came across this thread while i am browsing my wedding stuff. im surprised at how clueless so many of you guys are when it comes to purchasing diamond rings for your girlfriends . and how this thread is dominated mainly by the indie shops just because they appear to be ‘cheaper’…

they appear to be cheaper only because you compare indie’s net price with retailers’ gross price. after discounts, they are not that big of a difference…not to mention most of the time ppl are comparing GIA (which is a normal stone) to a branded stone…

even if it’s few percentage higher?…at least you are guaranteed with a real stone (cos big stores cant run away). i have friends who got conned by some indie shop (heard his diamond got exchanged when the shop send for casing cos that shop doesnt have own factory). in the end nobody wants to take responsibility..

Thats why i said these indie shops being 'cheap' is overrated.

And the thing is alot of indie shops are not transparent with the gold they use. I have friends who have very similar ring, 18K ring with a 1 carat diamond BUT the one who got it done in indie shop has much lighter weight (the price diff was only 100 to 200 as i recall). She decided to ask the boss and the reply was 'it's according to standard'...

I would really recommend you to ask the local jewellery chains for quotation but there is a possibility that they might not take because it's lab diamond. But no harm asking though. You will probably be surprised with the price and service competitiveness.

Hahaha Tiffany is expensiveee. But i must say it is expensive for a reason though. Wearing tiffany is like bringing a hermes bag. It's the pride and confidence that come with it.

I see some ppl compare prices for Tiffany/Hearts on Fire/Lazare/Le Lumiere with WhiteFlash? That's like comparing Hermes bag with Coach bag. Quality wise might be the same (even though i duno whiteflash is really as comparable) but price difference is there because of the branding. So WhiteFlash might be slightly cheaper in terms of price but value wise i doubt so.

Not trying to say WhiteFlash is that bad but i believe ultimately you should get something that your fiancee wants. Trust me..most girls would rather want a smaller diamond from a known brand than a bigger diamond from an unknown brand.

Quoting some of the messages from the pioneers in this thread previously.

'Bro, just get whatever your fiancee like. Never get her engagement ring that "you think" is best for her, the ladies' brain works slightly different as we know it.' - post #17

'just go for what your gf loves. the heart that you did notice her preference counts~' - post #20

Well, to say that Tiffany is coach while ACA is hermes in terms of quality means that you don't really know how to assess quality well enough. If really like you said, whiteflash is better quality than Tiffany, then at best it would only be a LV/Chanel (Tiffany) vs. Hermes (ACA) comparison for QUALITY. Tiffany diamonds are known to have high quality diamonds (they are also famous for their quality not just expensive pricing so they can't be coach).

But in terms of overall branding, ACA will only be the coach, while Tiffany is the Hermes. Just so you know it's pretty known that most of the branded bags are of same quality, sometimes the cheaper ones like Coach might even have better quality items than certain items in LV/Chanel/Hermes but just because of the branding, LV/Chanel/Hermes are priced higher. So would you be buying coach (ACA) at 20 to 30% cheaper? I wouldn't..i want them to be 70 to 80% cheaper...this is what I meant by getting value. Again, my analogy is based on overall branding not on quality or pricing itself.

And this is Tiffany. I haven't even started talking about the really good quality and comparable ones like Hearts On Fire, Lazare etc..

I know some ppl might say nobody can tell the difference anyway. Well, yes and no..i do get asked quite often where I get my rings..

But then again, my idea has always been getting what your fiancee wants. I read in your previous post that your fiancee is good with whiteflash or Brian gavin. So ya, that's the more important part I guess.

Your gf has taste! Chow tai fook has some good designs and wide variety of choices. With 7k you can probably look at something around 0.4 carat +- depending on colour and clarity. Don't be shy to ask for discounts! Retailers normally mark up abit more knowing that buyers will definitely ask for discounts.

Most of the time after discounts your price won't be too far off from the so called 'cheaper' indie shops.