Boston Jewelers Exchange - Engagement Ring Question

MHarwelle

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone might have purchased any jewelry or their engagement rings from the Boston Jewelry Exchange building. After months of research and picking up on many well placed hints, I am ready to start looking at engagement rings for my girlfriend. Being a guy, and never buying jewelry of this magnitude I'm extremely nervous about where to look. A few friends have recommended I check out the Boston Jewelers Exchange building, but I can't see to find any reviews from people that have purchased things from there...

Has anyone purchased or had an engagement ring purchased for them around the Boston area with a good experience? I'm looking for some places to start and have been referred to Barmakian & DeScenza jewelerys. Also, the Boston Jewelry Exchange but I'm not sure how that works. Any help that you could provide would be greatly appreciate. So many choices! Thank you!

noodle_oo

Awww, congrats!  So happy for you and your future fiancée!

 

I don’t know anything about the Boston Jewlery exchange, but I can tell you my husband did a lot of research and he ended up buying my engagement ring from Blue Nile online.  He did a lot of research in store first, but found the best pricing online.  He said the sales people were very helpful and knowledgeable and it was shipped safely.  And best of all, I LOVE my ring!

 

We ended up buying our weddings bands in local stores.  We got his at Longs (in Burlington MA) and mine at Barmakian (in Nashua, NH).  Both stores were great with very large selections in wide price ranges and very helpful sales people, so I’d recommend either. They both have very good reputations online as well.  And if you wanted to go the route of designing a ring, I think they can both do that as well.

 

My advice is to do your research and shop around before you make a decision.  It is a huge purchase, so definitely don’t feel bad visiting several stores to learn and compare.  You can learn a lot online about buying diamonds as well before you go in store.  Here’s a good resource:

 

http://www.bluenile.com/diamonds/diamond-education?track=link

Congrats and good luck!

DirtyWater

Boston Jewelers Exchange is awesome!  You can get amazing deals there.  FI said he wished we visited their stores first before he bought my ring because we could have gotten a lot more and better quality even if he had mine remade.  So they'll have a customer for life now.  And I have a wish list to create a set to go with my ring now and they took a photo of my ring to keep on file

I just don't remember which shop did it.

sboston06

I don't know if it's different, but my fiance bought my ring at the Jewelry Exchange in Sudbury.  We had a good experience there.  Their selection is rather limited.  He bought my setting for a very low price, and TBH it's not the best quality.  The center diamond is BEAUTIFUL quality.  I absolutely love my ring and would not trade it for anything.  I got it appraised soon after our engagement and it appraised for approx. the same price as he paid.  I was a little disappointed about that, because they claim that "all their rings appriase for at least double".  The disclaimer on that is it only applies to rings over 10K.  Do your research and know what you're buying.

And good luck!

karmellah

my fiance bought mine at the sudbury jewlery exchange. actually he ordered it online. he had it delivered to my inlaws lol i havent had mine appraised because i could careless. my setting is nice my diamond is perfect. i will go to them for our bands

shannon41885

I think its amazing that you came here to ask for advice!
Congrats and good luck to you and your girlfriend!

My fiance went to Mona Lisa Jewelers in the jewelers building at downtown crossing, my brother in law had my sisters rings made there and brought him over. I love love love my ring, and although I did not visit the jeweler myself (yet) I highly reccomend his work!

My fiance tells me he went in a few times after visiting stores and he found that he could get the most for his money having it made and picking each piece individually. He knew what kind of ring I was interested in and he went in with an idea of what he wanted as well, but they had tons of options and ideas and could do anything you wanted. He picked the setting (it resembles a ring he had bought me for a past birthday) and had looked at stones, I believe the second visit he picked the center stone and side stones but had told the jeweler that because the center stone was such a high clarity he wasn't sure he'd be able to afford the baguettes for the sides so he'd need more time. A week later my brother in law called and told him the ring was done, my fiance was super nervous and unsure of what was done as he had not yet settled on the ring. He went in and the jeweler gave him the ring for the cost of the band and the center stone and basically just said he had a soft spot for him.

I've heard some great things about a few of the jewelers in that building but can only speak of this one. My understanding is that it seems super sketchy walking into the building and at first there isnt much laid out but they bring things out and cater to you.

jonchrissy

My FI bought mine at the Barmakian in downtown crossing. It's appraised for about 2k more than he paid. We shopped around and it was the best quality diamond for the price. They also have a pretty good selection of rings to try on if you want to do that.
At first, they seemed a little rude, but I think it's because FI look SO young (most people think we're 18/19 and we're 25).Once we started asking questions, they could tell we were serious and were very helpful.

He ended up buying at the Barmakian in Nashua.

Good luck and congrats! 

crazybrittni

My fiance had my ring custom made by Adco Diamond in the Jewelers Exchange building. They were amazing! I just got our wedding bands from there too. It's a family owned business and they work with all budgets. The sisters spent a lot of time with us and went over the pros and cons of different bands, diamonds, etc. I am so in love with my ring. I would highly recommend them. http://www.adcodiamond.com/

christinymarini

My fiance bought my ring from the Jewelry building in Boston at Serjeo.  www.serjeo.com

I highly recommend Serjeo.  My fiance suggested that we have fun one Saturday and look at engagement rings, though as far as I knew we weren't in the market to make a serious purchase for at least a year. Serjeo spent a considerable amount of time with us explaining everything about diamonds (4 Cs), different setting options (platinum vs. white gold) and showed us an array of stones under many different types of light. This experience was so much different than anything we had experienced at a retail jewelry store. We left that day and both felt like we had been educated rather than "sold to".

Serjeo was really a great guy and really willing to work with you, your needs and your price range. He custom makes all of his jewelry so you can help design any piece you want. He was very accommodating when it came to making adjustment to the ring (resizing, resetting, polishing) and always did it really quickly, even during the busy holiday season.  He also cleans anything bought from him whenever you want!

I am definitely planning on going back to him for my wedding band. 

whitashe

My ring and infact all of the jewelry my fiance has bought me over the years has come from De Prisco's in the Boston Jewelry Exchange.  He told me that the final price on my ring was a good deal and the quality of their jewelry and customer service is fantastic  We will be heading there in January to pick out our bands.

Good Luck!

SummerBoston10

My husband and I shopped for my ring together and we did a TON of research and shopping around.  We looking at a bunch of jewelers in the jewelry buildings in downtown crossing - Barmakian, Depriscos, and several little places that I don't remember the names of.  The prices are pretty good at these places and in line with what you will find online.  Barmakian does not negotiate but the other places do.  After going around and looking at diamonds in person, we knew for 100% that we would not buy online.  Two identical diamonds (based on the cert and the Cs) can look ENTIRELY different in real life.  I know you can return, etc. etc. but what a pain to save maybe just a few hundred dollars. 

So, we had pretty much decided on a diamond at Deprisco but thought that we would stop at Longs just to see even though we thought for sure their prices would be much higher.  We walked in and immediately told the guy what we had found and for what price so they knew we were educated on prices.  They didn't have anything in the store that matched what we were looking for since we were looking for a larger than average stone but they showed us a few things they did have and WOW, their diamonds are far superior to anything we saw at any other jeweler.  Over the course of a week or two, they brought in some diamonds for us to take a look at and they found the perfect stone for us.  It ended up costing my husband about $1500 more than the "same on paper" diamond from Deprisco but the appearance was uncomparable so it was worth the relatively small amount of extra money.  I was really after the sparkle and fire and their diamonds have it!  I highly recommend Longs.  We worked with David in their downtown location. 

jmarchionni

Congratulations!  Although I haven't done it, my fiance has told me about his sleepless nights over buying my engagement ring.  He bought it at Bostonian Jewelers in Downtown Crossing.  I'm not sure if its in the Jewlers exchange building, I think its two buildings down from there (in another jewlery building). 

The store is owned by a husband and wife, and they are take incredible pride in their product.  My fiance and the designer (Alex) worked together to make an amazing ring.  Alex asked my fiance all about me, including showing pictures so that she could get an idea of what type of person I was.  That, along with my fiances requests and things that he wanted incorporated into the ring came together beautifully.  Throughout the entire process they let him be as hands on or hands off as he wanted. I know that they provided him with several CAD designs and revised everything that he wanted revised before moving on in the process. We are going to them to design our wedding bands also.  They are simply incredible! 

They have a website and a facebook page.  Their website isn't much to look at but their facebook page has more of their styles.  I would recommend just going in to talk to them.  They are very nice and incredibly talented people.

Best of luck with your search and congratuations!!!

polkadotsarehot

My ring is from Brillian Earth bought online through Canada. it was important to us to have conflict-free diamonds and metals. I don't think it is a big issue for most people or maybe they just don't know about the issues with blood diamonds and slave labor over the metal mining but working for a human rights non profit, I was aware of it. The prices were very similar to buying locally so it made sense for us.

here was the website www.brilliantearth.com

mjmessina

Congrats!
My Fiance went to the Jewelers building in Boston and spent a Saturday there learning all about diamonds and the 4 C's.  He said they were super helpful.  He then used this information to buy my ring online...ended up getting it from James Allen.  I'm very happy with it!

Goodluck!