Ritani Solitaire....Perfect Match?

[pebbles]

I was at the mall today and stopped at BBB (before I got the chance to read your thread) so I saw those solitaire setting but didn''t ask what that line was called.

The saleswoman said they were new and that they were made to sit flush to any of their wedding bands. They really are pretty in person.

I also stopped at Tiffany''s to see if their solitaire is really all it''s cracked up to be.

I''ve seen Demelza''s and a couple of other Tiffany replicas and have a family stone I want to reset.

I think it does live up to its hype...but that Ritani setting is really pretty too!

Mara....I NEVER thought I would hear you say you are getting tired of your diamond shared prong setting! You are the one that started the shared-prong-setting craze here! What''s going to happen if you change your setting?

 

[ecf8503]

Hmmm - me thinks me need to take a trip to the mall to check out BB&B, Tiffany, Cartier..............

 

[Mara]

Oh Pebbles don''t worry, I"m not changing my setting anytime soon!! With the amount of negotiating I had to do to get my darling hubby to agree to an upgrade this spring....changing out the setting was NOT part of the deal.

But I can dream!

 

[ilovesparkles]

I just found this one I believe it is a Vatche. It was called an empress head.

 

[blondie76]

Did anyone make it to BBB this weekend and see the ring? It sounds like what I''m looking for, just curious. Have a great week everyone!

 

[Mara]

Update...I went with a friend to BBB today so she could see the ring set that Kayla has as she is shopping for e-ring settings, and I tried on the 3c in that Ritani solitaire again!! The saleslady told me the setting was called the Royal Crown from Ritani. I am going to see if I can find it online again now that I know the name. I still really love it!!! But the scallop on Lynn's is CUTER I think!! More delicate looking. And the Ritani scallop is a little smaller of a scoop than Lynn's. But this was definitely a charmer, and it's more of a basket than the V prong like Lynn's so it's a different look entirely. It just looks so awesome with a spready big stone. Anyway, I still adore it and I tried it on again with my e-ring and my GF agreed that it looked fab. So definitely a contender for the future!!

I'll see if I can find any pictures now that I know more about the setting and the name!

 

[jadeleaves]

ooohh I just spent most of my morning on the ritani site looking at their settings, but they don''t really have a side view of the ritani royal crown.

What''s the width of the ring you tried on Mara? The royal crown looks quite delicate from the top!

 

[Mara]

okay i found it!!!

it's a HORRIBLE picture of it but this looks like it.

i have to say that Ritani's website pictures of their stuff is the ultimate YAK...all of the settings look horrible and metally on there. someone should redesign it and NOT make it flash while they are at it. BUT I found this one on JR Dunn's site, the only site that sells Ritani that seems to have an actual side view visible. Such a pain! maybe this is for a square stone which is why the prongs are so huge on it?

so now in person the basket and prongs and everything is more 'delicate' feeling and the prong tips in person are TINY, not like they appear here. also the whole thing looks much better with a big spready stone, the head is 'stretched' more and it just looks amazing. I don't know why these pictures look so horrible. But this shows the side view of the cathedral arms, and when I saw it today i realized the ring has a super thin knife edge that comes up to the sides of the diamond which is why the diamond looks SO humongous in it!

 

[Mara]

and lizz posted this on page 1 here and i wasn't sure that was it, but it is the royal crown setting ...if you look closely you can kind of see the side scallop. what threw me is that this setting in this picture here has a surprise diamond on each side of the ring. UNDER the scallop.

apparently there are various versions of this ring, the one that i tried on at BBB does not have surprise diamonds, but there are versions that DO.

 

[Mara]

Oh and width? I don''t even know for sure, JL but the knife edge is super thin. I would say maybe like 1.5mm where it meets the top of the diamond? It''s very delicate feeling. The band itself is thicker and it tapers down to the super thin top knife edge cathedral arms.

Oh and price is about $1500 is what they told me at BBB. Bargain! hehee.

 

[jadeleaves]

Lynn''s new setting''s side view wins hands down I reckon. The prongs in the picture just posted are a little bulky for my liking!

Mara, with reference to the other thread in RT about problems with Ritani, did you have a chance to ask BBB if they''ve had any problems with Ritani?

 

[jadeleaves]

$1500?? That''s pretty good! Hmmm...

Ohh the second pic u posted looks nicer!

 

[Mara]

Lynn's setting was definitely more delicate head-wise BUT there is just something about that Ritani solitaire that makes my heart go pitter patter. Lynn's scallop is prettier but the Ritani basket and the tiny prongs (that picture I posted is BAD....definitely not like that in person!!), swoonable. I might want a mix of the two!!

Yes while there I did ask the gal about their dealings with Ritani. It was pretty interesting talking to her because she said that they have not had any problems dealing with Ritani and that they are always on time with all their stuff. She said it's 4 weeks to have a ring/setting made and that they are like clockwork with their timelines.

I also asked about their warranty on the settings, esp for my friend who is considering the solitaire non-halo endless love like Kayla's. She said that they have a lifetime warranty on the setting for things like melee falling out etc and that they take care of everything for you, you just drop the ring off and it takes about 7 days. She said that they have people who get melee falling out and I asked how often and she said maybe one every few months but that some customers have their melee falling out all the time! She said that she has one client who just LOVES the setting and has to replace melee fairly often, but does not care, she just brings the ring in and drops it off and picks it up. How funny is that, she just had to have that setting and apparently is really hard on it. Lifetime warranty works great for her! I wondered if she was a PS'er. hehee.

The other interesting thing she mentioned was that they don't have that many problems with Ritani BUT they do with the Vera Wang settings! She said that the setting like Albi's (but without diamond prong tips) has lots of problems and that they are always sending it back for repair and lost melee, and she said it is not a sturdy setting and I could have sworn I heard her say that some had BROKEN.

Be careful Albi!

I also asked about what are their most popular settings and she said anything from Scott Kay, Tacori, and Ritani but that Vera Wang is a top seller right now. How funny when compared with what she just told me about the durability issues they are having. Yikes!

So overall, it was a really fun trip, my GF loves the Ritani solitaire with pave/channel set like Kayla's and she is going to try to get her BF in to see it next week. hehee.

 

[cutes814]

I too like Lynn''s scallop edge better. It looks more delicate. But I guess that profile picture is not a very good representation of the actual ring, right Mara? Are you thinking about changing your setting now? Your new head looks fabulous.

 

[Mara]

Date: 6/11/2006 11:51:27 PM
Author: Milly
I too like Lynn's scallop edge better. It looks more delicate. But I guess that profile picture is not a very good representation of the actual ring, right Mara? Are you thinking about changing your setting now? Your new head looks fabulous.

Oh yeah I'd love to change it at some point, but it won't be for a few years....I love my setting as is now, but I think in the future it'd be great to have a solitaire for a while too, just for a change!! Maybe at year 5 or something. Since I'm banned from any more upgrades til year 10, gotta keep things interesting somehow eh?!?!

That picture IS a horrible shot of that side view. But it shows the scallop which is what I wanted to show. In person it's MUCH more delicate and the prongs and the whole setting is too. Very thin.

I think it's sooooo interesting that NO ONE has this ring!!!! I have never seen it on PS and look how hard it was to find a picture of it online. It's such a beautiful solitaire, I'm surprised no one has found it before this.

 

[jadeleaves]

Date: 6/11/2006 11:46:12 PM
Author: Mara
Lynn''s setting was definitely more delicate head-wise BUT there is just something about that Ritani solitaire that makes my heart go pitter patter. Lynn''s scallop is prettier but the Ritani basket and the tiny prongs (that picture I posted is BAD....definitely not like that in person!!), swoonable. I might want a mix of the two!!

Hehe I just looked in my crystal ball again and it tells me that with her next upgrade, Mara is going to go for a simple solitaire setting and modify her current e-ring setting so it becomes an eternity band like her wedding band and wear them on either side of the new solitaire setting.

Interesting what was said about Ritani and BBB not having any issues with them. Although sometimes I wonder how candid dealers will be when it comes to telling potential customers about issues with certain designers they are looking at

Lifetime warranty sounds good - IF I live in the states!!!

 

[Mara]

"Hehe I just looked in my crystal ball again and it tells me that with her next upgrade, Mara is going to go for a simple solitaire setting and modify her current e-ring setting so it becomes an eternity band like her wedding band and wear them on either side of the new solitaire setting. "

_____________

HA HA I was just telling my girlfriend that this afternoon. Though I was thinking that at that point (at year 10 of course

) I''d probably see if I could use these diamonds in my e-ring for something else like a pendant or something, and have WF make me a matching band to my w-ring since the stones in my e-ring are 3 pointers and my w-ring are 2 pointers so they wouldn''t MATCH if I wore them as eternity rings...but when I was trying it on today, I totally thought that Ritani would look FAB with flanking bands since it''s so thin, it really would be able to take it. YUM.

Well I have another 8 years to think about it so we''ll see. Unless I do the solitaire at year 5 or something. Hahhaa. Gotta love the options. Or dreaming about them anyway.

 

[jadeleaves]

Date: 6/12/2006 12:10:34 AM
Author: Mara

Well I have another 8 years to think about it so we''ll see. Unless I do the solitaire at year 5 or something. Hahhaa. Gotta love the options. Or dreaming about them anyway.

Yeah talk about dreaming - I am getting stuck into the 3ct+ thread that got bumped and getting ideas

My current dream setting is a MWM 4 heart prongs, with matatora''s lockes''s solitaire''s surprise diamonds, and lynn''s scallop! Ohh, and for the ring to sit flush with an eternity band of course!

 

[butterfly 17]

Hi Mara,
I found this picture which sort of shows the side view. It''s the Royal Crown with a princess and split prongs and the suprise diamonds.

Isn''t it funny that the two solitaires you happen to like are both called the Royal Crown?

Incidently, that lifetime warranty for the Ritani rings is from BBB or from the Ritani itself? Just curious because the store where I bought my rings from told me they only guaranteed a 6 month warranty against lost stones, etc. but when I spoke to Ken and brought my ring to him, he told me next time, I can either bring the ring to BBB and have them send it for me (even though I didn''t buy it from them) or just bring it in again like I did.

The side view of the RC you posted doesn''t accentuate the way the prongs curve for a larger stone. One of the reasons why I loved my setting is because the prongs for the size I have curve so nice to fit around the stone, instead of going straight up and out.

 

[butterfly 17]

Here is another version of it with side stones.

 

[butterfly 17]

One more with baguettes.

 

[butterfly 17]

TA DA!!! I am so excited, I found the perfect picture for you!!!

Back when I was looking at solitaires, I had saved this picture and one more to my pictures, because I really loved this setting. I was thinking about getting this for my 2 carat stone, but I couldn''t find it in the store to see what it looked like in person.


This is the same ring as the first one I posted, Royal Crown with split prongs and suprise diamonds, BUT with a much larger diamond.
You can definitely see how the prongs swoop and curve out around the stone.

It curves out the same in my ring.

 

[butterfly 17]

Another view..

 

[butterfly 17]

Another side view.

BTW, this is a 1.49 G IF princess cut. Imagine it with a 3 carat round with claw split prongs?

 

[butterfly 17]

Front view. You can see how thin it tapers down too.

I have to say, when I first saw this ring posted, I absolutely loved and saved it right away to my hard drive. Love the way the prongs curve up.

 

[Mara]

That last set of pictures is perfect Kayla! That''s totally how it looks and even better with a larger stone!! hehee. That scoopy swoopy thing is one thing I love with it. However, I tried on a 1.5c too and it even looked good with that as well. So definitely a charmer of a setting.

When I asked the gal what the name was and she said Royal Crown, I kind of laughed and thought of Vatche''s too. I guess I am a sucker for those!! The one that I tried on though does not have the surprise diamond, it''s either open or closed I can''t remember but it looks fab. Not so into the surprise diamonds really, in general.

re: the Ritani warranty, it sounded like the settings themselves had the warranty on them. The gal said lifetime and just bring it in, they sent it to Ritani and my friend never gets charged.

Of course if she went this route I''d counsel her to make sure she got that in writing just to cover all her bases!

 

[butterfly 17]

Oh, Another thing I forgot to mention is that if you friend does get it from BBB, tell her to ask them when they will be having their sale. They usually have a sale a few times a year and her BF can get 15% to 20% off the ring(s), possibly more.
And they can even apply the discount prior to the sale or immediately after.

 

[Lynn B]

OH! Whatta fun thread, Mara! Thank you for resurrecting it!

It has been very fun to re-read these posts AND see these new photos of the Ritani scallop design -- finally!

And it IS lovely, for sure... but I am so happy to say that I prefer my WF scallop!

When I was deciding on the head, I FAXed WF several pages of different "ideas" and suggestions for the head design. The scallop was my favorite (as well as WF''s), and while I briefly toyed with the idea of the scallop facing down, I realized that I preferred it facing up. I was also surprised to see how much the "look" changed by moving it up or down between the prongs.

All in all, I adore the look and wouldn''t change a thing. It is so subtle and beautiful in person. Just adds such a lovely finishing touch/detail. YUM!

 

[mrssalvo]

I so wish we had a Ritani dealing closer than 3 hours from me

Mara, I think that is my favorite solitare EVER and I haven''t even seen it in person. I''ve seen the three stones and the rings with the scallop and I can just imagine how stunning it is with a big ol'' rock. I''m going to have to get my upgrade quick less I change my mind AGAIN

.

 

[mrssalvo]

Pearlmans has it now to, but it''s got the surprise diamond.