Wedding Bands

You need to go to a 'jewelers district' rather than a retail store. In Chicago, this is on Wabash around Monroe... I can give you someone's name if you're interested.

 

here's a piece of random advice worth less than you paid for it.

get really simple, generic wedding bands. i know so many guys who've lost their wedding bands in a lake or in a car engine or on a golf course or who knows where.

someone so inclinded to misplace their band every now and then (not that i'm naming names) need only call their jeweler up and say "hey - it's me again - can you ship me out another one" and you're out, say, $100 and nobody's any worse for the wear, as it were.

if you get something distinctive and expensive and personalized and you lose it, you're gonna feel like dirt.

this isn't the catholic church's trans-substantiation, it's just a nice symbol.

my 0.0001 drachmas.

doody.

 

Doody,


We all know you enjoy the best in life... like this Wellendorff ring ;-) C'mon, fess up


Enjoy the Drive,

Steven R. Rochlin

 

TC,

My ring is the exact same one. I'll tell you what I paid, but first the story. I'm not a jewelry person, so I figured when it came to finding a band, it would be a quick, "yeah, that's fine I'll take it" affair. Well, instead of that, I turned into the biggest Sally-B**ch, not liking anything. I finally saw one like mine/yours in a boutique, tried it on and liked it, but they wanted $1600 for it. The saleswoman commented on how well it matched my watch, which is irrelevant for now, but will matter later. Since I had just had a custom wedding band molded and poured for my wife, solid platinum and six diamond insets, for $1000, I knew $1600 was too high for something this simple. However, nobody else had one at the time, so eventually I skulked back to the boutique, only to find out that not only didn't they have the ring, apparently it never existed! Even the original sales lady looked me in the eye and said she had never seen the ring, nor did she remember making the statement about my watch. Now I was really pissed since, as I'm sure you know, the wedding industry is an enormous racket. I went back to the jeweler where I bought my wive's hardware and had them make me this exact ring, for which they already had a mold, but were only making it in gold. They poured it in platinum, and it was mine for $900. SO, the bottom line here is they may be offering 25% off, but they're still giving you the Father Nelson. Offer them no more than $1200 cash, take it or leave it, and don't budge. They'll give you a song and dance about barely covering cost. Tough. Stick it to the next guy.

 

You can get more with a ski mask and a gun than you can with just a gun.

 

ROTFLMAO, wax!

doody.

 

I recommend a Trent West tungsten ring. Tungsten is the strongest alloy you can get, 4 times stronger than titanium! It also has a gunmetal gray color. It's heavy and very masculine. As far as I know TW is the only company that makes them, you have to find a dealer for them.

It was the very first ring I tried on in the whole search and the one I bought!

I'll see if I can find a pic.

 

Here's the one I got. They have ones with platinum, gold and other inlays. The tungsten only ones start at like $530, platinum inlay ones were like $1000+... can't recall exactly.

Here's the website http://www.trewtungsten.com/collection.html

I get compliments about it all the time. Honestly!

 

I got my 8mm (it may have been 9mm) platinum ring for $800. DO NOT PAY RETAIL FOR THE RING. Platinum is incredibly expensive, but $2k is WAAAAAY TOOO MUCH.

If no jewelers will give you a good price, simply buy some platinum and give it to a jewelry maker. A plain wedding band is incredibly wasy to make.

 

They've been trying to sell titanium rings but with mediocre success. I don't know about tungsten (probably the same if it's so strong), but the problem with titanium is it can't be re-sized. If you order a ring in exotic materials and for some reason it doesn't fit just right, you're kind of screwed.

 

The jeweler said I get one free trade-in for a larger size if my hand gets bigger as I age. They can't resize it as it's been cast and is too tough. They polish it 30 times to get it ready; the awesome thing is it's so hard it doesn't scratch. I've had mine over 2 years, only taking it off to lift weights (which has become rare lately, unfortunately , and even from a few inches away you can barely see micro-scratches... but none even noticeable from over a foot away.

 

I felt the same way before I got married but now I never leave without wearing it. Feels funny...besides, the tell tale stark white tan line is a dead giveaway!

As far as the choice, it was the Cartier rolling rings (tricolor).

DL

 

Caution on titanium/tungsten rings...

My buddy got married, got a titanium ring and then was reminded by his doctor that if he injured his finger with the ring and it swelled up, they can't cut the ring off (like they could do with other "weaker" metals).

I'll let you decide what has to get cut off...

All that being said, that ring looks cool as heck.

 

wow - doesn't that mean that the jeweler's margin on these things must be WAY over 100%?

of course! hadn't thought of that. well, that sure seems like a damn good reason to stick with gold (or white gold).

doody.

 

Ironically, I broke the middle knuckle of the ring finger on my right hand, and that would have been a nightmare if the ring wouldn't cut free!

TC, if you already purchased the engagement ring, and I assume the wedding band, from that same jeweler, then they should be giving you a great deal for yours. It may help to remind them that, once married, husbands tend to continue purchasing jewelry for their wives over the course of the marriage. That was the approach my jeweler took, and they also provide free cleanings and inspections every 6 months.