[Shopping in Paris] How much do Tiffany solitaire rings cost?
During my little round trip to Paris, after having pushed the doors of Hermès and Dior with my sister, I told myself that we should take advantage of the fact that we were both well dressed to go to Tiffany’s, right next to the Dior boutique.
Because I always wondered how much a solitaire ring at Tiffany’s cost.
Remember, I went window-shopping at Tiffany‘s flagship store in New York City, THE store where Audrey Hepburn herself window-shopped in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Diamonds on the Couch), but there were too many tourists and the vendors completely ignored me so I sulked.
Whereas in Paris, after the Covid, there is really nobody and I could take all my time to ask questions and even try on the rings!
P/s: no photo was taken in the store because I knew I had no intention of buying any.
The Tiffany Shop near Place Vendôme
Even Tiffany can’t find a store on Place Vendôme because it is reserved for brands that have been there for a very long time. It will thus be necessary to walk a little more, and behind a rather discreet door, is the Tiffany’s store.
In the corner, all the stores are locked, and there is an employee who opens as soon as he is signaled.
My sister and I ask to see the solitary rings right away. As soon as we sit down, we are offered tea, coffee, water… Uh no thank you!
Unlike New York, there isn’t a lot of high jewelry, but only things you can buy. Finally, “can” is a fairly broad concept. Let’s say that some rings still cost 40 000€ without being “high jewelry”.
The loners featured in the showcase are rather in the 20,000€ range, but you really shouldn’t let yourself be dissuaded, crying all the tears in your body and saying “never, oh never will I be able to afford it”.
By digging a little, I understood that we could afford a solitaire ring at Tiffany’s from 1600€
So, how do you buy a Tiffany ring?
Already, all the solitary rings are to be ordered. It is quite rare to be able to enter the store and leave with a ring in 5 minutes, because :
- all rings produced here are size 52
- the ones available in stores have rather large and expensive diamonds
- engravings are offered, so why not take advantage of them, especially when you pay for such an expensive ring?
For the solitary ones, there aren’t many models. The variations are summarized in :
- the type of metal you want to have (knowing that the bezel, which holds the diamond, is always in platinum at Tiffany, because this metal is harder than gold and nobody wants to lose their Tiffany diamond, right): the body of the ring can be in platinum, yellow gold or pink gold. White gold is banned because too many alterations to do (white gold is white because it is rhodium plated, it is a bit yellow in real life, and dull), and platinum is harder and more precious while being white, so why bother to make white gold
- the thickness & design of the ring
- the diamond
Whether you have a size 47 or 54, it doesn’t change the price of the ring. The price changes slightly if you have a really out of standard finger.
Once you have chosen all these items, we will send you a quote, and you will know how much your ring costs.
How do you choose a Tiffany diamond?
Tiffany is well known for the quality of their diamonds. They have brought a lot of innovations to the industry:
- diamond measurement: they invented the carat system
- the diamond setting: they are the ones who found the setting with 6 claws, allowing to raise the diamond and give even more brilliance to the stone. This type of setting is called “Tiffany setting” or “prong diamond setting”. It has been copied by all, Tiffany isn’t the only one to offer it
So buying a diamond ring at Tiffany is to be sure that it will be well cut, that it is traced (we know exactly where it comes from), that it is of good quality.
Tiffany uses the international system to judge the quality of a diamond, but their jewelers are more demanding than elsewhere, i.e. if they hesitate between a VVS1 and VVS2 quality, they will rate the diamond as having the lower quality (VVS2).
So when you choose your diamond, you have to tell them :
- The 4Cs:
- Cut : clearly at Tiffany, for a solitary ring, it is better to choose the shiny round. Tiffany will choose the best stones, the best cut of course, the inclination of the cut of the facets will be specified in the report of your diamond
- Carat (the size): for solitary people, ask for at least 0.18ct. As I have a small hand, frankly, 0.18ct is already huge for me I think.
- Color: the international system exists from D to Z (D being the brightest), but Tiffany only sells diamonds between D and I
- Clarity (purity): the international system exists from FL to I3 (FL being the purest, without incrustation), but Tiffany only sells diamonds between FL and VS2
- from which country it comes from (optional): who cares, but if there is a country that speaks to you particularly, you can ask for a diamond from that country only, for example. Of course, the country in question must have diamond mines, otherwise it doesn’t make sense 😀
Once you have chosen THE diamond you want, the Tiffany employee will launch a “wanted poster”. Once the diamond has been found, you will be given the price and if you agree, the diamond will be set on a ring, adapted to your size (because all rings are basically size 52, jewelers cut or add metal when they receive an order). It will be engraved if you wish. Between the order and the delivery of the ring, it takes a minimum of 3 weeks.
When you get your Tiffany ring, you can have it serviced and cleaned for free every 6 months at any Tiffany store in the world. This service will also take 3 weeks each time. The idea is that when you have a Tiffany ring, you keep it for life, so you also need a proper after-sales service so that you can keep it.
At the time of purchase, you will be given a certificate, such as a quality report on several pages. The photos aren’t from me, but I found them online. It’s very impressive. Even at Dior, I don’t even know where my diamond comes from and what size it is 😀
If you don’t know which diamond to choose, you can ask to see the different qualities of diamonds in the store.
I could try for example a 0.20ct ring, D color, VSS2 clarity. And the ring corresponding to this diamond costs around 1800€.
My ring size varies between 47 and 48 and 0.20ct, it looks very big to me! I think I would be very happy with a 0.18ct D VSS1 or 2 (eh JB :D)
To show you a diamond of good quality, but not from Tiffany, so that you can see the measuring system, on the left, you will see a diamond of 0.11ct, D color and VSS1 clarity. It is so bright that if ever a ray of sunlight shines on my hand, the diamond will shine like a small lamp. I can light up your face with ahaha. That’s why if you choose a very big and bright diamond, be careful. On the (sunny) terrace, you will only see your diamond. This diamond, in Antwerp for example, would have been sold for about 500€ on its own 😀
On the right, we have a really very medium diamond which is border yellow. It will never be chosen by Tiffany. It does not shine too much even under the sun. If I only buy the diamond, in Antwerp for example, I would have paid around 120€.
D, VVS1 0.11ct 
nice diamond but not pure enough
Is it worth it?
So, you understand, the brand takes a huge margin on your rings. Even if platinum is expensive, your ring doesn’t weigh much. Let’s suppose that it still weighs 2g, which is a lot, in raw material, it costs 130€ about + 600€ in diamond (come on, let’s be crazy), we are at 730€ of raw material so the brand, which sells them at 1600€ minimum, takes a very big margin.
The fact that all the rings are produced in size 52 is a big “red flag”, because if jewelers had created these rings by hand, they would never need to make rings in one size. On the contrary, it would have been easier for them to have the right size right away to produce the ring, and avoid having to increase/decrease the size. In my opinion, rings are made industrially, and only then the setting (and the adjustment and engraving) is still done manually.
Then, we are in luxury, and the service offered, for life, can possibly justify this price.
You will find everything I tell in this pdf guide made available by Tiffany.
I would have liked to have been paid by Tiffany to write this article but unfortunately NO, nobody sponsored me for that :
DVhere I hope this article helped you. Feel free to come through the door and ask for a quote. It costs you absolutely nothing.
Well, I can talk to you about jewelry for hours. If it’s a subject that interests you, you can take courses with jewelers in Paris (I talked about it here).
If you are looking for handmade jewelry, not necessarily brand name, but more affordable than Tiffany, I have several addresses for you here
If you like luxurious experiences in the capital, you should know that we have already written about the Dior boutique on Place Vendôme, the squares at Hermès, personalized jewelry at a jeweler, Tea Time at the Ritz, Jovoy niche perfumes. As well as the 5 star hotel bars to discover in Paris.
