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Overall Score:2.17 | | ||||
Price:1 | | Selection:2 | | Customer Service: 3.5 | |
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| Other Recommended Retailers |
The History
Wempe comes from humble beginnings a long time ago. Gerhard Diedrich Wilhelm Wempe opened a small watch workshop in 1878 with his 12 year old son, Herbert. By 1914, Wempe had four locations scattered around Hamburg. In 1980, Wempe made the international jump, choosing New York City for its first store outside of Germany. On the company’s 125th anniversary, Kim-Eva Wempe took over control of the day to day operations. She grew the business from 167 million euros annually, to over 400 million euros.
Wempe currently has locations all over Germany, as well as locations in New York, London, Paris, Madrid and Vienna.
The Experience
Wempe is pretty much a generic luxury place. There was nothing particularly fantastic there, but the place was nice and inviting enough. The saleswoman was very friendly and tried to be helpful, but it was clear that her knowledge of diamonds was minimal.
The Product
Their product was surprisingly disappointing. Not only did they use a weaker laboratory for certification, but the quality was very disappointing. We were shown a 1.01 G SI1 Very Good cut round diamond in a simple solitaire setting for € 11,775. The cut was very poor (far too deep) and the color was weak (they definitely got the expected upgrade from H to G color that you expect from HRD certificates). The clarity was probably an SI1, but the inclusion black and noticeable. Overall, this was a diamond that I wouldn’t recommend at any price. While we weren’t impressed with the value at a place like Bucherer, at least you are getting a nice (albeit overpriced) diamond. Here you are getting a substandard diamond that no higher end jeweler should be offering.
Why you should trust us
To help you with the diamond buying process we lean on our expertise and experience. The author of this article, our CEO, Mike Fried has over 20 years of experience in the diamond industry. Mike started from the bottom, sorting and evaluating hundreds of thousands of diamonds to learn every facet (pun intended) of diamond quality and value. Mike followed that up by spending years buying and selling diamonds on the wholesale market as well as selling tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds to diamond retailers.
The Value:
As bad as the diamond quality was, when you look at the value you are in for a rude awakening. Let’s first compare apples to apples (a poorly cut round H SI1 to a poorly cut round H SI1). Here you have a comparable 1.00ct GIA certified, H SI1 diamond from Blue Nile. If you add it to a similar solitaire setting, the price comes out € 5,157. You are getting a ring that is practically identical for less than half the price (57% less to be precise).
Additionally, you can get a far superior ring and still come in at a much lower budget. Here is a stunning 1.00 G VS2 GIA Excellent cut round diamond from Blue Nile. This diamond is superior in every single aspect (cut, color and clarity) and you are still saving almost 40%.
Deal Alert: Get 25% off sitewide at James Allen
Bottom Line:
There is absolutely no justification for wasting money at Wempe. There prices are incredibly high and, most importantly, there quality is sup-bar. That is an unacceptable combination. The basic bedrock of luxury branding must be quality. You don’t have the right to gauge people on prices if you don’t even provide average quality.
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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