Tiffany e-ring upgrade - would love your advice

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Kathd

Kathd

O.G.
Jan 23, 2011
595
54
#1
Dear ladies,

I’m facing a huge dilemma! (But a fun one!)

I will give birth to our first baby at the end of March/the beginning of April and my sweet DH decided this was the perfect time to upgrade my Tiffany engagement ring (plain solitaire setting, .85 ct, I/VS2). Yay! :smile1:

The original ring was bought in Philadelphia, but since we currently live in Belgium (and there is no upgrade program over here), the whole thing will be quite of a hassle though. I would have to ship my current ring to NY about 10 days beforehand and my DH would then fly to the States to pick up my new ring (I’m not allowed to fly that far by my OBGYN). Our plan was that this would all happen somewhere next month.

Well then, I told my SA our budget and that I prefer size over color/clarity (and thus would like to stay in the same range as my current ring) and this is what she came up with:

"1) 1.37 H SI1 (“below” budget)
2) 1.38 I VVS2 (within our budget, but I don’t really care for a VVS2)
3) 1.51 I SI1 ($ 2,700 above our budget)

Ideally, if we had a Tiffany Setting ring in the 1.40+ct wt in the I/VS2 or I/SI1, it would fall within your pricing parameter. However, we simply do not have any rings in this parameter available in our collection today – we have sold out. As we are in our heaviest selling season now through Valentine’s Day, I would not expect any in this area added to our collection. We sell engagement rings every day, and every day we add new rings to the collection; however, now we are selling to rapidly daily to keep up! Also, it takes about 4-6 weeks to get our collection back to where it belongs – around April 1-15th…"

So I'm kind of confused about what to do now! I am in doubt whether I should just wait until the 'new collection' arrives, which will be after I will have given birth or whether I should just find one now... (We’re still within the 5-year-limit until next September.)

I do not have the full specs of the above diamonds yet, but I went to the Tiffany store in Brussels today and tried on a beautiful 1.53 cts and I immediately fell in love!!!! My ring size is 4.5, so it looked HUGE!! :D I seriously couldn’t stop staring at it!! There was no 1.4 (or something close), so I had nothing to compare, and I have no idea whether there is a big visual difference between the two.

You think it will be worth the wait and that in the end, I will find a ring close to 1.50 cts that falls within our budget or should I rather splurge now and go for the 1.51 cts (provided the specs are okay with us) / go for option 1 or 2 (if DH is firm that we should stick to our initial budget)?

What would you do if you were me? :smile1:

Thanks!! Looking forward to your replies and to sharing this whole experience with you!
 
#2
I'd either wait until you find a diamond you really love or splurge now on the one you fell in love with (provided that your DH is ok with that).

These rings are very pricey and given the fact that this is your engagement ring, you should get something you truly adore and NOT settle for less! :)
 
#3
If the cut are same/excellent on all of them, I would suggest getting #3 since that's the size that you like. I suggest getting it now as you don't know when you guys will visit the States again and prices do go up. I personally wanted a 1.5c but settled for 1.35c and I am happy with it. The 1.35c is still a good size, yes there is a difference but it's not that big. I'm glad that I settled for the size because of budget and I think it looks good on my size 3.25 finger.
 
#4
First off, congrats on your pregnancy! And yayyy on the upgrade! Try to find out diameters of the stones. Sometimes heavier does not equal bigger! Assuming they are all excellent cuts, I'd go for the one that looks the biggest!
 
#5
etk123 said:
First off, congrats on your pregnancy! And yayyy on the upgrade! Try to find out diameters of the stones. Sometimes heavier does not equal bigger! Assuming they are all excellent cuts, I'd go for the one that looks the biggest!
Click to expand...

ITA!

I would FOR SURE way for this season to die down...why settle?? It will be worth the wait!
 
#6
Don't just settle. But if you can afford the largest one and you know you like the size, AND the specs pan out, it might be worth it to bite the bullet if waiting til April is not an option for you. If that one you tried on is in your budget, and your SA in the states can transfer it in, perhaps also an option.
 
#7
Hi! So I had the same dilemma, to settle or to wait. In the end, I waited, then something better came up, but still not EXACTLY what I wanted. I was hoping for a VS2 but they only had VS1's in my price range. To be honest they really don't have all the color/clarity combinations in all the carat ranges.

Out if the three you listed, I like 1 or 3. Why don't you request for the full specs? They can easily email to you. Once you know the cut details it could make the decision easier. Also, what I did was, I asked them to transfer a ring, which took 2 or 3 days, then asked them to hold it for me, which they could do for about another 3 days. And since they dont do transfers during the weekends, this gave me about a week to hold the "maybe" ring.
 
#9
From the 3, I would get the last one. I had to make a similar choice and ended up with the larger stone and never regretted my choice. I don't know your financial situation but personally 2700 won't matter too much over time. You can scrimp on other things like clothes, shoes and bags for a while...
 
#10
Thanks, ladies!

Immediately after I received the email listing the three stones I asked to put #3 on hold for me.
DH agreed to go a little over budget if that was the one I really wanted.
It appears however that the ring was sold to someone else in the meantime. :sad:

My SA nevertheless sent me the certificate for reference. It turns out the stone was a triple EX, but with a HCA-score of 4.4! So I guess I shouldn't be too sad I missed that one, right??

The one I tried on in Brussels was solely to see what that size looks like on my finger, since Tiffany is not willing to transfer a ring from Europe to the States (and my upgrade should be completed in the US).

I asked my SA to, when a ring of 1.45+ cts that could be acceptable to us, pops up, immediately put it on hold for me. Fingers crossed my dream ring will come out pretty soon! :smile1:

Since I am not allowed to travel overseas anymore by my OBGYN and Tiffany will only hold a ring for a couple of days max, we would be buying a ring on paper. I know this is not ideal, but we don't have much other options. I'm not sure we're willing to take the risk to arrive in the States (DH at least) and then no rings being available that fall within our budget/range at that time... :shrugs:

Anyways, thanks again for your advice - I will definitely keep you posted!
 
#11
Just wondering: how do these sound on paper (price of the first two is about the same, third one is less expensive, fourth one least expensive)?
All specs are based on GIA-reports.

#1
1.65 carat
H color
SI1 clarity
7.63 x 7.68 x 4.66 mm
EX EX EX
HCA score 0.9
Depth: 60.9%
Table: 56%
Crown angle: 34°
Pav. angle: 40.8°
Fluorescence: none
Culet: none
Girdle: medium

#2
1.83 carat
I color
SI1 clarity
EX EX EX
7.88 x 7.85 x 4.88 mm
Depth: 62%
Table: 55%
Crown angle: 33
Pav. angle: 41.2
Girdle: medium to slightly thick
Fluorescence: none
Culet: none

#3
1.60 carats
I color
VS2 clarity
EX EX EX
HCA score 1.4
7.53 mm x 7.50 mm x 4.64 mm
Depth: 61.8%
Table: 56%
Crown angle: 34°
Pav. angle: 41°
Girdle: medium to slightly thick
Fluorescence: medium
Culet: none

#4
1.50 carat
I color
SI1 clarity
HCA score 0.6
EX EX EX
7.38 x 7.40 x 4.52
Table: 55%
Depth: 61.2%
Crown angle: 34°
Pav. angle: 40.6°
Girdle: medium
Fluorescence: none
Culet: none


Thanks!
 
Last edited:
#13
#1 of this batch for sure.

#2 is carrying weight "in the middle" and isn't facing up as big as it should, and is a little too deep.

#3 isn't bad but the angles aren't ideal and again a little too much in the middle so it's spread isn't quite as big as it should be.
 
#14
ame said:
#1 of this batch for sure.

#2 is carrying weight "in the middle" and isn't facing up as big as it should, and is a little too deep.

#3 isn't bad but the angles aren't ideal and again a little too much in the middle so it's spread isn't quite as big as it should be.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ame!

How about this one?

#4
1.50 carat
I color
SI1 clarity
HCA score 0.6
EX EX EX
7.38 x 7.40 x 4.52
Table: 55%
Depth: 61.2%
Crown angle: 34°
Pav. angle: 40.6°
Girdle: medium
Fluorescence: none
Culet: none

Is #1 a winner to you (on paper) or is it just okay and the best out of these three? :-)
 
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