How polished should the inside of a crown be?

[juno26]

Hi, I'm wondering, is the inside of this crown polished enough? I thought it wasn't too crucial to achieve the same mirror finish on the inside of the ring as the outside, so I didn't press for that. The diamond has since been set. Using a macro lens on my iPhone 15 Pro, I started noticing the following patterns circled in red (second photo). I did not see these with the loose diamond. They are, however, not visible to the naked eye. I'm not sure if those are just general oil / grime buildup, so I'll try to clean it with some soap and water in the coming days and see if I still see the same. NOTE: I also only had the ring for 3 days and I feel like I haven't dirtied it too much, so not sure if it's oil/grime.

Inside of ring crown before diamond was set:


After diamond was set:

 

[Rfisher]

Not an expert - but I think it’d be possible the rough finish is showing thru?
Whether it’s only via magnification or to naked eye as well.

Cleaning the pavilion is a good idea, first, and depending on one’s individual circumstances, I do think three days could accumulate soap/lotion/whatever spray residue.

Unpopular opinion, but I think ‘expectation of is it polished enough’ is a straight correlation to what one paid for the setting itself and the process.
Would I prefer (and expect) it to be polished as thoroughly as possible - of course. Especially if it’s a boutique product.
Would I expect it to be, if I found the lowest quote labor to set my stone in a Stuller semi mount? Not as much. Pleased as punch if they did - but doubt a local to me bench would.
In the middle of those two extremes - you have to find out what’s typical of that vendors SOP to then figure ‘is it enough’.


Not your situation - just as an aside
There’s benches out there that do not put the same standards of finish on items they don’t put their own makers mark on. Simply because they make more per hour on their own sourced jobs, vs what they make via contract work from other jewelers where speed of turnaround is a higher priority.

 

[juno26]

Not an expert - but I think it’d be possible the rough finish is showing thru?
Whether it’s only via magnification or to naked eye as well.

Cleaning the pavilion is a good idea, first, and depending on one’s individual circumstances, I do think three days could accumulate soap/lotion/whatever spray residue.

Unpopular opinion, but I think ‘expectation of is it polished enough’ is a straight correlation to what one paid for the setting itself and the process.
Would I prefer (and expect) it to be polished as thoroughly as possible - of course. Especially if it’s a boutique product.
Would I expect it to be, if I found the lowest quote labor to set my stone in a Stuller semi mount? Not as much. Pleased as punch if they did - but doubt a local to me bench would.
In the middle of those two extremes - you have to find out what’s typical of that vendors SOP to then figure ‘is it enough’.


Not your situation - just as an aside
There’s benches out there that do not put the same standards of finish on items they don’t put their own makers mark on. Simply because they make more per hour on their own sourced jobs, vs what they make via contract work from other jewelers where speed of turnaround is a higher priority.

Thank you for your input! We paid a huge premium to get this setting from a local jeweler as they emphasized they have the top craftsmanship and this jeweler is well known enough where people from all over the US fly in. We paid $4000 for a simple solitaire setting like this in platinum so I expected better craftsmanship and the 6 prongs are also set crookedly so we have to ask them to reset it...

 

[Lookinagain]

Well if you're asking them to reset it, why not just ask them to polish the inside while their at it.

 

[Rfisher]

What does their other (!!!4K for a plain solitaire!!!!) pieces that they have on showcase look like?

That’s what path I would ponder down

 

[lovedogs]

4k for a plain solitaire!?!?!?!? That's insane

 

[Lookinagain]

we paid a huge premium to get this setting from a local jeweler as they emphasized they have the top craftsmanship and this jeweler is well known enough where people from all over the US fly in.

For $4,000 they certainly should be well known. But it is still extremely expensive for what you are buying. For that price you should demand as much perfection as humanly possible. Which you didn't get the first time, especially if the prongs are not right.

 

[lovedogs]

Also it better be hand forged for that cost!

 

[juno26]

Yeah... the person crafting our ring got pretty annoyed/mad at us for being nitpicky. He took the ring back in and actually made it even more crooked than before. And then fixed it again but it is still crooked. They are refusing to correct their imperfections and argued that it can't be perfect since it's "handmade". (It was just casted and polished and set in, not hand forged!) It's unfortunate we spent that much money for this kind of experience and result, but the setting is still pretty good aside from those mistakes. Not too happy about it but we have no choice because they are arguing with us.

 

[Lookinagain]

Yeah... the person crafting our ring got pretty annoyed/mad at us for being nitpicky. He took the ring back in and actually made it even more crooked than before. And then fixed it again but it is still crooked. They are refusing to correct their imperfections and argued that it can't be perfect since it's "handmade". (It was just casted and polished and set in, not hand forged!) It's unfortunate we spent that much money for this kind of experience and result, but the setting is still pretty good aside from those mistakes. Not too happy about it but we have no choice because they are arguing with us.

So sorry to hear this, especially since they bragged to you that people from all over the country would fly to them just to get their work. Seems unlikely now. You say that the prongs are still crooked? How crooked? You paid a premium for this simple solitaire and given the circumstances, I think I'd consider giving a review on someplace like Yelp or Google especially since they argued with you and refusing to correct it.