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Dominic Hackett had our platinum wedding rings made, they didn't cost anything like that, one of them even had a diamond inside.
https://www.hackettwatches.com
My fiancé and I recently visited a local jeweller to discuss a hand made wedding ring to suit her engagement ring. The jeweller quoted £100 per gram of platinum plus £60 labour. He estimated the ring will weigh around 5 grams once finished so £550ish all in.
I've done some quick research (as you do!) and found platinum to be more like £25 a gram?! Am I missing something obvious?
Whilst I'm happy to pay the going rate for a good job, I can't see how this adds up. Is he just rounding numbers up to make it sound like a competitive quote? (£60 sounds too cheap to me!). Does anyone 'in the game' know how much I should look to pay?
Any advice would be great fully received.
Dominic Hackett had our platinum wedding rings made, they didn't cost anything like that, one of them even had a diamond inside.
https://www.hackettwatches.com
Last edited by adrianw; 24th March 2018 at 11:04.
I had one done 10yrs ago and I paid about £400 I think, not sure how much it weighed though.
The way he did it was to make a ring there and then in silver, adjusting it till it was a perfect fit to the engagement ring, he then had to send that off elsewhere to get cast into platinum.
So the £60 could be his fee and the £50 a gram is what he gets charged for the metal and the casting? Maybe just ask him
Long story short, I am having a platinum ring made next week, they quoted the same ring in three metals. Don’t know about weight but it’s a 6mm band with a small amount my own cold added for sentimental reasons.
Now I’m paying with a GEM card as it’s an insurance claim which means that the jeweller looses about 30% I believe so I’m sure they’ve added that in, but it’s a good guide.
Platinum £1545
18k gold £1240
9k gold £980
I had a quote for a different style by another shop and they said.
Yellow gold £1600
Platinum £3250!
I have found the company I am dealing with really good, take a look at there website, I’ve been dealing with Sabina and she has been great. http://www.ringjewellery.co.uk. Not got the ring yet hope to sort it Wednesday next week.
I work in the precious metals industry. You will always pay a premium over spot in the West for bespoke jewellery (very different in the East, but that’s another story) but £100 per gram is very expensive indeed. You should shop around for this. If you’re in London take a wander around Hatton Garden
https://www.qualitydiamonds.co.uk/we...ate-your-ring/
This should give you a comparison. Use the filters to match what you’ve been quoted for.
Id say almost certainly hes including labour in the metal price.
The total cost doesn't seem too out of they way if it's a complex ring but expensive if it's a simple band
Thank you all for the help. I've got a few things to follow up with based on your comments.
The quote was for a simple band, 4mm wide and 2.5mm thick
I've just checked what i can get them for.Originally Posted by toptime
Thank you all for the help
The quote was for a simple band, 4mm wide and 2.5mm thick
A simple D shape band, Size S - 4mm wide and 1.8mm thick (the heaviest weight they do), polished finish is £360 with VAT.
Probably not much help with the thickness being off and not knowing what profile or size you want.
Let me now if you want me to investigate others.
Bit sneaky including it twice!
Gold prize/oz:- £953.29
Plat price/oz:- £671.87
I know platinum is harder to work than gold, given that the current plat price is only 70% of the current gold price, how do some jewellers justify the monstrous markup they put on plat? Watches are the same, admittedly there are extra manufacturing costs with plat but the mark up on a plat watch is off the planet, has been for years and still is. Some buyers see a platinum watch as being more desirable and I fully agree with that but manufacturers try to milk the arse out of that fact and to get back on topic, £100 per gram for plat( which is FIVE times the metal value) is just a piss-take!
Last edited by KavKav; 25th March 2018 at 06:55.
Is that what you get as a trade price, or is that retail?
Thanks
I got what I thought was a good price in the jewellery quarter recently at £340 made to order/ordered in, slight court (higher flatter sides) 3.5 but that was in size k.
My hands were tied though as it came from Diamond Heaven, the same shop as an eternity ring I bought last year, I only had 10 minutes to find what I needed without her seeing and my wife (an ex Brummie, you cant tell...) Specifically wants a Birmingham hallmark.
Just to give you an idea, my wife and I had our bands made in 18ct White Gold, unplated (we prefer the slightly warm white to platinum's silver white) here in Edinburgh by an independent jeweller.
Both 5mm, flat court.
Wife's ring included about 9 tiny diamonds of between 1.2 and 1.8mm (generally about £20-25 each if I recall) and some engraving - all in a "comet" pattern. Obviously this was the lions share of the price, mine was a hammered finish.
All in for both we paid £1300 which going by the internet sites is pretty cheap
Its not quite as simple as that though is it? Platinum is normaly 950 purity whereas most western gold is 18K (750), there is a difference in price and indeed 18K gold is more valuable at present but it is much closer than you suggest.
Last edited by Padders; 25th March 2018 at 13:22.
Seems to me the OP’s jeweller has overstated his markup on the metal and understated the cost of labour (possibly for a reason), but the overall price seems fair enough.
Give me a PM or call Ill get you one made at cost + a scotch
RIAC
That is trade to me, would change due to size.
Birmingham company too.
Just setting up an account with another company that have a better range and do a thicker band.
I graduated from the School of Jewellery on Vittoria St in the quarter last year.
Last edited by minkle; 25th March 2018 at 16:50.
I've been looking at a platinum signet ring, again eye wateringly expensive, would these people be able to make one at a better price than the £1700 - £4000 I see advertised? I get that the engraving is often bespoke and there is more labour involved but it seems a bit OTT.
I’ve commissioned a couple of signet rings (gold not platinum) and there is a lot more to them than a plain band.
Engravers apparently favour working with rings that are stamped from heavy sheet metal with dies before being bent to shape and finished in preference to cast metal rings because the latter (if mass produced) can have voids in them.
The flip side is that if you want a really thick heavy ring there is a limit to how beefy they can be made from stampings. And there are one or two specialist makers who produce excellent quality one-off cast rings.
There’s no getting away from the fact that a good signet ring is going to be expensive.
If you’d consider 18ct white gold instead of platinum I’d recommend talking to Viv Foster- his website is here: https://www.familycrestjewellery.co.uk. He makes amazing quality cast rings and will make them far thicker and heavier than any stamped ring. His prices are also about as keen as they come for rings of the quality which are streets ahead of anything you’ll find on the high street. He also does excellent deep cut laser engraving which I personally think works very well for monograms. The laser engraved crests are more of an acquired taste but if you want a first class hand engraved crest I can recommend Dexter rings here: http://www.familysealrings.com
Prices quoted were ‘spot/oz’, my dig was at some greedy retailers and high-end watch manufacturers, not the jewellery trade. You will know that the Jewelley Quarter is a keenly competitive area and it is not hard to get a fair deal up there, even more so if you know your way around and are ‘known’.
We are currently looking for wedding rings, and it seems most places sell exactly the same as this website ?! I'm guessing in the trade there is a main manufacturer that everyone goes too..??
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