Lykame
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,448
Even though I went quiet on here, I have still been lurking intermittently on this forum and have really been enjoying everyone's beautiful jewellery.
I'm not good at concise, so please feel free to just jump down to the pictures/video if that's your preference. I was just keen to both share the story of my reset but also provide a review of a jeweller I have seen mentioned on here a couple of times, a gentleman called Simon at Bespoke Goldsmith in London.
TL;DR: had my 2-carat CBI diamond reset by Simon, who is AMAZING and I'm VERY happy with the work he's completed - it's exquisite. Would highly recommend him even though his quoted timeframe should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Years ago, I made previous posts about my CBI diamond and getting it set. I loved it, but I have to be honest that the standard of the setting was below my expectations. The metal didn't really have a mirror-like finish in terms of its smoothness, and despite everything (getting the original setter to redo it...) it was still a tiny tiny bit wonky. My design was also such that I knew without a spacer the diamond ring and the band would eat away at each other. I couldn't find a spacer I liked, so I tolerated this because the design was what I wanted and I enjoyed how hefty a ring it was. However, over the years I finally started to see the platinum being worn away and decided that now was the time for a reset.
I'm in the UK, and the idea of trying to coordinate a reset with any of the amazing companies in America was too daunting for me, even though I have been blown away by many masterpieces. Instead, I went hunting on here and have a huge amount of gratitude to @RockFox and @MrsDiamondHeart; it was through them that I discovered Simon. I researched him and was really impressed by the quality of work on his Instagram page. I reached out to him and he responded to me over the weekend and out-of-hours, which I would never expect but was quite impressed by.
In about October last year, I went to see him and had a provisional chat with him. We went through various options to potentially either 'rescue' my original setting or just go for a straight reset. He wasn't pushy at all - he was actually quite enthusiastic about the idea of tacking my rings together to stop them rubbing, which would not have been very expensive at all. He also spent some time hand-drawing various designs based on what I said was important to me. He spent about an hour with me for free, with no guarantee I was going to move forward with anything. He was patient and kind, whilst also very pragmatic and able to very politely push against things I wanted that he felt were unrealistic with other aspects of my design (the lack of a pedestal, for example) - I have to admit that's quite the skill
. I went away to consider my options, but I knew I didn't really want my rings tacked together. It took me a while to gear up the courage to actually go through with the project. I went to see him again at the end of January this year to finalise a reset design and give him my rings, and picked up my reset rings yesterday.
The process was very different to my previous experience. Although I was quite detailed with what I wanted, I also tried to be much more relaxed about the whole process and just trusted him to do a beautiful job. In January we signed off on a hand drawing with detailed notes on it. I wasn't really expecting to see a CAD, but he did share a CAD with me after that eight-week mark. They also printed a wax, put my diamond into it and shared photos and a video of that with me. They offered for me to come in and see that in person, but I had various work commitments and decided that that was only going to add weeks to the process so I declined that offer. The pictures and videos were enough.
The rings have blown away my expectations. The quality of the finish of them is amazing.
The various details I requested:
Here's a couple of photos of the CAD and the wax:
And here's the finished ring! As a video seems to be worth a 1,000 pictures, I've attached a video; my picture-taking skills leave a lot to be desired.
The central stone is a CBI. 2.075, VS2, J.
The side stones for both the main ring and band are ideal cut melee - G/H and 2mm each.
My ring size is UK J 1/2. I think US 5.5 would work for me.
And okay, here's a few of pictures of the set together - taken in a rush but hopefully you get the idea:
Honestly, I'm blown away. For a start I would never have said I could forget how sparkly my CBI is, having worn it for years, but I had actually forgotten how sparkly it is...!
The quality of the finish is amazing. It's so smooth and gorgeous. I usually really like a patina, but I'm actually slightly nervous of this developing a patina because it's so perfect and mirror-like at the moment! He's nailed all of the details I requested; I'm completely overwhelmed by it. The talon prongs! I love them. The height and the crown-like nature of it. It's so spiky. I love it.
I don't think I will ever be someone who completely knows what I want and what style of ring completely reflects me. I understand why people go through multiple resets; I've tried on lots of rings in the past that I thought were beautiful, but not for me.... I'm really happy with this set and I like it even more today than I did yesterday. I definitely like it more than my previous set (although that of course has a special place in my heart) and I'm sure I will bond with it more over the next few days. My eyes would always like a thinner shank in all honesty - all my inspiration photos have very thin bands attached to very top-heavy central sections. However I know that that would just be like swiss cheese, especially with the pilot holes, which I really wanted - I made the active decision before to have 2mm side stones rather than 1.8mm side stones, and I kept those same side stones; I think that was the correct choice overall.
I couldn't recommend working with Simon more. He's really excellent and I think he stands out in the sea of mediocracy that I was finding during my research, at least for the UK London Market. I do know there are other excellent craftsmen out there, but the few I found other than Simon had very different styles and his style was much more what I was hoping for. He was also extremely fairly priced. He was willing to work with the stones I was providing and my honest opinion is that for the quality of work he was completing, his pricing was really on the cheaper side. He was definitely cheaper than I was expecting for the main ring and about what I would have expected for the band given that he did not provide the diamonds.
I think the only thing I would say to be aware of is that I think he has become much much busier than his tiny tiny company can really handle. Whilst I am absolutely thrilled he is getting lots of work, as he is well worth it, they weren't particularly accurate with their timing quotes - perhaps in part because I didn't have a deadline, unlike I suspect many of his customers. They also have a fast-track service where people can pay more to 'jump the queue' as it were, which I didn't begrudge as if I had a small project that I wanted completed really quickly I would have probably gone for that. I was quoted a finishing time of 8-10 weeks and in the end it took four months. At about the eight-week mark I reached out to him to find out how things were going and he had only just started on the CAD. I'll acknowledge that was a bit tough.
He has however completely earnt my trust from a workmanship point of view and I would absolutely use him again for any other jewellery work I want completed. He is a lovely guy, extremely calm and as I mentioned before, very pragmatic, which I definitely appreciate. He bent over backwards to speak to me at various landmarks, even during very antisocial hours over the weekend/evening times to suit my schedule and even once when he was on holiday (which I only realised once we were talking, so I felt a bit bad about that!). We didn't have many conversations - just the first couple of meetings in person and then two conversations virtually - however these were all high quality, unrushed, dedicated conversations, and he really knows his stuff. On a couple of topics I brought them back up each time we spoke and he was endlessly patient at easing my anxiety (the swoop, the swoop...). I also have to give a shoutout to one of his colleagues, Ryan, who seemed to be the person behind-the-scenes who coordinated meetings/payments etc and was also just a genuinely lovely and well-meaning human being. I appreciated all of that, but I would have also appreciated a more realistic timeline. It wouldn't stop me from working with him again, however - I would just double whatever timeframe he gave to manage my expectations a bit better.
Anyway, I hope that helps for anyone who, like me, was hunting for information about this small company, and I hope you like my rings! If I manage some more artsy photos I'll be sure to add them.
I'm not good at concise, so please feel free to just jump down to the pictures/video if that's your preference. I was just keen to both share the story of my reset but also provide a review of a jeweller I have seen mentioned on here a couple of times, a gentleman called Simon at Bespoke Goldsmith in London.
TL;DR: had my 2-carat CBI diamond reset by Simon, who is AMAZING and I'm VERY happy with the work he's completed - it's exquisite. Would highly recommend him even though his quoted timeframe should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Years ago, I made previous posts about my CBI diamond and getting it set. I loved it, but I have to be honest that the standard of the setting was below my expectations. The metal didn't really have a mirror-like finish in terms of its smoothness, and despite everything (getting the original setter to redo it...) it was still a tiny tiny bit wonky. My design was also such that I knew without a spacer the diamond ring and the band would eat away at each other. I couldn't find a spacer I liked, so I tolerated this because the design was what I wanted and I enjoyed how hefty a ring it was. However, over the years I finally started to see the platinum being worn away and decided that now was the time for a reset.
I'm in the UK, and the idea of trying to coordinate a reset with any of the amazing companies in America was too daunting for me, even though I have been blown away by many masterpieces. Instead, I went hunting on here and have a huge amount of gratitude to @RockFox and @MrsDiamondHeart; it was through them that I discovered Simon. I researched him and was really impressed by the quality of work on his Instagram page. I reached out to him and he responded to me over the weekend and out-of-hours, which I would never expect but was quite impressed by.
In about October last year, I went to see him and had a provisional chat with him. We went through various options to potentially either 'rescue' my original setting or just go for a straight reset. He wasn't pushy at all - he was actually quite enthusiastic about the idea of tacking my rings together to stop them rubbing, which would not have been very expensive at all. He also spent some time hand-drawing various designs based on what I said was important to me. He spent about an hour with me for free, with no guarantee I was going to move forward with anything. He was patient and kind, whilst also very pragmatic and able to very politely push against things I wanted that he felt were unrealistic with other aspects of my design (the lack of a pedestal, for example) - I have to admit that's quite the skill
. I went away to consider my options, but I knew I didn't really want my rings tacked together. It took me a while to gear up the courage to actually go through with the project. I went to see him again at the end of January this year to finalise a reset design and give him my rings, and picked up my reset rings yesterday. The process was very different to my previous experience. Although I was quite detailed with what I wanted, I also tried to be much more relaxed about the whole process and just trusted him to do a beautiful job. In January we signed off on a hand drawing with detailed notes on it. I wasn't really expecting to see a CAD, but he did share a CAD with me after that eight-week mark. They also printed a wax, put my diamond into it and shared photos and a video of that with me. They offered for me to come in and see that in person, but I had various work commitments and decided that that was only going to add weeks to the process so I declined that offer. The pictures and videos were enough.
The rings have blown away my expectations. The quality of the finish of them is amazing.
The various details I requested:
- High set
- Talon prongs
- The ability to see the culet from at least certain angles
- V-shaped edges (you'll see what I mean from the photos - his speciality is actually rex collets, which I strongly considered because his work with them is exquisite, but I decided this was much more my style)
- Ideally the ability to avoid a spacer if possible
- Essentially no swoop between the shank and the central part of the ring - with my design there has to be at least some, but as minimal as possible (they managed this PERFECTLY even though I was initially quite worried about the amount of swoop on the wax)
- Castle setting for the side stones
- Pilot holes
- Platinum 950 (I don't know what the alloy is but I'm pretty sure it's different to my previous one, which was alloyed with iridium, as it's a different colour - but I could be wrong as it's also much smoother, which makes it much shinier, which makes it look like a different colour anyway).
- Most importantly, an engraved paw print on the inside shank in honour of the very special dog I grew up with, Eric.
Here's a couple of photos of the CAD and the wax:
And here's the finished ring! As a video seems to be worth a 1,000 pictures, I've attached a video; my picture-taking skills leave a lot to be desired.
The central stone is a CBI. 2.075, VS2, J.
The side stones for both the main ring and band are ideal cut melee - G/H and 2mm each.
My ring size is UK J 1/2. I think US 5.5 would work for me.
And okay, here's a few of pictures of the set together - taken in a rush but hopefully you get the idea:
Honestly, I'm blown away. For a start I would never have said I could forget how sparkly my CBI is, having worn it for years, but I had actually forgotten how sparkly it is...!
The quality of the finish is amazing. It's so smooth and gorgeous. I usually really like a patina, but I'm actually slightly nervous of this developing a patina because it's so perfect and mirror-like at the moment! He's nailed all of the details I requested; I'm completely overwhelmed by it. The talon prongs! I love them. The height and the crown-like nature of it. It's so spiky. I love it.
I don't think I will ever be someone who completely knows what I want and what style of ring completely reflects me. I understand why people go through multiple resets; I've tried on lots of rings in the past that I thought were beautiful, but not for me.... I'm really happy with this set and I like it even more today than I did yesterday. I definitely like it more than my previous set (although that of course has a special place in my heart) and I'm sure I will bond with it more over the next few days. My eyes would always like a thinner shank in all honesty - all my inspiration photos have very thin bands attached to very top-heavy central sections. However I know that that would just be like swiss cheese, especially with the pilot holes, which I really wanted - I made the active decision before to have 2mm side stones rather than 1.8mm side stones, and I kept those same side stones; I think that was the correct choice overall.
I couldn't recommend working with Simon more. He's really excellent and I think he stands out in the sea of mediocracy that I was finding during my research, at least for the UK London Market. I do know there are other excellent craftsmen out there, but the few I found other than Simon had very different styles and his style was much more what I was hoping for. He was also extremely fairly priced. He was willing to work with the stones I was providing and my honest opinion is that for the quality of work he was completing, his pricing was really on the cheaper side. He was definitely cheaper than I was expecting for the main ring and about what I would have expected for the band given that he did not provide the diamonds.
I think the only thing I would say to be aware of is that I think he has become much much busier than his tiny tiny company can really handle. Whilst I am absolutely thrilled he is getting lots of work, as he is well worth it, they weren't particularly accurate with their timing quotes - perhaps in part because I didn't have a deadline, unlike I suspect many of his customers. They also have a fast-track service where people can pay more to 'jump the queue' as it were, which I didn't begrudge as if I had a small project that I wanted completed really quickly I would have probably gone for that. I was quoted a finishing time of 8-10 weeks and in the end it took four months. At about the eight-week mark I reached out to him to find out how things were going and he had only just started on the CAD. I'll acknowledge that was a bit tough.
He has however completely earnt my trust from a workmanship point of view and I would absolutely use him again for any other jewellery work I want completed. He is a lovely guy, extremely calm and as I mentioned before, very pragmatic, which I definitely appreciate. He bent over backwards to speak to me at various landmarks, even during very antisocial hours over the weekend/evening times to suit my schedule and even once when he was on holiday (which I only realised once we were talking, so I felt a bit bad about that!). We didn't have many conversations - just the first couple of meetings in person and then two conversations virtually - however these were all high quality, unrushed, dedicated conversations, and he really knows his stuff. On a couple of topics I brought them back up each time we spoke and he was endlessly patient at easing my anxiety (the swoop, the swoop...). I also have to give a shoutout to one of his colleagues, Ryan, who seemed to be the person behind-the-scenes who coordinated meetings/payments etc and was also just a genuinely lovely and well-meaning human being. I appreciated all of that, but I would have also appreciated a more realistic timeline. It wouldn't stop me from working with him again, however - I would just double whatever timeframe he gave to manage my expectations a bit better.
Anyway, I hope that helps for anyone who, like me, was hunting for information about this small company, and I hope you like my rings! If I manage some more artsy photos I'll be sure to add them.
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