Safe to bezel our old beauty?

K+D=4 · Feb 10, 2010

I apologize for the double post in advance, I originally posted over in Timeless Classics but figured this area gets a bit more traffic! Hope you all don''t mind!

I promise promise this will be the LAST setting question! haha!!

Fiance purchased a 3.01 Old Euro stone, J, Si1 and she is BEAUTIFUL!!! (I am very happy with the SI1 - the few inclusions are hidden and not visible under my eagle eye scrutiny! lol) It has a thin to medium girdle with a very very slight chip and I have been advised by an estate jeweler to shy away from the full bezel settings to prevent further damage and rather have it set with prongs. I always thought that doing a full bezel would protect the diamond from harm and ultimately be a safe bet for our old stone?

We are waffling on the Etinne Perret full bezel for now until we can save up for a Single Stone or Leon creation. Should we wait? Or see if Etinne could add prongs on his setting? Or go ahead and set our stone in a full bezel and not worry??

Thanks much, I promise in advance to post many many pics when she is all finished!!

4ever · Feb 10, 2010

I think the deal with bezel settings is they do a fab job at protecting the stone once it is in the setting but actually setting the stone in a bezel puts alot more pressure on the stone than setting it in prongs. I'd let the jewler setting it decide if he/she thinks it was safe to bezel set or not.

If there is a risk of damage during setting for this stone, maybe it is best to wait untill you can afford it's forever setting so it only get's bezeled once.

Experts, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

waterlilly · Feb 10, 2010

My stone has a thin girdle and a tiny girdle chip was discovered when I sent it to WF for resetting into a bezel. I think it is best to be sure you have a professional with lots of experience doing bezels(which I believe Etienne is) make the decision - is the stone insured?

But - not sure a bezel is something you want to do and then redo (i could be totally wrong here though)...maybe is best to just wait until you are 100% sure of what you want...

I would love to see a 3.01 OEC in a Etienne bezel personally - how amazing would that look!?

Have you emailed Etienne to ask? I emailed when I was all confused about the bezel I wanted and got a response right away, they are very prompt at replying to questions.