Cover Image by Fiona Lewis Photography
It's one of the questions we get asked most often: "why does it take so long?" It's a completely fair question, especially when you're excited to see your design finished. So we thought we'd explain exactly where those 4 to 6 weeks actually go, because very little of it is waiting around.
It isn't one step, it's several
Once you've approved your CAD design, your piece doesn't go straight to a workbench and come back finished a few days later. It moves through several distinct stages, each handled by skilled hands: sourcing and setting your stones, shaping and casting the metal, painstaking hand-finishing, polishing, and a thorough quality check before it ever reaches you. Rushing any one of those stages is exactly how corners get cut, and that's not something we're willing to do.
Finding the right diamond
Before any metal is worked, there's the small matter of finding your diamond. Our team can spend anywhere from 5 to 20 hours sourcing and carefully vetting stones against your chosen specification, comparing certification, cut quality, and value across our suppliers to make sure what we put in front of you is genuinely the right stone, not just an available one. Once a diamond is selected, it then needs to be delivered into the UK, which can take up to a further 7 days depending on where it's coming from. It's a step that happens largely behind the scenes, but it's often where a good chunk of that early timeline goes.
Master goldsmiths, not machines
A huge part of the timeline comes down to the simple fact that your piece is being made by a person, not stamped out by a machine. Our master goldsmiths bring a level of precision and craftsmanship that takes years to develop, and that kind of care can't be rushed without it showing in the final piece. Every claw, every setting, every polished surface is worked by hand.
Complexity changes everything
Not every piece takes the same path. A classic solitaire in a familiar setting might sit toward the quicker end of that 4–6 week window, while a fully bespoke design with intricate detailing, multiple stones, or a more complex setting will naturally sit toward the longer end. We'll always give you a realistic estimate specific to your design at the CAD approval stage, so you know what to expect from the outset.
UK Hallmarking: a legal requirement
Once your piece is made, it isn't simply ready to hand over. By law, precious metal jewellery sold in the UK over a certain weight must be independently tested and hallmarked by one of the UK's Assay Offices, confirming the metal is genuinely what it's sold as. This is a legal requirement, not an optional extra, and it typically adds a further 2 to 5 days to the process. It's an extra step, but it's also your guarantee that the platinum or gold you've chosen is exactly what it claims to be.
Good things are worth planning for
If you're working toward a proposal date, a wedding, or another milestone, this timeline is exactly why we always encourage getting in touch as early as possible. It gives us the breathing room to do the job properly, without ever having to compromise on quality to hit a deadline.
At the end of it all, what you get isn't just a ring, it's a piece that's been considered and crafted at every single stage, built to be worn and loved for a lifetime. We think that's always worth the wait.
Thinking about starting your own bespoke journey? Get in touch and we'll talk you through timelines for your specific design.