For those of you who have gone ring shopping -->

CleverThought

Happy holidays all!

So, I have a beautiful ring that I've inherited from my great grandmother. It's a platinum setting with a (approximately, not sure) 3/8 - 1/2 ct cushion cut stone. it also has diamonds running down the side of the band.

BF and I are thinking of taking it to a jewelers to see if the center stone could be upgraded to a larger stone something in the .75-.90 range. Anyone done something like that? Is it usually do-able? My mom says that she doesn't think they'd be able to set it, but her reasoning is because it's platinum, which doesn't make too much sense to me.

So please share your experiences! Helzbergs is having a resetting event here soon, would you recommend them?

ps. I got a fur baby! Will give more information when he's ready to come home!

flygirlmeg

I don't think it should be a problem.  I would hang on to the original stone if you could though since it's a family piece . . . maybe you'd want to have it set into a necklace or another ring someday.  Just so you know, my BF just purchased my ring & we picked a cushion cut.  One reason was that I LOVED the cut and available settings but I also found that you could get a lot more stone for the money than a round or princess cut.
Before we went shopping we did lots of research online and priced out cushions in the carat/clarity/color ratings we were interested in so we had something to compare in person.  Another bit of advice I was given that was SUPER helpful - put the money in the color rather than the clarity.  You can really notice the different between a D/E and H/I, especially in a setting with other stone around it.  And you also want to go with a larger table than depth - the stone will look bigger from the top & all the weight isn't in the depth portion (this might help <----clicky).

And lastly, I'm not sure what jeweler options are availabe where you live.  We ended up purchasing from our family jeweler but our other main options were the LA diamond district and another local jeweler who many of our friends know.  We didn't have very good experiences when we visited chain jewelers like Helzberg and also found that they priced everything way up - for both settings and stones.  Like, thousands of dollars more for an equivalent stone or setting. 

Good luck and have fun shopping!!!

cu97tiger

Yes, definitely visit a reputable jeweler (preferably not a mall jeweler) and see what your options are. It can't hurt to ask. My FI had my grandmother's ~0.50 carat stone re-set, which is a little different than your situation. Ask around to your friends and family to see if they have a jeweler they know and trust.

DanieKA

It shouldn't be a problem to reset the same shape stone in the size you are thinking. Some settings can only accommodate a certain range of sizes, but a .5 carat to a .75-.90 shouldn't really be a big leap. 

It could be trickier if you are changing shapes. Anything other than cushion cut or a squared off cut (princess, etc) might not be as secure or you might have to redo the prong settings.

And if you haven't already have the original stone graded by a reputable gemologist. Get an GIA or AGS report (the two main, reputable ones. EGL reports aren't as good and they tend to over-grade diamonds that wouldn't be graded as well with the other two reports). This will be good for insurance purposes if you plan on keeping the heirloom and resetting it. It will also help if you are planning to trade in your diamond for the upgrade. It'll help you know what it's worth so you won't get ripped off by the jeweler. 

Good luck! 

leia1979

I'm going to agree with those who said to find a non-chain jeweler. It's reasonable that you should be able to go with a slightly larger stone, but once you show it to a good jeweler, he/she should be able to explain the process to you. I showed our jeweler my great-aunt's old ring, and he said he could rework it into something really cool if I wanted (my mom and I think it's ugly--though it looks better after a good cleaning).