Hi Girls,

Can anybody suggest a reputable jewelers in Bangkok where my fiance and I can buy a tension set engagement ring?

I have a very specific idea of what I would like, and as I certainly hope to be wearing it for the rest of my life I really want to be certain of it's quality.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

L xxx

Congratulations on your engagement. What is tension set? Sounds painful................

Thanks very much!

The setting in a tension ring is when the stone is held in place by extreme pressure rather than by claws or prongs as is usual in traditional engagement rings.

I have included a couple of photos of an example.

Congratulations, m155g0ld. You can try the many jewellers in and around the Old Siam plaza. Traditional jewellers, all. But, they could probably have what you are looking for.

congratulations!!

and yes guardian pointed out the jewellers IN and near old siam plaza. the area is infact 'the' centre for diamond and other precious stone jewelry.

(ask taxi to take you to ban moh, or go to old siam and find the street thats one block away from the plaza and you might find somewhat better deal than inside the plaza itself?)

there are also some in MBK, but works better if you already have someone to recommend you, otherwise they might charge a lot more than you need to pay.

Many thanks to you both, sounds like good advice.

We shall make it our first port of call.

Thanks again!

forgive my ignorance but where is Old siam plaza? I have a terrific topaz but in a not so great setting I'd like to have refitted.

The tension setting would make me nervous it might fall out!

Hi SBK,

If you have the right stone and the ring is made by a reputable dealer who specializes in tension settings (such as GelinAbaci) then it is actually a safer option than a prong or claw setting.

Unfortunately it looks like the diamond i have, as it is so old, has been cut in a way that will prevent me from having this setting as it will not be able to cope with the pressure that is required.

I received this information from a very reputable source:

To take the tension the stone needs to be an SI1 or better in clarity rating. The pressure on the stone is 65 to 95 pounds per square inch, thus they have these clarity rating standards for safety.

Developed by designer Friedrich Becker in the late 1960's, for the German company Niessing, a technology known as "tension setting" actually produces rings so tough that they will last a millennium before losing their spring power and loosening their hold on their captive gemstones.

Yes, you do need incredible strength for tension settings...which do away with prongs, channels, bezels or any other kind of enclosure to hold gems in place. In tension settings, the whole tension ring (tension mounting) acts as a stone holder; the diamond (ruby, sapphire, Moissanite, CZ) is held in place by the ring itself—a better system than a prong setting, which holds it with a claw just a fortieth of an inch thick. (Jewelers who sell tension settings by GelinAbaci, including tension mounted rings, pendants, and earrings, must often explain to potential customers that the stone is actually more secure.)

forgive my ignorance but where is Old siam plaza? I have a terrific topaz but in a not so great setting I'd like to have refitted.

The tension setting would make me nervous it might fall out!

Old Siam plaza's ahead of China Town / Jawaraj / Yaowarat (Why do they have different spelling for same name ? It is near India Town / Phahurat.

I'm not sure whether topaz will withstand the pressure of tension setting. You research first before trying it.

Congrats and Chok dee!!!

and sbk...should you decide to make a trip to old siam (provided its on a weekend) then let me know ...by PM please

Next year Mig, when I make my annual trek to Bangkok for the flight home, I am afraid.

Next year's only 11 days away.......

Hiya,

Thanks for the advice re rings. I ended up taking the advice of one of my Thai girlfriends and she came with me to her jeweler who made her engagement ring for her. I haven't received the ring yet but I'm very excited!

sbk you may be able to help me with this as you live on Koh Phangan:

We definitely want to get married there and have our eyes set on a resort called Had Son. This seems perfect for several reasons. Firstly it has an amazing selection of rooms available ranging from about 400 baht to 6500 baht per night, which would be great for our guests as they could spend as much or as little as they wanted. Secondly, the bay is on the sunset side of the island so photos would be perfect. Also it is the only resort on that whole beach so the chances of having lots of onlookers is slim and hopefully we would have the beach all to ourselves.

I spoke to someone who said that the resort is being renovated from March 2007 and so unless we have the wedding before that then we would have to wait until March 2008. Knowing Thailand, if we did wait til 2008 there is a high possibility that the rennovations may still be going on - things like that never seem to finish on time here, and the last thing I want is to get married in the middle of a building site!

Ideally we would want to do it around April 2007.

So, my questions are as follows:

Do you (or anyone else) know the resort?

Do you know anything about these rennovations?

If you know the resort, or even better the proprieters, then do you think they might consider putting off their rennovations for a month or so considering that we would guarantee them at least 60-70% occupancy for the few days around the wedding?

We are aiming to get down there ourselves early in January to have a proper look and talk to them about it but obviously any knowledge you may have would be a great help.

Many many thanks in advance!

L xxx

Had Son --I know the beach but not the resort, I'll ask my husband if he knows them.

But, as for putting off renovations, I wouldn't count on it, it is very hard to get qualified builders here and the owner is on the builders schedule, not the other way round I am afraid.

Haad Salad is also a very nice beach, with a broad selection of resorts (if you want the sunset side). Be aware that April is low tide season along the west/southwest coasts so the ocean won't be swimmable, the water is just too low.

Thanks sbk,

Any more info you or your husband can get hold of would be very much appreciated.

I'll check out Haad salad as a possible alternative.

Thanks again for your help