Recommendation for an excellent professional stone setter

Good morning all,

I am looking for recommendations for an excellent professional stone setting service. Has anyone personally used a firm that they could recommend? Not comfortable pulling a random name off Google. Previous experience tells me that there are setters and there are setters!

Looking to have some small diamonds set in some rings I have made and the setter needs to have a clue, as the rings are very geometric and precision is of utmost importance.

I am in Germany so needs to be somewhere I can do by post. There are plenty of fabulous setters here but costs are through the roof so I want to compare - may be cheaper in the UK even taking into account courier costs.

Thanks very much and I hope this hasn't been asked before somewhere!

Glowpear

Hi glow pear, try Chris :
http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/sho...ght=#post54802

Lovely, thank you Wallace. I have sent him a personal message.

How small, and how precise do you need?
http://www.jurajewelry.com/

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Originally Posted by ps_bond

How small, and how precise do you need?
http://www.jurajewelry.com/

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Hi Peter, who sets those, they are beautiful, is it someone on our forum?

That's some of Jura's work - he specialises in micro pave, so stones down to 0.7mm. I don't think he reads this forum :)

Since Jura is a friend I'll also fully recommend his tools ( I've been using some of them a fair while) & they are very good.
You could try Vitalij Kricuk in Germany (search YouTube)..
Or then Alexander Siderov in Belgium...

Wonder what they charge? Not the faintest clue but I'm abit curious:)

Sent you pm by the way, & thanks Wallace.:thumbup:



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Originally Posted by ps_bond

That's some of Jura's work - he specialises in micro pave, so stones down to 0.7mm. I don't think he reads this forum :)

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Beautiful work. Ooooh, I want some pieces for myself.
When I read his blah-blah-blah about "if you want to read more about jewelry", I found it kind of funny, ok, the guy has sense of humor. But when I found the same blah-blah-blah under warranty category, it's not customer friendly, imo. In this case I prefer to buy from trusted retailer who gives me free cleaning, free fixing during certain period of time, free resizing.

Is blah,blah better than..if you keep to the chaise longue & pick up wine glass with fingertips only your ok, otherwise don't call me.

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Originally Posted by SilverBouillon

Beautiful work. Ooooh, I want some pieces for myself.

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Time to take a trip over to Beverley Hills.

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When I read his blah-blah-blah about "if you want to read more about jewelry", I found it kind of funny, ok, the guy has sense of humor. But when I found the same blah-blah-blah under warranty category, it's not customer friendly, imo. In this case I prefer to buy from trusted retailer who gives me free cleaning, free fixing during certain period of time, free resizing.

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Have to confess I haven't read it - but he does do repairs on his work. I strongly doubt that resizing is possible.

And yes, his tools are very good.

Added - OK, now I've read it :)

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Originally Posted by SilverBouillon

Beautiful work. Ooooh, I want some pieces for myself.
When I read his blah-blah-blah about "if you want to read more about jewelry", I found it kind of funny, ok, the guy has sense of humor. But when I found the same blah-blah-blah under warranty category, it's not customer friendly, imo. In this case I prefer to buy from trusted retailer who gives me free cleaning, free fixing during certain period of time, free resizing.

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I suspect that he just hasn't ever got around to finishing his site. The craftsmanship is amazing.

ok I feel a little shown up now. That guy is amazing! And your website is allowed to be a bit cheeky when you're that good.

So I don't need anything that flash, just needs to be neat and of a professional standard. No microscopes, just needs to look nice. I have a few things that need setting - mostly rings and a pair of earrings all 750 gold - diamonds to be set are between 1.5 and 2.5mm flush set and one ring needs some pave in the ring shank. I had a cheap guy in Berlin who made a mess of some pave and the other recommended setters here in Germany that I have contacted cost the earth. Plus VAT.

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

How much were you thinking of paying per stone?

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Originally Posted by glowpear

ok I feel a little shown up now. That guy is amazing! And your website is allowed to be a bit cheeky when you're that good.

So I don't need anything that flash, just needs to be neat and of a professional standard. No microscopes, just needs to look nice. I have a few things that need setting - mostly rings and a pair of earrings all 750 gold - diamonds to be set are between 1.5 and 2.5mm flush set and one ring needs some pave in the ring shank. I had a cheap guy in Berlin who made a mess of some pave and the other recommended setters here in Germany that I have contacted cost the earth. Plus VAT.

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

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Hhhmmm...............generally, methinks you get what you pay for........continuimg along the vein of cheeky.......what are you paying now for the setting you're not so happy with?? I am NOT a setter, bw!!

I just got quoted €50 per hour for someone to scrape snow of the pathway, wonder how many years apprenticeship he did to learn that skill :D

Sent you PM with my best offer for a few jobs to help you out, after which you`ll have better knowledge as to what you need to budget for in the future.

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Thats a lot just for snow shovelling, my daughter works for the Donkey Sanctuary and spends a lot of her time shovelling (not snow I hasten to add) for just above the minimum wage her, she actually gets £9 ish an hour)

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Originally Posted by Patstone

Thats a lot just for snow shovelling, my daughter works for the Donkey Sanctuary and spends a lot of her time shovelling (not snow I hasten to add) for just above the minimum wage her, she actually gets £9 ish an hour)

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Unfortunately the self employed need to make that sort of money (at least in these parts).

I think you get what you pay for, except in Germany where you just pay and then you pay some more. It's true though that the quality is generally extremely high - way higher than I really need. I am just an enthusiastic amateur, so the metal work wouldn't live up to anything fancy. On the other hand I am doing "commissions" for friends and I don't want to hand over a piece with wonky stones or stones that fall out after two weeks.

I used a local setter here in Hamburg for a job that only had 2 stones in it and he charged me €22 per stone plus VAT. Another chap I called, recommended by a goldsmith friend of mine, wanted €18 per stone and a "job fee" of €30 per job as I am not a professional. All plus VAT. I forget the exact dimensions but I think 3mm diamonds flush set in 18K gold would sound about right.

The work I have now requires more stones so these sorts of prices are just untenable given the already astronomical price of gold. Chris - I will get back to you shortly, just dealing with a wriggly one year old with flu so not getting much time on the computer at the moment! Thanks again everyone.

Those prices are a joke..:-O

Presumably they get the prices they ask? They're, shall we say, quite high?

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Originally Posted by ps_bond

Presumably they get the prices they ask? They're, shall we say, quite high?

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I suppose it depends on how long it takes to set a stone. I guess if it takes a couple of mins then that's expensive. It could also be that they set the price that high because they see it as one-off small fry work and the kind of stuff that fills time when they could be doing work for regular clients. They wouldn't be the first to give an outrageous quote because they don't want the faff of the job.

If it is usually cheaper than that I might consider blinging some of my bit up :)

Better to turn people away than to rip them off.
Sounds like the setters are working from a workshop attatched to a retail outlet? doubling up what would already be expensive...
2 minutes a stone is possible but thats generally what you have to learn as an apprentice doing mass production work for peanuts..generally the idea is to charge abit more to work at a more sensible pace doing a better job with more satisfaction (if you don`t have much overhead to worry about).

This is why I love this forum. See I would have thought that paying about 15-20 quid to have a stone professionally set was kinda reasonable. Especially if its an expensive diamond or something.

I may be romanticising a little here but I also think it is a cultural thing. German "goldschmied" is a most holy of crafts and a good setter or goldsmith is revered in a way I think we are less inclined toward in the UK. The only mass produced retailers of fine jewellery one sees here are imports - Tiffany, Cartier and the like. Broadly speaking. Even Niessing, as a big German manufacturer, is keen to impress how much every piece is created by hand by master craftspeople, none of that Tiffany cookie cutter stuff. Goldschmied is a big, big deal here and I'd say the majority are name over the door type of small businesses. Even very wealthy people don't wear lots of spangly diamonds - it's all about the inherent beauty of the precious metal and the finery of craft. Generally I share this respect for German goldschmied but I do on occasion feel just a bit frustrated by just HOW expensive it all gets. And, yes 22k gold is much nicer than 14k gold (which you hardly ever see here) but let's be honest, not many of us can afford such pedigree in our work.

No I am talking teeny, tiny specks of diamonds in ring shanks - proper setting of valuable stones is something else entirely! In Germany, at any rate.

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Originally Posted by glowpear

No I am talking teeny, tiny specks of diamonds in ring shanks - proper setting of valuable stones is something else entirely! In Germany, at any rate.

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But wouldn't setting a small cheap stone take as long as setting a big expensive one?

I'm not a setter but I think this popped up on another thread started by Chris. I think the point being made was that the value of a stone must be integral to the setting, and to a varying degree vice versa (well set pieces can hide inclusions and show case flawed diamonds in a flattering light for an overall mark up in price). Forgive me if I misquote as I am more grappling with wriggly babies at the moment than carefully spending time reading all the interesting threads here, but it's fair to expect a 50k stone to be set to perfection under a very high magnification microscope compared to a small, 100 quid stone that is more or less eye clean and looks nice enough to the person wearing it.

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Originally Posted by medusa

This is why I love this forum. See I would have thought that paying about 15-20 quid to have a stone professionally set was kinda reasonable. Especially if its an expensive diamond or something.

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Can be..lots of stuff to consider, though you now realise why setters don't take responsibility if your 50k stone falls apart.:)

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Originally Posted by glowpear

I'm not a setter but I think this popped up on another thread started by Chris. I think the point being made was that the value of a stone must be integral to the setting, and to a varying degree vice versa (well set pieces can hide inclusions and show case flawed diamonds in a flattering light for an overall mark up in price). Forgive me if I misquote as I am more grappling with wriggly babies at the moment than carefully spending time reading all the interesting threads here, but it's fair to expect a 50k stone to be set to perfection under a very high magnification microscope compared to a small, 100 quid stone that is more or less eye clean and looks nice enough to the person wearing it.

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probably. But I don't really know anything about gem setting, I just imagine that a professional gem setter would set a stone according to its size, shape and setting the same way irrespective of the actual value of the stone. Maybe Chris can enlighten?

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Originally Posted by Gemsetterchris

Can be..lots of stuff to consider, though you now realise why setters don't take responsibility if your 50k stone falls apart.:)

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so I shouldn't send you the 500 ct black opal to set them?

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Originally Posted by medusa

so I shouldn't send you the 500 ct black opal to set them?

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You'll have the same problem anywhere, It's your risk.
Having said that, finding a well experienced setter is your best bet.
There is always a risk, most avoidable but some not...
All setters break stones, It's part of the learning process, decent ones have a good reputation by not having accidents often & certainly not with big expensive stones :)
Quite possible a big black opal has a flaw inside waiting to fail under the slightest pressure...only the poor setter will find out.

Stone value doesn't generally apply to setting cost just size,shape & method..also it doesn't do a setters nerves a lot of good if you tell them your emerald cost more than their house ( tell them after ):D

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I should point out that I don't really have a 500ct black opal (except in my dreams) but it makes sense to me that job cost is the same regardless of stone value. So I suppose if its a cheap stone it makes sense to maybe learn to do it yourself but for an expensive stone running into 3 figures then £20 still seems reasonable to me unless you are putting a significant amout of work the setters way.

I offer a diamond setting service. You can contact me through my website. The link is cuttingedgejeweller.co.uk

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Originally Posted by cuttingedgejeweller

I offer a diamond setting service. You can contact me through my website. The link is cuttingedgejeweller.co.uk

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I like your site & work =D>
That penknife job was interesting, i have a similar one here from my grandfather but it`s mother of pearl.

By the way, maybe you could try "linking" your links, makes it easier for lazy people to find you.

As a new poster, the site won't allow linking directly to prevent spammers doing it. Can't remember what the post count required is, around 5 IIRC.

Thanks Chris. I did try "linking the link" but as Peter says you need a minimum post count. Thank you for the kind comments too. I have just checked out your site and that is also looking great.