diamond924
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2011
- Messages
- 43
I recently received a diamond ring from Leon Mege. I would like to post my experience as I benefitted from the posts of others.
My husband and I met and married while in school. He gave me a beautiful 1 carat F VS1 excellent cut round brilliant set between two trilliants in platinum. We both love the ring and I wear it happily everyday. He was very happy too but when he saw the engagement rings my mother (she does not wear anything with a center stone less than 4 carats) and some of my friends wore, he vowed to buy me a bigger diamond when he could afford it.
It was never a big priority in our first ten years of marriage, but more of a joke. As all couples do, we fight and if he was egregiously wrong, I would tease him that his actions added a quarter of a carat to the promised upgrade. If he was VERY wrong, he would add on a half carat and he volunteered a carat after the birth of our child. If he had to endure an event for me and it was a particularly horrible experience, he would deduct from the size of the promissed upgrade. Over time, we lost track of how big the upgrade should be. One day he joked we should probably buy that diamond because if he waited any longer, the upgrade would get so big he would never be able to afford the diamond he owed me. This was almost 2 years ago.
I began my research. I started my search with our family jeweler who had just made me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings for our 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, the size and shape of diamond I wanted (5 carat oval without a noticeable bowtie) was not terribly common and after working exclusively with them for 8 months I decided to try other sources. We travel frequently and our search consisted of fine jewelry stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York. This included the usual suspects, Tiffany's, Cartier, Harry Winston, Graff, Van Cleef and Arpels, and Leviev. Excellent customer service all around, each with their pluses and minuses.
As a member of the PurseForum, I fell in love with Leon Mege’s work. I learned about Pricescope and started lurking here and learned about Victor Canera, Whiteflash and GOG. I interacted with all these sources and would happily answer any questions about them.
A year into our search I decided to contact Perry Chen, Leon’s diamond concierge. I was extremely impressed on many levels. I quickly found that of all the contacts, Perry had the largest selection of diamonds to choose from. After giving him my criteria, he quickly sent me a long list of available diamonds. I flew into NYC and Perry was kind enough to drive in on a weekend and meet with me as that was the only time my schedule would allow. I was trying to decide between a fancy yellow or white diamond and he showed me both. In our prior discussions, Perry mentioned how hard it would be to find a well cut oval and he was right. The ovals he showed me were beautiful but nothing spoke to me. I did fall in love with a fancy yellow cushion and was close to purchasing it, however, DH was too concerned about a feather near the girdle and my clutziness and history of smashing an emerald cut diamond. After coming so close to finding a diamond, I burnt out and gave the search a rest for a couple of months.
In the meantime, my travels took me to LA, so I met with Victor Canera to check out his work. Victor is a very pleasant young man. Very eager to please and does beautiful pave work. Unfortunately, I was not excited by his selection of diamonds and his prices were higher than Perry’s. I did enjoy meeting him and will probably have him make something for me one day. I grew so tired of looking I came close to paying the extra money for a Harry Winston ring we both liked.
My travels brought me back to NYC and Perry drove in again on a weekend to show me some stones. I decided to give up on the oval this time and opened myself up to cushions and radiants. He showed me three stones and I fell in love with all three, but one really stuck out. I then met with Leon, who was very pleasant and accommodating. There were a few things I wanted, which I could tell he did not agree with, but he was always pleasant and accommodating, noting that I was the customer and things would be done the way I wanted it. You could see his incredible design aesthetic at work when discussing the ring. Because the sidestones I wanted needed to be re-cut to suit the diamond, I had to wait six weeks for the ring. This seemed like torture, but here is a video of the end product which my husband and I felt was worth the wait. I would post pictures but I can’t seem to take a picture that does the ring justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAdBlfcz2s&feature=plcp
A lot has been written about Leon. We all know he has an incredible sense of design. He deserves all the accolades afforded him and them some. I found him very pleasant to work with and would definitely go to him with my next project. What needs to be said more often is what a great service they offer with their Diamond Concierge. I can not say enough about how pleased I am with my experience with Perry. He was great to deal with and incredibly responsive. I never had to wait very long for a reply to any of my questions. I never felt pressured to buy a diamond. After the first visit failed to yield a purchase, Perry was still as pleasant to work with. He was genuine in his desire to help me find the diamond that would make me happiest even if it meant it cost less. I also found he has an excellent eye. I think it’s easy to get bogged down in the numbers and reports analyzing a diamond, that we often forget what you see is the most important quality.
I also found sourcing a diamond through Perry offered me the best value for my dollar. He always presented me with stones that represented their size well. In my search, I quickly tired of seeing diamonds that looked a carat less that its actual weight. I noticed this was NOT an issue at the major design houses and I can see that there are definitely some advantages in working with them for rarer objects. I am convinced that’s since Perry’s family is in the diamond business, he must have some inner connection to the other diamond cutters out there, because I saw a bigger selection of diamonds meeting my criteria with him than any other vendor (including the internet.) In fact, when I had my diamond appraised, the appraiser mentioned how impressed he was with the cut of my diamond, as usually something of that quality would be found in the major design houses.
Although it took a couple years of searching, I rest easy knowing I went with the best out there and that I could not have gotten a better ring for my money elsewhere. I highly recommend Leon and Perry and will most certainly be working with them again in the future. Thank you for your time reading this post and if you have any questions about any of the vendors and design houses mentioned above feel free to ask. I have gotten to know most of them well during this search.
My husband and I met and married while in school. He gave me a beautiful 1 carat F VS1 excellent cut round brilliant set between two trilliants in platinum. We both love the ring and I wear it happily everyday. He was very happy too but when he saw the engagement rings my mother (she does not wear anything with a center stone less than 4 carats) and some of my friends wore, he vowed to buy me a bigger diamond when he could afford it.
It was never a big priority in our first ten years of marriage, but more of a joke. As all couples do, we fight and if he was egregiously wrong, I would tease him that his actions added a quarter of a carat to the promised upgrade. If he was VERY wrong, he would add on a half carat and he volunteered a carat after the birth of our child. If he had to endure an event for me and it was a particularly horrible experience, he would deduct from the size of the promissed upgrade. Over time, we lost track of how big the upgrade should be. One day he joked we should probably buy that diamond because if he waited any longer, the upgrade would get so big he would never be able to afford the diamond he owed me. This was almost 2 years ago.
I began my research. I started my search with our family jeweler who had just made me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings for our 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, the size and shape of diamond I wanted (5 carat oval without a noticeable bowtie) was not terribly common and after working exclusively with them for 8 months I decided to try other sources. We travel frequently and our search consisted of fine jewelry stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York. This included the usual suspects, Tiffany's, Cartier, Harry Winston, Graff, Van Cleef and Arpels, and Leviev. Excellent customer service all around, each with their pluses and minuses.
As a member of the PurseForum, I fell in love with Leon Mege’s work. I learned about Pricescope and started lurking here and learned about Victor Canera, Whiteflash and GOG. I interacted with all these sources and would happily answer any questions about them.
A year into our search I decided to contact Perry Chen, Leon’s diamond concierge. I was extremely impressed on many levels. I quickly found that of all the contacts, Perry had the largest selection of diamonds to choose from. After giving him my criteria, he quickly sent me a long list of available diamonds. I flew into NYC and Perry was kind enough to drive in on a weekend and meet with me as that was the only time my schedule would allow. I was trying to decide between a fancy yellow or white diamond and he showed me both. In our prior discussions, Perry mentioned how hard it would be to find a well cut oval and he was right. The ovals he showed me were beautiful but nothing spoke to me. I did fall in love with a fancy yellow cushion and was close to purchasing it, however, DH was too concerned about a feather near the girdle and my clutziness and history of smashing an emerald cut diamond. After coming so close to finding a diamond, I burnt out and gave the search a rest for a couple of months.
In the meantime, my travels took me to LA, so I met with Victor Canera to check out his work. Victor is a very pleasant young man. Very eager to please and does beautiful pave work. Unfortunately, I was not excited by his selection of diamonds and his prices were higher than Perry’s. I did enjoy meeting him and will probably have him make something for me one day. I grew so tired of looking I came close to paying the extra money for a Harry Winston ring we both liked.
My travels brought me back to NYC and Perry drove in again on a weekend to show me some stones. I decided to give up on the oval this time and opened myself up to cushions and radiants. He showed me three stones and I fell in love with all three, but one really stuck out. I then met with Leon, who was very pleasant and accommodating. There were a few things I wanted, which I could tell he did not agree with, but he was always pleasant and accommodating, noting that I was the customer and things would be done the way I wanted it. You could see his incredible design aesthetic at work when discussing the ring. Because the sidestones I wanted needed to be re-cut to suit the diamond, I had to wait six weeks for the ring. This seemed like torture, but here is a video of the end product which my husband and I felt was worth the wait. I would post pictures but I can’t seem to take a picture that does the ring justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAdBlfcz2s&feature=plcp
A lot has been written about Leon. We all know he has an incredible sense of design. He deserves all the accolades afforded him and them some. I found him very pleasant to work with and would definitely go to him with my next project. What needs to be said more often is what a great service they offer with their Diamond Concierge. I can not say enough about how pleased I am with my experience with Perry. He was great to deal with and incredibly responsive. I never had to wait very long for a reply to any of my questions. I never felt pressured to buy a diamond. After the first visit failed to yield a purchase, Perry was still as pleasant to work with. He was genuine in his desire to help me find the diamond that would make me happiest even if it meant it cost less. I also found he has an excellent eye. I think it’s easy to get bogged down in the numbers and reports analyzing a diamond, that we often forget what you see is the most important quality.
I also found sourcing a diamond through Perry offered me the best value for my dollar. He always presented me with stones that represented their size well. In my search, I quickly tired of seeing diamonds that looked a carat less that its actual weight. I noticed this was NOT an issue at the major design houses and I can see that there are definitely some advantages in working with them for rarer objects. I am convinced that’s since Perry’s family is in the diamond business, he must have some inner connection to the other diamond cutters out there, because I saw a bigger selection of diamonds meeting my criteria with him than any other vendor (including the internet.) In fact, when I had my diamond appraised, the appraiser mentioned how impressed he was with the cut of my diamond, as usually something of that quality would be found in the major design houses.
Although it took a couple years of searching, I rest easy knowing I went with the best out there and that I could not have gotten a better ring for my money elsewhere. I highly recommend Leon and Perry and will most certainly be working with them again in the future. Thank you for your time reading this post and if you have any questions about any of the vendors and design houses mentioned above feel free to ask. I have gotten to know most of them well during this search.
), set in an amazing setting!! I LURVE it!! 
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