Before we start, remember, give you yourself ample time to make the perfect engagement ring. Suggested time frame is at least 6 weeks, which includes:
1. Choosing the diamond
2. Waiting for the diamond to arrive
3. Choosing the ring setting.
4. And wait for the ring to be completed.
So it's the year end again, and some of you may be planning for proposal. So did you research the prices around the market? Did you use the HCA tool to find out whether a diamond is worth to be considered? Then, did one vendor tell you "don't believe that shit", while another vendor tell you "we use HCA"? Did you get more and more confuse when shopping for diamond? But at the same time, you are lazy to research on the Internet? Or just simply, don't understand what you are reading?
In that case, I will just say the HCA tool is useful to a certain extend. Bullshit or not, I don't really care, but if you use it a lot of times over a few years, then you can see a lot of good diamonds actually correlates with the score. Given this fact, I would recommend newbie to use HCA first. You can register for free and use it: https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca
Rule of thumb is shortlist diamonds that score below 2. Can we find diamonds that have a score with 2 and above, but at the same time looks beautiful? I am sure we can. But again, we want to keep things simple, don't we? So if you have a tool at your disposal that can filter out diamonds for you, why not use it? You can use it 3 times for free everyday, as long as you are a registered user.
So, we have a few e-commerce sites that are up and running in the Malaysia market. Some of them are the companies that I have keep on mentioned, and you probably keep on seeing on Facebook ads or Google ads, as long as you have Googled them before. So logically, you saw that they have "professionals" in the house that can assist you, and you noob noob go and listen to them explain to you, what you should be looking for. I believe the experience are pretty much the same even among different vendors.
So, I believe most of them will tell you the good old 4Cs, and will emphasize on CUT is the most important C. And I believe this is what you can read on the Internet as long as you click some links on Google's first search result on how to choose a diamond. So, if you ever read the basic 4Cs and tell the vendor that you understand, they will probably praise you for your effort. Now, the logical next question will probably be what is the 4Cs you are looking for or what is your budget? Then, you probably say tell them your 4Cs requirement and see what are your options that fall within your budget.
Next, you either thank them and tell them that you will consider, then go to a particular forum, find a particular group, and ask inside the group whether it is a good buy or not, and just paste the GIA grading report number, or you will ask among your friends that have experience on whether it is a fair price, or you continue to do your shopping and see what other offers you can get. The beauty of e-commerce is that you can do all these without feeling pressure at the store and simply sit on your IKEA chair half-naked in a hot afternoon. How nice.
Then, after surveying for awhile, looking at the prices, etc... do you still remember that CUT is the most important C? Or do you assume that the vendor will give you diamonds with top-notch cut quality with the promise of "Hearts & Arrows"? Then, do you plan to verify that? Or do you simply trust them or trust that "ignorance is a bliss"? Or rather deep inside, the most important C is CASH - how much that you are paying for a piece of small carbon from mother earth? Don't get me wrong, I am not mocking you. I am just being sarcastic, and being realistic at the same time. We all know deep inside, we want to get the most out of our hard-earned cash. If money is so damn easy to earn, you probably won't be surveying around, because you either already walked-in to T*ffa*y or Ca*ti*r to buy your diamond ring already, enjoy the top-notch luxury experience for a piece of thing that is sooo overpriced (trust me, I checked with my friend on how much he bought his non 3EX from a branded store), simply because you CAN afford it. I know I will do that if I am rich LOL.
Unfortunately, reality kicks in, you are probably not the rich person I talking about, no little blue box or red box, so time for reality check - see which diamond has the best price for its quality. So you probably use the websites provided by the jewelers to check on the best price you can get - what a coincidence, this is also something I used to check on what the local vendors are offering, and recently I noticed that the prices are pretty much closer to what you can get from US super ideal diamond vendors like WhiteFlash and Brian Gavin Diamonds. I don't want to screenshot any particular vendor, so you will have to do your own "homework". For starters, here is a 0.3ct E VVS2 WhiteFlash ACA diamond. Price is USD 835, which converts to RM 3,471.21 using TransferWise.
If you are living in the Klang Valley, then you can find me do your ring setting. I have a few designs, starting from RM 1400. If you want custom your own design, it starts from RM 1600. So let's take the cheapest route, RM 1400. The total diamond price will be RM 3471.21 + RM 1400 = RM 4871.21. That's the price for a whole 0.3ct E VVS2 ring set on an 18k gold ring. So, what do you get if you use this route?
1. Hearts & Arrows image, which 99% vendors don't provide.
2. IdealScope & ASET image, which 99% vendors don't provide.
Do you know a nice pattern of Hearts & Arrows represent high quality cutting precision, which ultimately affects the CUT, the most important C in the 4Cs of a diamond?
While IdealScope & ASET is not a common tool that will be used by GIA, but Hearts & Arrows pattern is something commo in round brilliant that have high cut quality. Do you feel curious about the quality of the diamond that you are buying? Yes? No? Only you can tell.
Are you willing to take the leap of faith and buy online all the way from the US for its cut quality? Or you prefer to buy from local vendor? Again, only you can tell.
My own experience is that I have done my research online before before engaging local vendors. I requested for Hearts & Arrows image from local vendors and I send what I can get to Paul Gian from Beyond4Cs, just like how some people these days message me and send me images. In the end, I chose WhiteFlash simply because of its ease of use and transparency. Also, the price is pretty good too. Does it has nice pattern of Hearts & Arrows? Well, yes, better than the one I have received, which is actually not too bad itself.
So how does my WhiteFlash perform? Well, my wife loves the performance on a Lazare more, but mind you, Lazare itself is also a pretty well-cut diamond that is selling at a premium price. That was the first diamond brand I looked at and I was quoted more than RM 10,000 for a 0.4ct with 18k white gold setting. Personally, when I received the WhiteFlash diamond, it looks really nice and it looks similar to the Lazare diamond I saw at the store. But how come my wife's Lazare looks better? Well, every stone is slightly different, even when we are talking about the most well-cut stones. Does this answer satisfy you? Yes? No? Don't care? I don't know about you, but I am actually quite happy with the stone I bought as it is cheaper than branded stones and brings decent performance.
All I can say is that buying a well-cut stones with Hearts & Arrows proven is like using a mechanical keyboard, once you have it, you can't return to normal keyboard (stones). It is simply a satisfaction in mind while the stone has guaranteed performance. At the very least, it can live up to the statement that it is a Hearts & Arrows stone, and not something simply claim without proof.
Of course, I have to say that if a particular stone is well-cut enough and close enough to exhibit Hearts & Arrows pattern, chances is that you won't notice much difference between the two. After all, there is a limitation to what our eyes can observe. But then, again, if the price is close enough, opting for Hearts & Arrows diamond from vendors like WhiteFlash is actually a better purchase, if you ask me.
Now, the downside of buying from US super ideal vendors is that the diamonds are graded using AGS instead of GIA. Is AGS a bad lab? No, not really, to some, they are comparable, but naturally, they are GIA peeps that will say that they are not that good. They have a point, because GIA holds the highest authority in the industry when it comes to diamonds, but again, does your GIA diamond exhibit nice Hearts & Arrows? Are you able to see it? Try to ask for it.
Based on my experience, for GIA super ideal, there is only one company that can compete with US super ideal vendors. That company is JannPaul. If you so desire GIA but with high quality cutting precision, then you will have to consider them. However, their prices are not exactly on the cheap side, although they are not overly expensive neither. In fact, I am planning to get their newest Decagon to add into my collection! (Like getting a new mechanical keyboard :))
If you really want a decent stone at a cheaper price, then you can also see the stones that I picked personally that are available for sale:
Some exhibit better Hearts & Arrows pattern over another, but all of them has pretty decent cut overall. I have also included pictures and comments to be as transparent as possible so that you understand the stone that you are buying better. Do compare my prices and quality against other offerings and judge for yourself whether is worth it or not.
Alright, that's all I got to share right now. Good luck and all the best in your diamond hunt.
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