Birmingham Jewellery Quarter

LEJC

Its always a good idea to know the correct ring size...they can however be altered fairly easily if the band allows up or down by 3 sizes...although sometimes if there is a pattern around thw ring or its something like a full eternity ring where stones circle the band then its not always possible to change the size of the ring.
Most jewellers will allow free ring sizing if its not quite right when you propose otherwise its probably going to cost you about £30 to get it resized somewhere else..

With regard to custom made rings....it does vary at the JQ...sometimes if its just a case of slotting another diamond into an existing mounting then that can usually be done within a few hours or overnight ...but if you are completely designing a bespoke ring to your own spec then that will take a lot longer and 3-4 weeks would seem acceptable to allow for that....resizing of a ring is also a fairly quick process and could be carried out within a few hours if the workshop is open...custom doesnt always mean that the finished product is more expensive as it does give you the flexibility to pick the exact specification of the diamonds you use in the ring...its certainly something to consider if you really dont see anything you like from the vast array of rings there are...

Shedding a little light on certifications if I can...A GIA certification or an EGL is most common...although some companies will willhave there own certification documents which follow the guidelines of GIA...
you may also find that stones below .25 carat are not given their own certificate...not because they are not a good quality but purely because thats an industry cut off point for certification....so that might be something to bear in mind if you are purchasing a three stone ring..it may be that only the centre stone comes with its own certicicate and whilst the other 2 diamonds will probably be of similar quality they wont have a certifiate....basically a three stone ring with each stone over .25c will have its own certificate so you should get 3 certificates for your ring if you choose all graded diamonds...although its very fair to say that 3 such graded stones will indeed possibly push up your budget...so dont be too worried if its only the centre stone that comes with a certificate.....
Just as an example...somwhere like Samara James will only issue a certification for each diamond over 0.30c whereas Tiffany does it for 0.25c.....so there really is a lot to consider when making your purchase as to whether you need the certification or not.

TamVilla80

My husband was very clever and 'pinched' a couple of rings from my jewellery box that I wasn't wearing and took them with him when he went to get my ring from the jewellery quarter to know what size he needed to get me - it fit spot on straight away

We got our wedding rings from Crystalink and they were really helpful and a good price, would definitely recommend them http://crystalink.co.uk/ We had them made to spec and they didn't take long, and were ready before we expected.

martin1977_2

LEJC wrote: »

Its always a good idea to know the correct ring size...they can however be altered fairly easily if the band allows up or down by 3 sizes...although sometimes if there is a pattern around thw ring or its something like a full eternity ring where stones circle the band then its not always possible to change the size of the ring.
Most jewellers will allow free ring sizing if its not quite right when you propose otherwise its probably going to cost you about £30 to get it resized somewhere else..

With regard to custom made rings....it does vary at the JQ...sometimes if its just a case of slotting another diamond into an existing mounting then that can usually be done within a few hours or overnight ...but if you are completely designing a bespoke ring to your own spec then that will take a lot longer and 3-4 weeks would seem acceptable to allow for that....resizing of a ring is also a fairly quick process and could be carried out within a few hours if the workshop is open...custom doesnt always mean that the finished product is more expensive as it does give you the flexibility to pick the exact specification of the diamonds you use in the ring...its certainly something to consider if you really dont see anything you like from the vast array of rings there are...

Shedding a little light on certifications if I can...A GIA certification or an EGL is most common...although some companies will willhave there own certification documents which follow the guidelines of GIA...
you may also find that stones below .25 carat are not given their own certificate...not because they are not a good quality but purely because thats an industry cut off point for certification....so that might be something to bear in mind if you are purchasing a three stone ring..it may be that only the centre stone comes with its own certicicate and whilst the other 2 diamonds will probably be of similar quality they wont have a certifiate....basically a three stone ring with each stone over .25c will have its own certificate so you should get 3 certificates for your ring if you choose all graded diamonds...although its very fair to say that 3 such graded stones will indeed possibly push up your budget...so dont be too worried if its only the centre stone that comes with a certificate.....
Just as an example...somwhere like Samara James will only issue a certification for each diamond over 0.30c whereas Tiffany does it for 0.25c.....so there really is a lot to consider when making your purchase as to whether you need the certification or not.

That's fantastic! Thank you very much! Yeah I was hoping to get maybe a .4c in the middle and then 2x .15c so it's good to know in advance that only the big one will most likely be certified.

How would i know if it follows the GIA guidelines?

TamVilla80 wrote: »

My husband was very clever and 'pinched' a couple of rings from my jewellery box that I wasn't wearing and took them with him when he went to get my ring from the jewellery quarter to know what size he needed to get me - it fit spot on straight away

We got our wedding rings from Crystalink and they were really helpful and a good price, would definitely recommend them. We had them made to spec and they didn't take long, and were ready before we expected.

I will try and snatch one of her rings when she isn't looking!!! lol

verandi

martin1977 wrote: »

I will try and snatch one of her rings when she isn't looking!!! lol

I love that idea haha, although make sure the ring you pinch is one that she wears on her ring finger on the correct hand. If she's anything like me, her right hand will be a slighted bigger ring size than her left lol, just to make it harder

Idiophreak

TamVilla80 wrote: »

My husband was very clever and 'pinched' a couple of rings from my jewellery box that I wasn't wearing and took them with him when he went to get my ring from the jewellery quarter to know what size he needed to get me - it fit spot on straight away

My wife was very unsubtle and, a couple of months before I decided to propose, waved a ring in front of me and said "it's the strangest thing...this used to fit the little finger on my left hand, now if fits the ring finger perfectly!"...So I knew which ring to steal when the time came

martin1977_2

Haha, typical eh?

Yeah i'll make sure to get the right one. Hopefully it'll fit perfectly!

She has so many rings that it'll be tough to find one. I'm pretty confident I know what size it is so if it matches up its a winner.