I don't have much money so I am looking at a budget of RM4,000 - RM5,000, less if possible, to buy an engagement ring (or is that a pair of rings?). I am new at this so please pardon my ignorance. It looks like I will probably shop at Habib Jewels or Wah Chan. I have a few questions.

1) My girlfriend once mentioned solitaire, so I am probably going for a solitaire. For the budget I have, what is the BEST in terms of carat I can hope for (assuming big sale at Habib Jewels and Wah Chan)?

2) I read that Lazo has one of the lowest prices out there. Is that true?

3) How important is GIA-certified?

4) If I have to choose between Habib Jewels, Poh Kong and Wah Chan, which should I choose? And why?


Thank you for your answers.

This post has been edited by kenviro: Sep 2 2014, 05:36 PM

If you ever need to pawn your diamond to a pawn shop, they won't accept it if it doesn't have a proper cert. Other than that GIA cert only gives you the comfort that a "D VS2" really means a "D VS2"

As opposed to in house certification which they can define whatever they want i.e. their "D" could be a "G" on the GIA scale.

For an idea of diamond prices you can check bluenile http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-search?track=NavDiaSeaRD

if u need diamond,yes u can go there,they r prefessional~if u only buy gold~~good luck for u,1 gram din discount for u,labour charge u kaw kaw~~do survey outside 916 shop n big jewellery like pohkong wah chan~u will know the different~prices huge gap different

Wah Chan & Poh Kong - slightly pricy
Habib - design no good

try Tomei, not bad.

Are you saying that Habib is the cheapest of the three?

Is Lazo even cheaper than Habib?

Tomei is definitely affordable than Habib. Habib's price range is almost the same as Wah Chan and Poh Kong, but their design is no gooding.. slightly typical.

Not sure about Lazo. Last time when I bought diamond ring, I only compare between Wah Chan, Poh Kong, Habib and Tomei. For me,in terms of price and design, Tomei win la.

If you are struggling to buy the cheapest wedding ring, then this mean you are not financially ready for wedding.
There are lot more financial commitment after wedding.

bb100~

i went to poh kong, wah chan, n habib. i chose habib. i liked their design, simple n classic.

Poh Kong the design quite ah ma taste but den must you go for the three shop only ke?

bro... first of all you need to get your criteria correct, diamond price is solely dependant on the 4Cs... you really need to mix and match...

i personally wanted to give my wife the whitest colored rock therefore sacrificed the size and clarity, i bought a 0.32Carat DSI1, sitting on a white gold setting, it cast me 4.8k from Carat Club (became Suen Jewelers), cert is IGI (not that well known but comparable to the common GIA)

but if you are choosing from Habib, try their Hearts on Fire series, its darn sparkly and not that cheap, forgot what pricing already...
their cert is from AGS, stricter than GIA... T&Co level of strictness

skip Lazo... its crap...

Habib has limited ring casing... but has wider diamond selection... you need to come out with your criteria first then look for the rock at all these shops... not all will meet that criteria

good luck bro

1. Your money should go towards size>cut>color>clarity. Yes in this order. If your budget is big then the order should be cut>size>color>clarity
2. Don't go to Lazo
3. Depends on the size of your stone and who you are buying from
4. Go to Selberan for honest to goodness best service

Let me explain about the 4C in practical terms. Since your budget is low, you want the best bang for your buck. The one thing that is visually prominent is the size of the stone, the bigger the better. Nobody around you will be knowledgable enough to tell cut, color and clarity even if you give them 10x loupe. But to satisfy your peace of mind, you don't want to buy anything less than SI-2 for clarity, and anything less than I or J for color

The most important 4C is the cut. How it is cut determines how the stone will refract light. To get the most ideal cut, a lot of the original rough stone will be cut away. If the stone is cut right, you will end up with what a diamond is suppose to do in the first place - sparkle. Every stone can be cut in the most ideal way. This is the only part of the 4C that is not determine by nature but by human hands. Why stones are not ideally cut in the first place is because they want to retain as much stone as possible so they can charge you more for carat weight.

This post has been edited by idoblu: Sep 9 2014, 06:20 PM

wow... you're not only into watches, aren't you?

Paiseh....

This post has been edited by idoblu: Sep 5 2014, 03:21 PM

must be in the jewelery biz

This post has been edited by kenji1903: Sep 5 2014, 03:28 PM

1) Depends on 4C. Lower quality u can get a big rock.
Clarity and colour is not really essential if budget low. And she can't see the difference since u need microscope for that. Consider Tomei too, to me Wah Chan and Habib is abit pricey in my opinion. You can also opt to buy rock and customized your ring. This is usually cheaper since no brand associated with it. Just make sure diamond has GIA cert.

2) never get from lazo. NEVER

3) for peace of mind to make sure you are buying something of that quality since most ppl are jewel-dummy (me included)

4) i would recommened Tailored Jewel. 1 of the forumer here custom make his diamond necklace which you can search it up. Another recommendation is Tomei

I would say that Habib jewels got more selection of GIA diamonds...if u can spend more...den choose the Hearts on Fire diamonds!!

I would say for price or better value, every shop can nego with them..if u really interested, u can talk to their manager to get a better price..that wat my friend does to get a bargain out of it.

for me colour>clarity>size>cut

colour must be white
clarity SI bottom.
size. depend how big the finger. too big not nice to wear.
cut is brilliant cut.

u can buy GIA certified stone and request a sifu install the stone in front of u.

else you can bring your stone to thailand. they got pro can give u stone cert as well.

if stone smaller than 1 carat , no resell value. for sure all the shop tekan when u wanted to sell back.

buy gold ring better.


wah chan , poh kong etc they use 18k wg. its will turn yellowish after some time wear n tear.
u need to pay and left your ring there for the service.

lazo use 14k or lower. and if u walk in their sungai wang outlet. they can service your ring on the spot, mean u can get your ring back at the same day.

i like poh kong bc got mickeymouse design

if u want diamond habib are better among mentioned
watch out for their sales, quite tempting

By the way, I read in another thread that someone by the name of jackson041104 bought a 0.4 carat diamond in white gold ring for RM2550. The thread is here at https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1379120/all . I really don't know how this jackson041104 can get it for such a low price.

Yesterday, I went to survey some shops including Poh Kong, Habib, Diamond & Platinum and a few others before going to Wah Chan. Places like Poh Kong have an sticker price of RM6,800 for slightly better specs than the one bought by jackson041104 and a few others even more than RM8K. At those prices, I know there is no point haggling because my budget is no more than RM4K (around RM3.5K actually). Actually I am curious, typically by how many % can you haggle down those sticker prices?

When I was at Habib, I saw the exact specs for the diamond ONLY at RM3360. Anyway, I went to Wah Chan and the exact specs sticker price for diamond ONLY is about RM4500. Of course, I told the salesman that it is too expensive and ask him to discount. He brought it down to RM3,800 but it is still too high. I then told him that two years ago, my "friend" got the white gold ring and diamond with the exact specs for about RM2700. And I even told him that Habib is selling their diamond ONLY at RM3360 but still the lowest he can do for diamond ONLY is RM3700. Ring is additional RM500 from what he told me.

Guys, I am still interested in Wah Chan. anyone has any tips for Wah Chan. Anyone gone to Wah Chan recently and got a very good bargain from there? Which Wah Chan outlet did you go and any particular salesman (name) there you dealt with?

I am disappointed that I can't even get about RM3500 for a ring and diamond of the same specs as jackson041104 when it is only 2 years since.

2 things I can contribute to this thread:

1) I agree with the others about not going to Lazo....their diamonds aren't that good.

2) A suggestion on a way to possibly get a cheaper decent diamond so that TS can stay within budget: visit pawn shops and ask them if they have any loose gems which are out of pawn (ie the pawn ticket expired and the goods legally become the property of the pawn shop). I'm not saying this because I watched too many episodes of pawn stars . There are times when the opulent rich run into cash flow problems and hock their stuff. A friend of mine in KL did a similar thing, and then got the gem mounted on a new ring...saved some money. This requires some sweat, legwork and due diligence. If an electronic diamond tester is used when you're selecting a gem, please be aware that the tester should be able to differentiate between diamond and moissanite; some cheaper electronic testers cannot do so.

Congrats on your upcoming engagement and good luck!

I could be wrong but it seems to me that Habib Jewels is less flexible with pricing compared to Wah Chan. Currently, they have a fixed price for their diamonds only but they have promotion discounts of 40% on their rings.

With Wah Chan, it seems to me that you can haggle more. In fact, from their sticker price of their diamonds only on display, you can get a discount of at least RM1,000. If you get the salesperson to ask the supervisor, or better yet, talk with the supervisor himself, then you could get an ever better discount of RM1,500. In fact, I think it's possible to get a discount of RM2,000 from the sticker price if you drive a hard enough bargain because Wah Chan makes a good profit margin from their diamonds, rings and other jewellery.

If you see a diamond only going for about RM5,200, you can negotiate the price to RM3,700 or lower. For their rings, if the price is RM1,800, you can get it for RM600.

This post has been edited by kenviro: Sep 18 2014, 05:26 PM

Bro,

Are you sure? If you say a diamond cost 12K, you reduce to 10K is still believable (about 15% discount). However, you say from RM5200 to RM3700? ( about 28% discount)

Perhaps you are right unless you go the Wah Chan branches which put their price tag very high than suppose. If I am not mistaken, Wah Chan price tag is consider quite " reasonably peg" to current real value compared to others brand in where their price is few times higher than ordinarily.

I just bought a diamond in Wah Chan, from RM12870 reduce to RM10700, negotiate until mouth bleeding and promise will let them frame the diamond in future only can get it.

As far as my concern, if you can get the loose diamond almost similar to international diamond price or 15% lower is consider a handsome deal.

" A true jewellery will never let you have a great discount "

i surveyed alot for diamond's

wah chan is the best priced because mostly they have high volume of diamond and it moves much faster. so they are bale to offer lower price.

Agreed 100%...TS can also try tomei which offers quite competitive pricing as well.

I would suggest to completely avoid Habib...most of their things are overpriced and they seriously lack style in their design, those higher range jewellery with nice designs are mostly overcharged for the workmanship.

Poh Kong...nowadays their pricing not so competitive larr...

One more thing about Wah chan is that, the more times you buy from them, the more discount they will give you for future purchases. So TS, if you got relative who is Wah Chan regular customer, can maybe try ask them to help you buy, they will get even more discount...

My friend bough 2 diamonds from him. and yes. alot discounts. i will get mine soon this year.

go to the one at digital mall. they have the most stock and there is their diamond warehouse.

get loose diamond there and do the band elsewhere if you are particular

Fairly and frankly to say, regarding to the price of loose stone, Habib and Wah Chan can be said as "quite competitive" compared to others brands.

Habib always like to put an escalated price tag onto their loose diamond, after it they will tell you 50% discount is available...bla..bla. However, Habib is still lightly cheaper than Wah Chan for loose diamond in general.


Apart from the loose diamond, if you would like to hover the loose diamond into rings, pendants or earrings, Wah Chan may having more decent design compared to Habib. You may disappointed with the jewellery design of Habib. Unless you willing to fork up more capital to subscribe the Habib's "Heart of Fire" series.

Most of the jewellery shops refuse to hover the diamond which not purchased from them into their design.

That is my overall view onto these two brands.

This post has been edited by Nobita_lam: Feb 15 2015, 01:39 PM

I buy engagement ring from habib and the wedding ring at tomei i think....those llumiere series

4-5k u can get from love and co


and those cert are actually useless...
unless you plan to sell off ur ring in the future...if not , why need those cert? not like you are going to show them off also..

how about diamond?

No, cannot said so.

Certified diamond meant it is verified by reputable independent grader that the stone is authentic and contains certain features.

If your diamond not certified, how to prove it is real? Who should take the responsible onto the feature description of a diamond? Are you pay with a right price? Bear in mind that diamond is not cheap.

What happened in market now is some of the branded jewellery dealers actually trying to escalated the price of low tier stone ridiculously and trying to distort the fact that diamond certification is not important and the importance is about their design and so on. It is damn profitable and mostly cause you pay a high price for low tier item.

if u buy from degem love and co , poh kong....even without cert also should be 100% real....

Your statement already tell you the answer, in addition to even diamond is real and same in carat, its value is actually subjected to huge difference.

Diamond is not a standard item, it comes with various parameters on how to judge a condition of diamond which demanded to determine its value fairly.

It must be real... and how will dealer think if they are holding gems which mau stolen (no cert)/sourced illegally overseas?

I go to wah chan dis evening.. Got promo where u can get a vipcard with any amouny of purchase. And using that card i get 60% + 20% disc for white gold ring...

From Rm3888 to 12++ only!!!!!!!! Dyinggggggg

I usually get my diamonds from De Beers... you should try it too TS. Even without GIA cert nobody doubts their authenticity

For the 4C, i would suggest putting Carat > Color > Cut > Clarity.
Reason being Color more important than Cut is because no doubt Cut will let ur rock shine brighter, but a yellowish rock isnt appealing in the first place...i rather take a white less shinny rock, than a shinny yellow rock.

Clarity is the least important because when ur wife's fren chcking out her rock, no one's gonna whip out a magnifier..so clarity will not be noticeable at all. Unless some persistent fella look at the rock like 3cm away for 45 seconds trying to find its flaw..which is gonna be weird. So u can rest assure no one's gonna chck on clarity.

The cert is only good if your wife plan to sell it. But 1st ring usually no one sell unless it's either sell the ring, or die situation.

i bought mine from Wah Chan tho...but i guess all 3 also ok so long it meets ur criteria + price..

This post has been edited by Soft Rice King: Sep 17 2015, 02:26 PM

i will summarize for you.

just go to any jewery shop you mentioned above.
no point asking what is good or bad.
just tell them you have this budget and they will tell you what you can buy.

as for GIA, if you are planning to sell of your rock, then GIA is important.

so i hope that answers all your concern.

if you need technical information about your rock, all you need to know is just the 4 Cs but with that budget, dont expect too much.

good luck and congratulations.

ROFL.
So may "sin-kar" here.

Honestly. The world market FLOODED with tons of 1 carat diamonds.

Diamond rings DOES NOT FETCH resell value, unless yourself or your wife are celebrity. Even 60% of the price is something in your dream when you resell. With or without cert , diamond rings hardly fetch 30% of the price you pay. It is difficult to resell. The jewellery shop will sweet talk you about the "diamond forever", but never about resell value. No jewel seller willing to buy back ANY diamond rings, not without hefty discount.

If both of you really into something practical, get a simple platinum ring　～1k and put rest of money into honey moon, or some saving deposit.

If you keep thinking about "resell value", it is going to haunt you for the rest of the marriage, especially if you really need the money. You will be lucky if your regret doesn't destroy your marriage.

Since you are so keen on "rationality" . Let me share this transcript. As researcher in the story, live in USA with millions time bigger market than Malaysia, the diamond he bought INSTANTLY lost 60% of the value when he try to resell.
http://freakonomics.com/2015/04/16/diamond...ull-transcript/

This post has been edited by mooooot: Sep 18 2015, 01:31 AM

Hi,

Just thought I gave my 2 cents. For me out of the 4Cs, the one thing you should never ever sacrifice is the cut. The cut is everything. Go nothing lower than a triple excellent. Always get a certified diamond. GIA is the industry recognized standard. Unless you are going for a Tiffany, Cartier, Lazarre or something of a premium branded diamond, settle for nothing less than a GIA certified diamond. Some diamonds are classified as IDEAL cuts by other labs like AGS, IGI, EGL, etc.. but these labs are known to be "looser" on QC. This would mean that if a diamond is certified as IDEAL cut or say a colour D or a clarity of VSI1 by other labs, they may not fair that well if it is examined by GIA. It is a well know thing that diamonds that fails excellent grading by GIA are sent to other labs to get an "upgrade" on the grading.

Now why should one never compromise on cut you may ask right? Because say a 100pts poorly cut diamond vs a 80pts excellent cut diamond. You may realize that it looks the same. The reason why is because of the proportions. Meaning the the diamond may be "heavier" at certain areas or "longer". If I could put it in layman terms, say "Woman" A and "Woman" B both weights 50kgs. Person A may have the the vital stats of 34-24-34... and person B may be 20-33-34. The same applies. The cut is VERY important.

Next you should lookout for is the colour. D,E,F are colourless colour and this range of diamonds are in the premium colour range. Now again I will come back to the importantance of a triple excellent diamond. The sparkle or fire and brilliance in a diamond between a triple excellent diamond of say colour G may shine and sparkle better than a E coloured poorly cut diamond. So though the sales person may push you to buy a D or E colour saying it is crystal clear and such, reality is the diamond will not sparkle. It will look dead and dull. This is because a well cut diamond will retain the light that goes in and hence you will be able to see very clearly the fire and brilliance in it. A poor cut diamond will deflect light out of it at the wrong angles. Having said this, if you are on a budget and are not looking at being a collector, I think F, G or H is of great value for an engagement ring. However, make sure the cut is triple excellent and nothing less. Btw, if the sales person try to sell you a diamond by showing you both a D and a G diamond from the "top" which we normally call table of the diamond, and tell you they are of the same colour, they are trying to cheat your money. From the top, only a real well trained expert can tell the difference. We can't, tilt the diamond upside down and view it from the pavillion. Put both diamonds side by side and you will see visible difference. Go nothing less than a H. You do not need a D or E because they are normally for collectors and the price jump between a G and E for example can be huge.

Next thing you should look at in my opinion is Carat. This is the most visible one. We can tell how big a diamond is by its carat weight. However again, the cut must be nothing less than excellent.

Clarity is the last thing I think you should look at. Forget the anything higher than the VVS range. This are premium diamonds for collectors and the price jump is huge. You cannot see clarify with the naked eye. The clarify of the diamond can only be seens under at least 10x magnification. If you go to a store, ask them for a loupe and you see the "dirt" in the diamond. I would say for an engagement ring, get something like a VS range or SI is fine. Some SI can be quite "dirty". However this cannot be seen with the naked eye. I would say go nothing less than a SI1.

Conclusion, a well cut diamond can look better and bigger than a poorly cut diamond of a higher carat. So settle for nothing less than a GIA certified triple excellent diamond. Then play around with the rest of the Cs until you find one that suits your budget. On stores which carries good diamonds, go to degem's HQ in bangsar, or Suen. They are pretty professional and can educate you very well without being pushy. Some stores just want to push you to make a sale. Don't believe me, walk into Tiffany or Cartier let them educate you. You don't have to buy anything but if you walk into one of these (Degem, SUEN, Tiffany, Cartier) and then make a stop to the others, you will notice the difference. Many will try to just sell you a bad diamond with a higher carat. Some will convince you that certification is not important. Some will even push you to look at other certifications other than GIA and tell you their certs are better or the same as GIA. Don't believe them. Lastly, happy hunting.

AGS ratings is not "looser" than GIA.
Previously GIA don't even grade Cuts and lags behind AGS


This post has been edited by idoblu: Oct 10 2015, 10:03 AM

Carat color cut clarity for me as wel.

If its 1c diamonds then cut color carat clarity. Too small the diamond the cut will make the diamond look too congested.

agreed!

best advice to adhere to!

Went to Selberan site and seen some good collection.

Any idea how much cost for these diamond rings here?

you should have ask when you were there
theres no way anyone can answer your question since every ring/diamond is different. This is not like comparing Toaster A with another shop selling the same toaster, or even at the same shop for that matter

go to Selberan at Gardens, if you can find Ms.Chin, speak to her. She is very experience and professional

This post has been edited by idoblu: Oct 13 2015, 10:34 AM

One more thing, all those certs would mean nothing if that cert dont really belong to that certain diamond. Anyone can switch papers and you wont be any wiser

So how to know? Good quality ones now comes with laser inscription on the diamond's girdle. It will have some numbers/letters. This must tally with the cert

And next time, you send your ring back to the shop for cleaning, resizing, etc, you can tell if they switch your stone when it comes back
The shop will write down the number/letter on the receipt. Then they should offer you a scope to check the inscription when it comes back.

This post has been edited by idoblu: Oct 13 2015, 10:35 AM

To be honest... quite scary to go in because im not big spender but i will try one day. Do they sell the diamond separately? I probably get a custom gold ring for it.

yes they do sell just the diamonds without the ring
dont get yellow gold, get white gold. more suit diamonds. if you use yellow gold, it kind of defeats the purpose of the diamond imho
selberan not that high end la and they are not LCLY type.

also try Jewel Mine at The Weld but not sure they are still there.

Listen to this guy, he knows what he's talking about.

My wife's diamond isnt the biggest one, but because of its EX/EX/EX cut rating, the "fire" is beautiful.

You can use this tool to check the potential "fire" of a diamond. http://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca

Don't settle for anything less than EX/EX/EX when it comes to diamonds. Color and Clarity can be sacrificed because it's very hard to tell the difference with the naked eye, but the quality of the Cut is very obvious.

This post has been edited by lowyatter: Oct 13 2015, 11:13 AM

Yup white gold suit better

Just finish read it and study abit online also. Great knowledge but need practical

GIA is a basic cert... and FYI, AGS's grading is way stricter than GIA

T&Co have their in-house graders but i read somewhere initially theirs is also graded by AGS

similarly, Habib's Hearts on Fire and Degem's Lazare is also AGS graded thus you can see the sparkle is slightly better than normal GIAs

I bought from Suen last time (known as Carat Club) and their Love diamond is graded by IGI, similar to GIA

other than the above, you're pretty much spot on

This post has been edited by kenji1903: Oct 13 2015, 02:30 PM

DeGem - Forevermark
0.27c E VS1 = RM4300
0.34c E VS1 = RM6200

Wah Chan
0.40c D SI2 = RM4800

D&P - Estrella collection
0.31c I VVS2 = RM6200

Poh Kong - HEMERA
0.30c F VS1 = RM5880


My Budget RM5k-6k
Please help above list is after filter
I really donno which one is good. Bigger Carat, Nice clarity or Design on the diamond setting?
My Gf 26 years old, Jewelry knowledge know sikit.

This post has been edited by DeVoir: Oct 26 2015, 02:22 AM

Wah Chan is good.

Tqtq

I have to disagree with you GIA and HRD are really strict on their given grades. IGI and AGS on the other hand is very lenient with their grading.

People tend to regrade their diamonds with AGS or IGI to get a better grade, it is common with big diamonds somewhere between 8.00-10.00ct.

go kuala pilah... cheaper over there..

How cheap is cheap? Not too close with central so hope can get an idea before traveling from central.

I got my proposal ring from Wah Chan. Most reasonable of the lot IMO.

Hi everyone and experts here please help me

May I know the cheapest price for 0.8 to 1carat diamond is around how much?

Anyone can introduce a nice wholesale seller ? Can pm me also

I have a budget if only around rm8k to rm13k what's the best criteria diamond can buy ? ( I don't need any cert ,bec not plan to resell )

Thanks so much

This post has been edited by Mrmr: Dec 22 2015, 06:32 AM

depending whether you are looking for commercialized brand or not.

http://audreys.com.my/audreys/diamondsearch.php
I referred to this web for price estimate for only the diamond.

http://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca
I referred to this web for "quality" of the diamond. Data from certification sheet.

Then depending on boutique jeweler, they can customized the ring design for you. range varies due to raw material and workmanship.

However, if you are looking for the big brands, I don't have much price data. I do know that Poh Kong pricing easily 40% more from boutique jeweler for diamond. Did comparison for the diamond price by using the HCA tools as benchmark for near equivalent rating.

This post has been edited by cadmus: Dec 23 2015, 10:19 AM

13k can't even get a 0.8

0.8 carat is about 22k+ n 1 carat don't bother it,is above 50

focus on the type of cut, carat and colour. the clarity you can't differentiate with bare eyes

Thanks any recommended shop ?

Anyone here know what and when is boxing day? Thanks

i bought in Singapore due to a friend is working there with staff discount. after seeing those in SG, i feel that those display at Lazo and certain shops are really lousy. I have been looking at the price of wedding bands in Malaysia but those presentable ones are not cheap afterall.

How much u bot?

0.52 carat, D colour, VVS2, perfect cut diamond with setting around RM6k

Cannot compare like that la...
Wah Chan use normal 57 faces diamonds.
I not sure about the facets quantity of DP and Degem. But Hemera's Diamond consist of 101 facets. In Malaysia, you can't find any diamond consist of more than 100 facets. They did the test in Gemax (it does not belong to GIA or IGI), the brilliance, fire and sparkle have the highest grade compare with others. Hemera's Diamond is the currently the world most brilliance diamond with 101 facets.
They also take back their diamond 100% without any deduction as long as you keep the receipt and cert for upgrading. Deduction only apply for its white gold casing trade in.

This post has been edited by doraemonkiller: Aug 26 2016, 10:29 PM