Worth looking at antiques too - you can get some stunning, unique rings for a great price.