Argos 1 carat diamond eternity ring - are they any good?

BettiePage

Also try QVC uk, they quite often have some nice pieces at good prices and the quality is really good too.

littleredcorvette

jog wrote: »

Re the Birmingham Jewellery Quater, where abouts in Birmingham is it? We are about 1 1/2 hours from Birmingham. but are probably going up that way in Febuary so it might be worth a visit while we are there

The Jewellery Quarter is in Hockley, Birmingham - about 5 minutes from the City Centre (by car):
http://www.birmingham-jewellery-quarter.net/

Hope that helps

Enterprise_1701C

I agree with the custom-made idea - I have several pieces that were custom made and it feels so much better when you wear them to think that you will NEVER bump into anyone else wearing the same thing! If you haven't got a jeweller nearby that will do it then ask around your friends, you may find someone that knows someone.

Again, you might find someone in the Jewellery Quarter that will do this for you.

ruffwood

We had our weddings and engagement rings made in Jewellery Quarter. Much cheaper than the High Street. Chose our own designs and bought the diamonds off them. As a money saving tip if you do have bits of old gold, odd earrings, broken necklaces or old designs they will melt them down and use the gold in your bespoke piece, gets hallmarked as well

Pollycat

kazd wrote: »

You need to get yourself a diamond education.

The colour is clarified in letters ie d,e,f, g etc. The majority of high street jewellers usually carry upwards of h, you then have to look at clarity si 1 vsi 1 this means how visible the inclusions are. The you have the cut.

I would imagine that a ring from Argos would not even come up to the grade of high street jeweller. If it was a decent grade it would be listed.

You are by far better off going to a jeweller and having it custom made. Off the shelf is always more expensive because they build into the price, ins, how long it might be in the window etc.

I had diamond studs for my 40th and I chose the diamonds and the mounts. The jeweller showed me a set of studs in his window that he was selling for £1200 but he said the same quality would be about £200 less if made to order.

Jog
Do take this excellent advice and learn about the 4 C's (cut, carat, colour, clarity) before you think of buying from anywhere.
Here's a few sites that have 'education' pages:

http://www.77diamonds.com/index.asp?77tadunit=3c968a94&77tadvert=761714541&77tkeyword=buy%20diamonds&77treferrer=&77tentrytype=s

http://www.diamondgeezer.com/

http://www.bluenile.co.uk/?track=60

I'm not recommending any of these sites or not not recomending them from a purchase viewpoint (iyswim), they just explain quite well what you need to know about diamonds.

I personally wouldn't buy diamond jewellery from Argos.

yelowee

I've used argos twice for jewellery, the second time just hoping that the first was a one off - I'll never look at it again it's just (not very) cheap tat in my experience!!

penniesforme

I wouldn't buy any diamonds from argos, irregardless of how much they are selling it for.

Just basic tips for diamonds, if you dont have time to go thru tutorials and stuff:
1. if you are planning to get bigger stones, ie: 0.60 ct an above, try not to:
-settle for anything less than a SI2, as you'll find that the inclusions are actually visible to the naked eye
- settle for a colour lower than G, as the stone will appear yellowish

2. for smaller stones, you can go up to I2/I3 for inclusion and I colour.

Also, you will need to check the boy that certified your stones. A EGL/IGI certified F colour may actually be I colour - GIA standards. Same for inclusions.

The cut and polish grade will also affect the sparkle, and you may want to check this. generally a Good/Good grade is good enough. Yu dont need it to be excellent.

jog

Thank you all for the excellent advice.We have decided to give the Argos ring a miss, and will look round some of our local jewellers to get a feel for the rings / diamonds. I quite like the idea of a second hand ring, if we can find a nice one. I know of a couple of good independant jewellers that do second hand ones so will have lots of fun looking!Once again thank you for all the help. I obviously need to get some more education on diamonds!!Jog

Rikki

Information on diamonds, the clarity and colour guide here........www.18carat.co.uk


More info here too.........www.geraldonline.com

.

garthdp

of course it wont be good !Its from argos!Purveyors of mass produced cr @ p

2nd hand jewelery stores will give much better value