So the other day, I tagged along my friend who was looking for engagement ring to one of the Wah Chan branches. So I suggested to him that we drop by Wah Chan, as they are pretty famous for their prices. Once there, we were greeted by a friendly and experienced consultant. He provided us with a quick introduction to the 4Cs and then we proceed to check out his recommendations. First of all, the consultant is not pushy at all and I would say he is quite knowledgable and know his stuff well, which is good. He show us some stones that are on promotion, like those that you can see on their Facebook page. Honestly, everything blinks, and they blink pretty good, and of course, this is thanks to the brilliant lighting in the store itself. The consultant provided very practical advice, which is to go for size. I would say this advice is practical because size is the most obvious thing people can observe. And to be honest, a lot of people is aiming for size. I saw a couple walked-in happily to get their resized L colour engagement ring. Yes, you read that right, L colour 0.81ct with VVS or VS clarity. The other guy, who messaged me, ended up buying a 0.9ct J VS1 from Wah Chan as well because he clearly knows that his girlfriend is aiming for size, so yes, KNOWING WHAT YOUR OTHER HALF WANTS IS PRETTY IMPORTANT. Nice. Now we have size, what about the price? Well, I think the 0.81ct is slightly above RM 11,000, if not mistaken, while the 0.9ct is around RM 13,000. Yes, you are getting a stone that is big enough to be Instragram-worthy and honestly, nobody will give a damn about the cut quality because it ain't obvious in any Instragram post! Yup, that is practical.
Now, rewind back to my visit with my friend. We are looking at near colourless range and VS or SI range kind of diamonds. All are GIA Triple Excellent. Affordable prices. Lighting speed delivery - Yes, A LOT OF READY MADE settings over there that can you can set your chosen stone within an hour or two? Yup, if you have that spur of the moment kind of thing to propose, it is certainly a good place to get an engagement ring to get the job done. The setting quality is pretty standard, but not as precise as what I have seen at Diamond & Platinum's ForeverMark (which I will cover on another post). What is not precise? It is like something I have written about my experience with Tailored Jewel few years back. But then to be fair, I am comparing ONE setting that I saw against ForeverMark's EndLea setting. So, my advice is - Scrutinize the variety of settings at Wah Chan and get the one that you are comfortable with, if you are buying from there. And just to clear things up, Tailored Jewel is still a reputable jeweller in town and my experience with them is just an isolated incident, if you want assurance, check out their store at Atria or visit them in the upcoming KLPJ wedding fair.
Back to Wah Chan. The consultant automatically made all the necessary discount and provided us the final price. How's the discount like? A 0.5ct G VS2 diamond at RM 6,700 (or close to that price). A ring setting costs between RM 900 to RM 1200. So is like what? Below RM 8,000 for a 0.5ct G VS2 GIA Triple Excellent diamond set in a 18k White Gold ring setting? And this is a price that I have not haggle further, it is the price that is offered by the consultant himself. That's pretty impressive, if we consider the 4Cs alone, and not the overall cut quality. Of course, they used the "A CUT ABOVE" slogan for their diamonds, and the few diamonds that I saw have pretty nice looking Hearts & Arrows using the 20x H&A scope. 1 diamond that is on promotion is far cry from true Hearts & Arrows - Clefts in hearts, pointy rabbit hearts, messy stuff, but that diamond is pretty big and it blinks nicely too in the store. Again, everything blinks in-store (there is a catch here :)). Another diamond, which is a smaller one at 0.5ct, has a heart that is smaller than the others, based on what I observed within the limited time I have to view the diamond up-close. So nope, that is not true Hearts & Arrows. The other diamonds have pretty nice Hearts & Arrows, which surprised me. Again, this is just using the normal 20x H&A scope so you won't really know how they look when you magnified it as big as WhiteFlash's size. However, when I saw the proportions, I won't be getting them personally. Perhaps they have diamonds that are within the proportions that I am looking for, but I did not bother asking, perhaps I should ask next time. But if you are on a budget to maximize stone size, Wah Chan is definitely one of the top-choices.
At the same time, if you want some guidelines to hit what I consider it as my sweetest spot of proportions for GIA-graded diamonds, here you go:
Again, this is just personal preference, as long as a diamond stays within the ACA specifications, it will be fine in terms of proportions (which is not the only factor for a diamond's beauty by the way). Just try to make sure your pavilion angle don't go beyond 41.2 degree to something like 41.4 degree. Heck, even a 41.2 degree is dangerous to recommend, so I would stick to 40.8 if possible. Another thing, if the crown angle is 35.5 degree, it is always best paired with 40.6 pavilion angle to be safe. A 35 degree crown angle can go with either 40.6 pavilon or 40.8 pavilion angle. Again, this is for proportions, which do not determine the overall cut quality. A diamond can only perform at its top-form if the proportions + cut quality + raw diamond quality are all top-notch.
Now, rewind back to my visit with my friend. We are looking at near colourless range and VS or SI range kind of diamonds. All are GIA Triple Excellent. Affordable prices. Lighting speed delivery - Yes, A LOT OF READY MADE settings over there that can you can set your chosen stone within an hour or two? Yup, if you have that spur of the moment kind of thing to propose, it is certainly a good place to get an engagement ring to get the job done. The setting quality is pretty standard, but not as precise as what I have seen at Diamond & Platinum's ForeverMark (which I will cover on another post). What is not precise? It is like something I have written about my experience with Tailored Jewel few years back. But then to be fair, I am comparing ONE setting that I saw against ForeverMark's EndLea setting. So, my advice is - Scrutinize the variety of settings at Wah Chan and get the one that you are comfortable with, if you are buying from there. And just to clear things up, Tailored Jewel is still a reputable jeweller in town and my experience with them is just an isolated incident, if you want assurance, check out their store at Atria or visit them in the upcoming KLPJ wedding fair.
Back to Wah Chan. The consultant automatically made all the necessary discount and provided us the final price. How's the discount like? A 0.5ct G VS2 diamond at RM 6,700 (or close to that price). A ring setting costs between RM 900 to RM 1200. So is like what? Below RM 8,000 for a 0.5ct G VS2 GIA Triple Excellent diamond set in a 18k White Gold ring setting? And this is a price that I have not haggle further, it is the price that is offered by the consultant himself. That's pretty impressive, if we consider the 4Cs alone, and not the overall cut quality. Of course, they used the "A CUT ABOVE" slogan for their diamonds, and the few diamonds that I saw have pretty nice looking Hearts & Arrows using the 20x H&A scope. 1 diamond that is on promotion is far cry from true Hearts & Arrows - Clefts in hearts, pointy rabbit hearts, messy stuff, but that diamond is pretty big and it blinks nicely too in the store. Again, everything blinks in-store (there is a catch here :)). Another diamond, which is a smaller one at 0.5ct, has a heart that is smaller than the others, based on what I observed within the limited time I have to view the diamond up-close. So nope, that is not true Hearts & Arrows. The other diamonds have pretty nice Hearts & Arrows, which surprised me. Again, this is just using the normal 20x H&A scope so you won't really know how they look when you magnified it as big as WhiteFlash's size. However, when I saw the proportions, I won't be getting them personally. Perhaps they have diamonds that are within the proportions that I am looking for, but I did not bother asking, perhaps I should ask next time. But if you are on a budget to maximize stone size, Wah Chan is definitely one of the top-choices.
At the same time, if you want some guidelines to hit what I consider it as my sweetest spot of proportions for GIA-graded diamonds, here you go:
Table percentage: 54%-57%
Crown Angle: 34.5
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
Crown height: 14.5% - 15.5%
Star Length: 50% to 55%.
Lower Girlde: 75%
Total Depth: Max at 62.2%
Again, this is just personal preference, as long as a diamond stays within the ACA specifications, it will be fine in terms of proportions (which is not the only factor for a diamond's beauty by the way). Just try to make sure your pavilion angle don't go beyond 41.2 degree to something like 41.4 degree. Heck, even a 41.2 degree is dangerous to recommend, so I would stick to 40.8 if possible. Another thing, if the crown angle is 35.5 degree, it is always best paired with 40.6 pavilion angle to be safe. A 35 degree crown angle can go with either 40.6 pavilon or 40.8 pavilion angle. Again, this is for proportions, which do not determine the overall cut quality. A diamond can only perform at its top-form if the proportions + cut quality + raw diamond quality are all top-notch.
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September 07, 2019
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