What makes the price of a bespoke ring
The price of a ring is made of several things, and it helps to know which before you start. Material and stones form the base; to them are added the design, its development into a production-ready 3D model, the checks, the guarantee, the service, the house's margin and VAT. This guide is mostly about what makes the price move from one project to another: that is where your choices act.
Metal: the material, at its fineness and at the day's price
The first element is the metal: its weight, fineness and current market price. On a plain ring carrying a modest stone, it is often the heaviest item; on a piece that is heavily worked, set with many stones or long finished by hand, labour dominates. There is no general rule: it depends on the piece.
Gold is stated in thousandths: 750 thousandths contains 75% pure gold, 585 thousandths contains 58.5%. Platinum 950 is denser, so heavier for the same volume, and more demanding to work; 925 sterling silver opens the same shapes at a more accessible price.
What makes the weight of metal vary?
Three things, and they are visible to the eye. The width of the band first: at comparable thickness, profile and finger size, going from two to four millimetres nearly doubles the material; if thickness or profile change at the same time, the ratio no longer holds. The profile next: a flat band, a half-round or a full dome do not carry the same quantity of metal at equal width. The height and volume of the head last, meaning whatever carries the stone. Two rings of similar appearance can therefore differ markedly.
At LAB IMAGINE the calculation is made on the proportions of your project, not on an average. Until the piece has been developed into its production-ready 3D model, it is an estimate of the gold volume, not adjusted to your size.
The stones
The second element is the stone. Our white diamonds are colour D, clarity VS1 or better, and they are certified by IGI from 0.5 carat. Our coloured stones, sapphires, rubies and emeralds, come from Chatham.
Stone size and quality weigh in the price of the ring, as do metal and labour. We do not sell stones, we sell jewellery: the price you see is that of the whole piece, and it is the only one we show. To learn what a larger or smaller stone changes, the simplest way is to try it in the configurator: the price follows your choice, immediately.
Workmanship: the hands
The third element is the work: refining the model, casting, setting, polishing, finishing. A fine pavé asks for hours a plain band does not, because each stone is seated and held one by one. A perfectly fitted bezel asks for more adjustment than claws.
Finishes divide in two: some reliefs, fluting or regular motifs, are drawn into the model and obtained in the casting; others, such as hammering, granulation or engraving, are done by hand on the piece and are counted in workshop hours.
What you pay for, and what you do not see
A selling price is not a cost of making. Real things are added to it: the design, the refinement in volume, the checks, remaking a piece that does not pass, the guarantee, the service, the margin that keeps the house alive, and VAT.
These items exist everywhere, and what changes from one house to another is their weight. A prestigious address, a chain of intermediaries, an expensive presentation can raise a selling price: those are business choices, not illusions. Ours are different: we sell direct, with no physical shop and no reseller network, and the piece is made to order rather than stocked. That acts on our costs, and so on the price.
Showing the price while you create comes from something else: from our calculation system, which prices your project as you compose it. That is why there is no form to send and no quote to wait for.
When do you know the price, and does it move?
At LAB IMAGINE the price appears as you create, the moment your project is complete: it is the price of that very piece, calculated from an estimate of the gold volume of your project and its stones.
The stated variation is precise: before the order, the final price may differ by plus or minus 10% from the estimated price shown in the technical sheet of the ring as generated, whether you compose step by step or through free-form creation.
Here is why, and it is simple: the displayed price rests on an estimate of the gold volume of your project. Before the order, that estimate is not adjusted to your ring size, and a size 58 carries more metal than a size 48 for the same design. To that is added the gold price, which moves every day.
Any change to the project (changing the stone, the metal, the width) gives a new price, unrelated to that variation. At the order, the price is fixed: what you pay is final.
Can you create a beautiful ring on a limited budget?
Yes, by adjusting the main cost factors. A finer or thinner band, a chosen pavé rather than a covering one, sterling silver rather than gold, an elongated shape that covers more surface for the same weight: all of these change the price while preserving the character of the design. The configurator lets you try these choices and see their effect before any commitment: start imagining a ring.
Take the taste test · Start imagining the ring