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The story of my ring's grading issue

dude, seriously.
Julyisjuly said:
:twisted2:
Hi TL, may you please send me the pictures of the Ring to my email before ship out next week? I hope it's very well made and very polished.
Looks like I will receive it right before Valentine's Day! Thanks!
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Why didn't they honor your request to send you photos of the completed ring prior to shipment?
And another thing, did you notice how unusual it was that the WF pictures of the setting only show a diamond just placed in the setting without the prongs tightened? I thought that was so weird, now I know why...it would have shown the design flaw immediately.
 
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The prongs don't look evenly spaced out, just three on top & three on the bottom and empty space on the sides (it looks like the prongs are missing).
 
Nikki1415 said:
The prongs don't look evenly spaced out, just three on top & three on the bottom and empty space on the sides (it looks like the prongs are missing).
Click to expand...
OMG... I didn't notice until you pointed out, now I can see it.
 
Looks oval to me. I would get a whole new and different setting. Too risky to try to get this one right, unless maybe getting Caysie or Victor or some custom work done by a higher end artisan.
 
Nikki1415 said:
The prongs don't look evenly spaced out, just three on top & three on the bottom and empty space on the sides (it looks like the prongs are missing).
Click to expand...

Yep, looks oval to me, and I think this is the reason why. The prongs are definitely not evenly spaced. It looks like an 8-prong setting with two prongs missing at 3 and 9 o' clock. And the prongs at 6 and 12 do look larger/bulkier than the others.

As @LLJsmom said, I would return and start fresh with a new setting. I'm not sure how this current setting could be modified to make it right, seeing as the mis-spaced prongs would be almost impossible to correct given the design of the basket.
 
LLJsmom said:
Looks oval to me. I would get a whole new and different setting. Too risky to try to get this one right, unless maybe getting Caysie or Victor or some custom work done by a higher end artisan.
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Or contact HPD, who made the original Symphonie.
 
Nikki1415 said:
The prongs don't look evenly spaced out, just three on top & three on the bottom and empty space on the sides (it looks like the prongs are missing).
Click to expand...

Yup. I think this is what makes it look oval more than the prongs ... but I see what you mean about the north and south prongs being pushed out too ... at least the diamond is stunning. I’m sorry, JulyisJuly ... I hope you end up with the setting of your dreams!
 
I think someone else had said the same about the Vatche version of this ring - the top and bottom prongs are bigger than the others and they don't look evenly spaced. Vatche's version does the same thing. I wouldn't be happy with it either - the side view is not important enough to me to have it look out of round from the top down.

So glad you love the stone though - it looks beautiful!
 
Julyisjuly said:
IMG_4070.PNG IMG_4090.jpg IMG_4073.JPG IMG_4088.JPG IMG_4089.JPG IMG_4083.JPG

WF made my ring. I provide the picture of HPD symphony style and added some changes.

The longer I looked at it, the shape is more obvious to me, non-round, kinda like an oval.
The prongs are thick and the crossing is high(should be lower, as I marked as green line), which push the north and south prong higher and appear like oval. When they gave the CAD, they said it will look thinner and more refined once finished. And I couldn't tell the crossing gonna be so high.

The final product doesn't look as elegant as I expected. To me, it's good but ordianary. For instance, if I saw someone post this style online, It won't catch my eyes.
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@Julyisjuly -I’m sorry about this disappointment once again. I’m glad you are happy with the stone but the setting does make your stone look like oval likely due to the unevenness of the prong spacing, as others have pointed out. No idea how this passed inspection. I don’t think the original vatche is spaced out like that. I definitely would send it back to get the setting replaced. Good luck.
 
For me, the issue is fully to do with the shape of the north and south prongs. Because they have been set a bit high, but more importantly they are not in the shape of a three prong star, they look more like a wave. The prong that comes up to meet the diamond isn't a straight single prong created out of two pieces of metal that met already lower down (like in the Symphonie), it's still two strips of metal. You can see those strips of metal from above and that's creating that oval shape.

To be honest I don't think it looks quite like the CAD, because the north and south prongs do come out too high and are of a different steepness, but I ALSO don't think the CAD looks like the Symphonie shape - the CAD is definitely a wave and the Symphonie is definitely a three prong star shape. Whiteflash made the finished product based on the CAD and I think the finished product looks more like the CAD than the Symphonie. It's frustrating.

I'm not sure if you posted the CAD here for review?

If it's any consolation, I have my finished ring too and it has to go back for some tweaks - despite as much communication as you can manage, there's so many people involved in making a ring certain things always seem to get lost in translation... :think:

As always, I feel sure Whiteflash would make this right for you if you gave them the opportunity. I would love to see this with a happy ending.
 
tigertales said:
And another thing, did you notice how unusual it was that the WF pictures of the setting only show a diamond just placed in the setting without the prongs tightened?
Click to expand...

I believe that is a CAD image; not her actual/semi-finished ring.

@Julyisjuly Were those the CADs you approved? Was there a straight-on CAD image as well showing how it it would look facing up at you?

@MissGotRocks I agree the Vatche version (visually) looks the same to me. There is almost like a little ‘lip’ of metal (that comes up & forms the prong) that is visible from the top down in the north & south prongs. And the prong placement appears the same in that the top and bottom prongs are above/below the ring shank when looking down at the ring vs. evenly spaced around the diamond itself.


IMO, the issue causing the off-round appearance is a combination of the prong spacing (but that is what appears in the CAD) and the swoopy cross-bars that create the north & south prongs ... the cross-bars protrude out from under the diamond too much, but again, that’s how it appears in the CAD OP posted, assuming those are the ones she approved.
 
Looks oval to me as well
 
The north and south prongs make the setting look oval rather than round for sure. Too bad. Hope it is rectified for you.
 
You are right! The setting makes the ring look oval and is completely off. Like you said the north and south prongs are pushed higher or something. How will you proceed? Will you have WF fix this setting or go with something else. Glad the diamond is okay.
 
I would not be happy with that setting. I would ask for a refund and start over. They should have never sent that ring to you. I’m sorry you had to go through this..
 
Oh no! I've been looking forward to seeing this ring happily situated on your finger! I'm so sorry! :(2

Is it just me or does one side of the wishbone-looking thing (I think you called it the crossing) look higher than the other side? It may just be my eyes.

In any event, I'm sure Whiteflash will make it right. They have such a great reputation on here for customer service. This is where they shine! Maybe the Valentine's Day rush created a crazy time for them.

I adore the stone, though! It's stunning and quite possibly my dream stone! =)2 I've enjoyed your journey so much and look forward to a joyful end - maybe with a different setting?
 
tigertales said:
dude, seriously.


Why didn't they honor your request to send you photos of the completed ring prior to shipment?
And another thing, did you notice how unusual it was that the WF pictures of the setting only show a diamond just placed in the setting without the prongs tightened? I thought that was so weird, now I know why...it would have shown the design flaw immediately.
Click to expand...

I think that’s the CAD where the diamond is just placed in.
 
Is this the setting you ordered? The one you got looks remarkably close to the pictures on white flash website.
The diamond that you have is obviously larger than the sample one, but the design of the setting is for the n/s prongs to have a more rounded edge. They do not look the same as the 4 side prongs. It is supposed to be like that for the setting.

What setting did you order?


78FB94E5-B765-4618-8C37-2796A13BB128.jpeg
 
tigertales said:
how unusual it was that the WF pictures of the setting only show a diamond just placed in the setting without the prongs tightened? I thought that was so weird, now I know why...it would have shown the design flaw immediately.
Click to expand...
That's the CAD, not the actual physical ring.
 
MissGotRocks said:
I think someone else had said the same about the Vatche version of this ring - the top and bottom prongs are bigger than the others and they don't look evenly spaced. Vatche's version does the same thing. I wouldn't be happy with it either - the side view is not important enough to me to have it look out of round from the top down.

So glad you love the stone though - it looks beautiful!
Click to expand...

Yep, the important thing to note is that the Vatche version does the same thing with the north and south prongs. Probably a structural thing and can't be entirely avoided, just minimized.
 
Wewechew said:
That's the CAD, not the actual physical ring.
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Thank you for clarifying that. I dislike CAD images precisely for that reason...they make everything look fantastic, but not necessarily realistic.
 
I would not be happy with this ring at all. The prongs look unevenly spaced, it looks oval shaped and it just doesn’t have the elegant look of a well made ring. If you’re not 100% happy either, I would start over. Otherwise it’ll probably end up bothering you more and more over time.

It is weird that they sent you photos after the ring was already shipped out. I would have expected it to be beforehand so that you have a chance to comment and make adjustments.
 
Julyisjuly said:
IMG_4089.JPG

I provide the picture of HPD symphony style and added some changes.
...
And I couldn't tell the crossing gonna be so high.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you've specified for the custom work, but unless the basket is lowered as you've drawn in green to hide the raised structure from the top view, it seems you can't avoid the overly oval shape. I'd definitely return and start over.
 
I think the higher basket is what goves the symphonie design its elegance so i can see why this modification was made but as others have pointed out, the way the prongs are designed i dont think you can get the look you want. I don't think hpd will set an putside stone, were there any other settings you were considering?
 
MissGotRocks said:
I think someone else had said the same about the Vatche version of this ring - the top and bottom prongs are bigger than the others and they don't look evenly spaced. Vatche's version does the same thing. I wouldn't be happy with it either - the side view is not important enough to me to have it look out of round from the top down.

So glad you love the stone though - it looks beautiful!
Click to expand...
I read that before, so I specifically called out to WF that Vatche similar style has the north and south prongs issue, I clearly mention to them please make them even.
 
IMG_4094.PNG IMG_4107.PNG IMG_4109.PNG
IMG_4106.PNG

I sent WF the symphony CAD, and I said no melter, narrow band at center, make sure all prongs even......
I think it's the north and south prongs screwed it. Vatche has a similar style, from the picture it looks round and prongs spread out even. The key is the the prong crossing has be low! WF set too high and prongs are fat, so ends up looks like a wave hugging the stone on top.
I don't know how can they made the prongs spread out uneven, unbelievable.
It's a custom, I don't know whether I can return or redo.
 
@Julyisjuly Have you addressed/discussed/alerted any of your concerns with WF yet? What have they advised?
 
Sometimes we have a vision in our head, but it can be difficult to communicate our vision fully and have someone else execute it perfectly. Custom is great, but there is also that risk. However, any reputable jeweler will want you to be happy with their product. I'm sure if you reached out to WF with your concerns, they will fix it.
 
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