Mark Diamond's Jewelers — Local services in Albuquerque

I have taken all of my jewelry-related business to Mark Diamonds, and every single time, over the past 5-7 years, I have left disappointed by the attitudes of the staff. First, let me be fair in saying I do not have high-dollar items, but the jewelry I bring in is very sentimental and means a lot to me, regardless of cost. They have worked on a pearl ring- my wedding ring -which was passed down from my husbands great grandmother, as well as an antique diamond and turquoise ring. The pearl ring is silver. I have brought this ring in for resizing or repairs 3-4 times, and EVERY SINGLE TIME get a snide remark from the employee about the ring being silver. The last time I picked it up, the woman took it out of the envelope to show me and the ring was black. She didn't flinch. I asked her if she could possibly clean it . She begrudgingly cleaned it with a cloth, commenting the entire time that it's just silver and the reason it oxidized is because it's silver, and if it was gold, it wouldn't have happened. I understand my ring is silver. Regardless, I expect the same amount of professionalism and courtesy that any other client should receive. Not to mention, it took more than 2 weeks to resize. From the first time my husband and I walked into that store to have the ring originally sized, and the snide comment about the silver ring not being worth much by the employee to now, 7 years later, I have continuously gone back to Marks thinking I just got a rude employee. But it seems as if pearls and silver are beneath this store. Also worth mention, my husband has urged me to take our business elsewhere since we shopped there for his wedding ring. He had 2 simple requests in looking for his ring: all black, and he doesn't want anything with too much of a shine. The employee continuously brought out bright, diamond rings. He reiterated his request multiple times and we eventually left to purchase his ring elsewhere as her irritable final suggestion to him was to just buy one of the rings she was showing him and the "shine would wear off the longer he wears it." Our experience here is that the staff does not listen/care about client needs and are very obviously working off their own money-driven agenda. I have given this much thought over the years and have finally caved. I will not take any more of my business there and will urge all of my friends, colleagues, or anyone else to take their business elsewhere as well. I expect to be treated with professionalism and kindness when I enter a store, not to be talked down to, belittled and ignored. The store DOES do good work, however, my suggestion - give your staff some better training on how to...

If you’re considering buying jewelry (especially, as I was, considering an engagement ring), stop looking and just go to Mark Diamond’s. A good friend recommended them to me, and after my first consultation I knew that I didn’t have to go anywhere else. They are experts, professional, and willing to go thousands of extra miles to make the whole experience special.

I set up a consultation with Joe because I was hoping to design a custom engagement ring for my (now!) Fiancée. I was in way over my head, but had a general idea for what I thought could make for a special ring. I was astonished by how knowledgeable Joe was about everything, and how genuinely helpful he was. He wasn’t pushy and didn’t need to be—when you’re that good at what you do, it’s self-evident.

After my consultation, we started exchanging emails and I became even more impressed by Joe. I sent him some photos of ring designs I liked, talked about some details about my Fiancée, where she works, what she loves, etc., and Joe began sending me CAD renders of ring designs he came up with that incorporated elements from all of our discussions. We continued to iterate for weeks and months on the design, until finally we had a design that I just knew my Fiancée would adore. All along, Joe was invested and was truly a member of the team—he was invested and excited, and it more than showed in the final design.

I do feel a little guilty—I ended up challenging Joe with the timeline. But he was unflappable—a true miracle worker. Against all odds, he made sure that I was able to take the ring on the flight home with me for the Holidays. And it all came in at a budget we agreed on.

When I picked up the ring, I was speechless and knew immediately that it was perfect. In the end, I couldn’t even hold on to the ring for more than 12 hours—when you have the perfect ring and the perfect person, why wait? And she said yes!

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see the need to go to any other jewelers… Ever. I’m so grateful for Joe and everyone at Mark Diamond’s, and I hope that I can keep working with them for years to come.

If you go to their shop, you’ll immediately see all of their beautiful jewelry. But just know that behind each one of their pieces is an incredible amount of thought, expertise, and care. They’re masters of their art, and they love to do it. For me, that makes all of the difference...

My father-in-law recommended Mark Diamond to my now husband when he went to look for my engagement ring. He initially worked with Ellen Diamond, who skillfully helped him out when I gave the wrong ring size (whoops!). He was very happy with the ring and the service so we returned for his wedding band months later. Joe Mares helped us find a fantastic matching band and the whole process went very smoothly. At the time we considered getting a wedding band for me that matched my Tacori engagement ring, but it was too pricey for us. We did not feel pressured in the least, which we really appreciated. We moved away from Albuquerque a couple of years ago but still have family in the area. While visiting over Christmas my husband surprised me by taking me back to Mark Diamond to finally get my matching wedding band. We were greeted very warmly and Joe actually remembered us. He helped us find the matching band and basically took care of everything. I had to part with my engagement ring for a month because it was sent to Tacori to be matched with the band (Joe also sent my husband’s band along as well to be cleaned and polished). We were a little nervous about doing this process long distance, but everything worked out perfectly. When they were ready, Joe had the rings overnighted to us and checked to make sure we would be home to receive them. My new wedding band matched perfectly with the engagement ring, which looked brand new (so did my husband’s). Unfortunately, it was too small. This was my own fault—my ring size had gone up and I had just gotten used to my tight engagement ring, but wearing it together with the band made it was very obvious that they were both too tight. I was really mad at myself and was going to start calling around to jewelers in my area when I figured I should just call Joe and ask him his advice first. And I’m so glad I did! He took care of everything. He sent me a shipping label and had the ring resized and back to me in under a week. We have had such a great experience with Joe and the rest of the staff at Mark Diamond. Even though we live out of state now, the next time we’re in the market for fine jewelry we’ll do our shopping at...