jennalyns
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2004
- Messages
- 266
Hello all! I haven''t posted in awhile... I have a VERY long story! We got my ring back in 2005, and got married in July 2006. Around then, we wanted to upgrade my stone because the warmth of the H was bothering me, I am way more color-sensitive than I thought. We contacted Wink Jones about a stone, it was a .71 D SI1, ideal cut. He said it wasn''t his definition of hearts and arrows but that some would sell it as such, and that it was a beautiful stone. We ended up deciding not to do it, because we were still in Japan and I didn''t want to deal with the international shipping/taxes/worry about the mail/etc. I''d worked with him before, he did a few repairs for me and made me a gorgeous pendant, so I knew he was good, I just couldn''t deal with the stress of international shipping with my ring again. 
Fast forward two years. Still love my ring, still trying to convince myself the color doesn''t bother me. My husband and I had been talking about it, but weren''t sure about the expense. About three weeks ago, I got in a major car wreck- the car was totalled but somehow I didn''t hit anyone else and walked away with just bruises. Well, we kind of decided, life''s short, let''s get the diamond. Haha! Anyway, I contacted Whiteflash, who made my ring. I almost bought another ACA stone from them, but they said that my setting couldn''t accomodate it and they would have to make a new one; they said that if I changed the stone it would probably destroy the setting. Two years ago, when I had been talking to Wink, he said he thought it wouldn''t be a problem, so I decided to give him a call.
I asked him about a few of his infinity stones, and then noticed on the site that the old stone I had been looking at was still there. I asked him about it, and he pulled it out right there on the phone and put it in all the cut-testing machines and described it to me. He said he preferred it to a few of his other stones, and that he thought I would love it; he offered to overnight it to me to look at, free of charge, with just an authorization on my credit card. He mentioned that the price should be higher than what was listed on the website- it hadn''t been updated, today''s price would be almost a grand higher than it was listed at. I didn''t even ask (I was prepared to pay the higher price), but he said he would honor the price on the website for me but if I didn''t buy it he would correct it for the next person! lol.
I got the stone the next day, and it was a stunner. I LOVED the clear whiteness, and the size was perfect (my original stone was a .55). Just a tiny bit bigger, but not hugely so, exactly what I wanted. It sparkled crazily in several different lighting conditions, and I loved it. I sent the stone and ring to Wink to be set.
That weekend, my husband and I were talking about it more and I started to freak out, thinking more about what WF had said about messing up the setting. I am extremely sentimental, and i wanted to take NO chances with messing up my setting. I called and left a panicked voicemail and sent a panicked email, told them not to set the stone and to just polish my ring and send it back. Sheila emailed me Monday first thing and confirmed that they''d caught it and wouldn''t set the stone.
Wink called me Tuesday, after he had talked to the benchman. I had said to go ahead if they''d already started in my panicked email, but he said he would never lock me in like that and wanted me to be happy. He told me the benchman had said that he could set it no problem, but that there was no pressure and they would happily refund me if I decided not to keep the stone. With Wink''s reassurances, I decided to go ahead.
Yesterday, they finished the ring and Wink called me, and told me I was going to be quite pleased. He sounded very excited, so that relieved my nerves, lol! I got the ring this morning, and.... wow. It looks like the setting was made for this stone, it is unbelievable. The workmanship is perfect, you can''t tell at all that anything was changed on the ring. Then something else caught my eye- when he sent the stone for me to inspect, Wink didn''t sent the cert. I opened it- and the date on it was in May 1997. It must have been a trade-in or something... But, it brought tears to my eyes because May 1997 is when my husband and I met and started our friendship; we started dating that August. We are both extremely sentimental, and not only did Wink somehow have that stone for two years, but it was certed in our special year??? It seems like the stone was just waiting for me.
This is my forever stone, no more changes to this ring and no more upgrades. It finally feels completely perfect, and I am beyond thrilled.
I can''t say enough about how awesome Wink was. He was completely honest and provided all the information I needed, and I felt completely comfortable trusting him with such an important project. Sheila was also great, she answered about a thousand questions from me about settings for my original diamond- I decided on a very simple rose gold bar pendant that will be donenext week. I''ve worked with a few different PS vendors, and I can say hands-down that I will never work with anyone but Wink on future projects. He genuinely cared that everything be done just right, and that my husband I were happy and comfortable with our decisions, and I totally loved working with someone who is so determined that his customers are happy.
Also- the same weekend of my freak-out about the setting, my husband and I went into Tiffany. We were just browsing, and the lady there let us play and take out a million different pieces. We fell in love with the jade Gehry fish pendant, and the green tourmaline stacking ring (18K white gold). We thought about it for a few days, and decided to go for it, especially since she said there was going to be a price increase Aug 16! They had to order the tourmaline ring in my size; when I got it, I noticed that inside it was engraved with the copyright year of, yep, you guessed it, 1997. Pretty amazing coincidences... I emailed our sales rep about it, and she was just as moved by significance of it as I was. I know some may think it''s silly, but seriously, what are the odds of the piece of jewelry AND the stone we chose both being made in a year that was so significant to us, that was 11 years ago?!?!? So I got my first Tiffany pieces too! I''m officially not getting any jewelry for another 3-4 years. lol!
Anyway, after a LONG story, here are some pictures. Thanks for listening, I know only you all will truly understand how excited I am!!!
Fast forward two years. Still love my ring, still trying to convince myself the color doesn''t bother me.
My husband and I had been talking about it, but weren''t sure about the expense. About three weeks ago, I got in a major car wreck- the car was totalled but somehow I didn''t hit anyone else and walked away with just bruises. Well, we kind of decided, life''s short, let''s get the diamond. Haha! Anyway, I contacted Whiteflash, who made my ring. I almost bought another ACA stone from them, but they said that my setting couldn''t accomodate it and they would have to make a new one; they said that if I changed the stone it would probably destroy the setting. Two years ago, when I had been talking to Wink, he said he thought it wouldn''t be a problem, so I decided to give him a call.I asked him about a few of his infinity stones, and then noticed on the site that the old stone I had been looking at was still there. I asked him about it, and he pulled it out right there on the phone and put it in all the cut-testing machines and described it to me. He said he preferred it to a few of his other stones, and that he thought I would love it; he offered to overnight it to me to look at, free of charge, with just an authorization on my credit card. He mentioned that the price should be higher than what was listed on the website- it hadn''t been updated, today''s price would be almost a grand higher than it was listed at. I didn''t even ask (I was prepared to pay the higher price), but he said he would honor the price on the website for me but if I didn''t buy it he would correct it for the next person! lol.
I got the stone the next day, and it was a stunner. I LOVED the clear whiteness, and the size was perfect (my original stone was a .55). Just a tiny bit bigger, but not hugely so, exactly what I wanted. It sparkled crazily in several different lighting conditions, and I loved it. I sent the stone and ring to Wink to be set.
That weekend, my husband and I were talking about it more and I started to freak out, thinking more about what WF had said about messing up the setting. I am extremely sentimental, and i wanted to take NO chances with messing up my setting. I called and left a panicked voicemail and sent a panicked email, told them not to set the stone and to just polish my ring and send it back. Sheila emailed me Monday first thing and confirmed that they''d caught it and wouldn''t set the stone.
Wink called me Tuesday, after he had talked to the benchman. I had said to go ahead if they''d already started in my panicked email, but he said he would never lock me in like that and wanted me to be happy. He told me the benchman had said that he could set it no problem, but that there was no pressure and they would happily refund me if I decided not to keep the stone. With Wink''s reassurances, I decided to go ahead.
Yesterday, they finished the ring and Wink called me, and told me I was going to be quite pleased. He sounded very excited, so that relieved my nerves, lol! I got the ring this morning, and.... wow. It looks like the setting was made for this stone, it is unbelievable. The workmanship is perfect, you can''t tell at all that anything was changed on the ring. Then something else caught my eye- when he sent the stone for me to inspect, Wink didn''t sent the cert. I opened it- and the date on it was in May 1997. It must have been a trade-in or something... But, it brought tears to my eyes because May 1997 is when my husband and I met and started our friendship; we started dating that August. We are both extremely sentimental, and not only did Wink somehow have that stone for two years, but it was certed in our special year??? It seems like the stone was just waiting for me.
I can''t say enough about how awesome Wink was. He was completely honest and provided all the information I needed, and I felt completely comfortable trusting him with such an important project. Sheila was also great, she answered about a thousand questions from me about settings for my original diamond- I decided on a very simple rose gold bar pendant that will be donenext week. I''ve worked with a few different PS vendors, and I can say hands-down that I will never work with anyone but Wink on future projects. He genuinely cared that everything be done just right, and that my husband I were happy and comfortable with our decisions, and I totally loved working with someone who is so determined that his customers are happy.
Also- the same weekend of my freak-out about the setting, my husband and I went into Tiffany. We were just browsing, and the lady there let us play and take out a million different pieces. We fell in love with the jade Gehry fish pendant, and the green tourmaline stacking ring (18K white gold). We thought about it for a few days, and decided to go for it, especially since she said there was going to be a price increase Aug 16! They had to order the tourmaline ring in my size; when I got it, I noticed that inside it was engraved with the copyright year of, yep, you guessed it, 1997. Pretty amazing coincidences... I emailed our sales rep about it, and she was just as moved by significance of it as I was. I know some may think it''s silly, but seriously, what are the odds of the piece of jewelry AND the stone we chose both being made in a year that was so significant to us, that was 11 years ago?!?!? So I got my first Tiffany pieces too! I''m officially not getting any jewelry for another 3-4 years. lol!
Anyway, after a LONG story, here are some pictures. Thanks for listening, I know only you all will truly understand how excited I am!!!
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