Hatton Garden Engagement Rigs

tjgr00me

Hello to all.

I am planning on taking the big step and asking my girlfriend of 6 years to marry me.
Now my question is about engagement rings from hatton garden.

Does anyone have any advice/tips on how much i should expect to pay and the best way of haggling?
Im taking my partner to choose the ring (when i ask her) and she folds at the first price usually and im not much better!

I think she is looking for a classic engagement ring with white gold/platinum band and a round cut single stone (she would prefer platinum).
Now ive looked around on the internet and people have reported paying £600-700 for a platinum ring with a single stone (from 2010 to 2011), i went to Hatton Gardens yesterday for a brief idea and i was quoted £2000 for a platinum ring with a 0.4c diamond.
My budget is up to £1000 but i dont want to hit that if possible.
After balking at the platinum prices i had a look at white gold and they always seemed to take £200 off straightaway but they were quoting me £1000 for a white gold ring with a 0.3c stone, in short they went straight to the top of my budget and stayed there.
Do these prices sound reasonable as being a bloke i have no idea how much jewellery should cost as my partner never wears any and so i dont really want to get fleeced!

Thank you for your help in aiding me on this!!

withabix

The price of gold, platinum and gemstones are at just about their all-time high.

£1000 won't buy you much in terms or metal or rock - probably half what it would have bought you 3-4 years ago.

When (if!) you get to the Wedding state, try http://www.bettsmetals.com/

We got our wedding rings from there.

Register to see the proper prices.

Not sure if they make up engagement rings, but worth a look.

jackieblack

'Traditionally' it was expected that the cost of the engagement ring would = one month's pay

However, you can buy some very pretty rings for a lot less and put the rest of the money towards the cost of the wedding/ honeymoon/ home etc

valk_scot

I think you should make sure your GF knows what the budget is for the ring. No, not very romantic but it would save embarrassment if she set her heart on something a lot more expensive and you had to say no then. After six years together and with future plans though I'd like to think a couple could be straightforwards with money. Also, if she's on your side re budget that means there's two of you in any haggling process, not you v the salesman and her with mournful eyes looking at a £2000 ring. Any money over budget now has to come out the wedding budget after all, or the setting up house budget!

I still don't have an engagement ring btw, and I've been married 20+ years now. Mortgage interest was 17% when we got married, we needed every penny for the house. So if you can't afford her dream ring atm, you could always settle for an inexpensive costume jewelry piece as an engagement ring and buy her a eternity ring later on. That's what we did.

Pollycat

In your post you're only talking about one of the 4 Cs - carat.

There are 3 others:
colour
clarity
cut

that also determine price.

For example, you could pay less for a 2 carat solitaire that is SI2 quality and colour J than for a 1 carat that is colour D (the best) and VVS1 quality.

Take a look at this website for what the 4 Cs are:
http://www.diamondgeezer.com/shop/

You can also play about with the diamond search to see the difference in cost between different colours/clarity/cut.

I hope you find the right ring.

CRANKY40

My husband made my engagement ring himself in 2001. The cost then for the raw materials was £675 for a platinum band and setting and a 0.5c diamond. Does it have to be from Hatton garden? No possibility of going elsewhere and trying for a better deal?

All diamonds have faults. Have a read of this http://jewelry.about.com/cs/diamondclarity/a/inclusions.htm

A diamond with a fault that can be seen by the naked eye should be cheaper possibly than one with a fault that can't be seen, Ask to look at the diamonds through the little eyeglass thing that the jeweller has.

Pollycat

CRANKY40 wrote: »

A diamond with a fault that can be seen by the naked eye should be cheaper possibly than one with a fault that can't be seen, Ask to look at the diamonds through the little eyeglass thing that the jeweller has.

A diamond with a fault that can be seen will be cheaper than one with a fault that can't be seen - assuming the size, colour and cut are the same.

The magnifier is called a loupe.
It's amazing what you can see witha 10x loupe.

tjgr00me

Thank you all for your replies, in response to some of the points mentioned above, the ring doesnt have to come from Hatton Garden (i actually live in oxford) it just seems to have been mentioned a lot when looking around online, i'll look at High street jewelers i.e earnest jones, H-Samuel as well.
Im aware of the other C's but i felt if you cant see the impurities by the naked eye who is really going to inspect it under a magnifying glass!
I only mentioned Carat as that's what affects the price more from what ive seen.

Im going to discuss the price limit with my partner before we go looking, im guessing we just have to be stubborn on price as i assume they will try and push us to our maximum budget.
Out of curiosity can you haggle in high street jewellery stores like the names mentioned above?

meer53

tjgr00me wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies, in response to some of the points mentioned above, the ring doesnt have to come from Hatton Garden (i actually live in oxford) it just seems to have been mentioned a lot when looking around online, i'll look at High street jewelers i.e earnest jones, H-Samuel as well.
Im aware of the other C's but i felt if you cant see the impurities by the naked eye who is really going to inspect it under a magnifying glass!
I only mentioned Carat as that's what affects the price more from what ive seen.

Im going to discuss the price limit with my partner before we go looking, im guessing we just have to be stubborn on price as i assume they will try and push us to our maximum budget.
Out of curiosity can you haggle in high street jewellery stores like the names mentioned above?

Noooooo :eek:

Don't go to a high street jewellers, the mark up can be as much as 200% !

Why not have a trip to Birmingham to the Jewellery Quarter ? Or look at second hand rings. You might be able to haggle in a high street store but you'll still pay over the odds after haggling !

vixarooni

Go vintage! There are some really gorgeous old rings out there.

Or you could ask your family's to see if there is a ring from a grandparent you could have? My mother recently gave me my grandmothers engagement ring, and that beats any ring in terms of how special it is.

Pollycat

tjgr00me wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies, in response to some of the points mentioned above, the ring doesnt have to come from Hatton Garden (i actually live in oxford) it just seems to have been mentioned a lot when looking around online, i'll look at High street jewelers i.e earnest jones, H-Samuel as well.
Im aware of the other C's but i felt if you cant see the impurities by the naked eye who is really going to inspect it under a magnifying glass!
I only mentioned Carat as that's what affects the price more from what ive seen.

Im going to discuss the price limit with my partner before we go looking, im guessing we just have to be stubborn on price as i assume they will try and push us to our maximum budget.
Out of curiosity can you haggle in high street jewellery stores like the names mentioned above?

I'd second Meer's suggestion about the Jewellery Quarter or at least a local independant jeweller - I woudn't be buying from EJ or Samuels.
And I'd be pretty surprised if you could haggle the price down with them.

Are you arware that they are part of the same company - Signet?

You can see some impurities with the naked eye - just stand outside a cheap jewellers (such as Warrens) and you can see inclusions in some of their 2 carat rings with the naked eye even through shop window glass.

And you can see the difference in colour between a good diamond in a good jeweller's and a cheap shop.