I'm thinking about buying a tennis bracelet and have spent alot of time reading through posts on the PS forum (so incredibly helpful, I've learned a ton!!!). I have a few questions and would also love to hear people's thoughts. Here's some background on what I want: 14k WG 7 inch bracelet (I have a 6.1 inch wrist), with diamonds around .12 in size, so in the 6 ct total range. In terms of settings, I'm really stuck here, as I've seen lots of bracelets that I like: 3 prong, 4 prong, and half-bezel. I also like pics here with 4 prong that look like 3 prong but I haven't seen this out shopping. The other wild card for me is color. I thought I was pretty flexible on color, but yesterday I tried on a few bracelets and I could not believe the color difference between F and H/I -- albeit they were stacked together on my wrist so that may be why the difference was so stark.
Here are my questions:
(1) I often see references to "PS quality diamonds" or someone references a purchase made pre-PS. What exactly does this mean? It feels like it's relevant to my purchase but I'm not sure what I'm on the lookout for.
(2) Half-bezels don't seem to get alot of love here, though some say they're more secure and less likely to snag. I'm curious to hear opinions -- is it that the 4 prong and 3 prong are so classic that you can't go wrong? The half bezel is definitely more modern than what I thought I wanted, but it was so darn sparkly (and at only about 4.5 carats, much smaller) I was really taken with it. This particular one was out of my price range, but still trying to figure out what setting I want. So much is personal taste, but since I like so many different settings, I'm trying to come up with ways to narrow it down.
(3) Re: color, I haven't priced out the cost difference on a bracelet with the same specs except color so not sure how much extra F diamonds would be, but curious if you think it's worth the extra cost. I'm wondering if the reason the color difference was so stark was because I was trying on two bracelets stacked (one F, one H/I), but normally I would only be wearing one bracelet so on its own, H/I would probably be fine.
(4) I've read a few posts on clasps and safety chains. I thought I wanted a safety chain b/c I lost a few bracelets when I was younger and it's stayed with me to the point that I'm a little nervous. That said, it seems many people feel pretty confident in the clasp they have. Is there a specific clasp that I could request that's known to be ultra secure, but it's still possible for me to put it on my wrist by myself (my one rule for jewelry is that I must be able to put it on and take it off without assistance). I've tried searching this but it's been hard to find info.
(5) I've reached out to one vendor that is frequently mentioned here. So far, they've been very responsive and great, and have shared a few videos which has been helpful. But I'm still nervous about purchasing something at this price range from afar. I don't need to purchase from a local jeweler, but curious if you have any other tips about online purchasing that I might want to consider.
Also, apologies if I haven't quite got all the lingo down. I'm trying : )
Here are my questions:
(1) I often see references to "PS quality diamonds" or someone references a purchase made pre-PS. What exactly does this mean? It feels like it's relevant to my purchase but I'm not sure what I'm on the lookout for.
(2) Half-bezels don't seem to get alot of love here, though some say they're more secure and less likely to snag. I'm curious to hear opinions -- is it that the 4 prong and 3 prong are so classic that you can't go wrong? The half bezel is definitely more modern than what I thought I wanted, but it was so darn sparkly (and at only about 4.5 carats, much smaller) I was really taken with it. This particular one was out of my price range, but still trying to figure out what setting I want. So much is personal taste, but since I like so many different settings, I'm trying to come up with ways to narrow it down.
(3) Re: color, I haven't priced out the cost difference on a bracelet with the same specs except color so not sure how much extra F diamonds would be, but curious if you think it's worth the extra cost. I'm wondering if the reason the color difference was so stark was because I was trying on two bracelets stacked (one F, one H/I), but normally I would only be wearing one bracelet so on its own, H/I would probably be fine.
(4) I've read a few posts on clasps and safety chains. I thought I wanted a safety chain b/c I lost a few bracelets when I was younger and it's stayed with me to the point that I'm a little nervous. That said, it seems many people feel pretty confident in the clasp they have. Is there a specific clasp that I could request that's known to be ultra secure, but it's still possible for me to put it on my wrist by myself (my one rule for jewelry is that I must be able to put it on and take it off without assistance). I've tried searching this but it's been hard to find info.
(5) I've reached out to one vendor that is frequently mentioned here. So far, they've been very responsive and great, and have shared a few videos which has been helpful. But I'm still nervous about purchasing something at this price range from afar. I don't need to purchase from a local jeweler, but curious if you have any other tips about online purchasing that I might want to consider.
Also, apologies if I haven't quite got all the lingo down. I'm trying : )