I.D. Jewelry — Local services in New York

After a few fruitless trips to local jewelry stores, I began to really dig into online research. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled upon Price Scope and registered for a username. I'd really spent a lot of time on James Allen, as they offered a unique ability to "see" the diamond online, but save for a stone or two, nothing really nailed the price-quality ratio that we wanted.

A few weeks into the search, I wasn't really making much progress, so I decided to email some of the vendors listed within the Price Scope search. One of those vendors was I.D. Jewelry in NYC. The previous night, my SO and I were out to dinner with friends from NYC and they regaled us with how they'd done their e-ring shopping exclusively in the Diamond District with several "guys." There was an "oval diamond guy" and then a "baguette diamond guy," and finally a "setting guy." We joked that I needed to find a guy and fly up to NYC to make progress on my own search, little did I know that I would be emailing my "everything guy" the next day.

Yekutiel of I.D. Jewelry called me in response to my email inquiry and left a voicemail on my work line early Monday morning. His message was polite, and he seemed confident that he would be able to help me with my search. As I had sent my emails out over the weekend, he was literally the first person to respond, and in retrospect, the fact that he called was a sign of his unique personal touch. Having gone through the entire process with Yekutiel, I can confidently say that I felt like his only customer. I know this notion is ridiculous and that I.D. Jewelry is extremely busy, but it was his impeccable customer service and gentle demeanor that created this sensation. My ring was a top priority to me, and Yekutiel always made me feel like it was his as well.

We started with the stone. Ovals are notoriously difficult to source. The cut isn't "rated" by GIA and a good looking oval on paper can be a real disappointment when you finally lay eyes on the stone. After discussing what I wanted, Yekutiel called me back a day or two later with option #1, a 2.06 GIA IF/H oval. He was high on the stone, but wanted to keep looking, and so he did. He called in a few more stones and provided me with regular updates regarding his search, but he always kept coming back to the IF/H stone. I knew that we couldn't look forever, so after several other options were dispensed, we decided that I would take a look at the stone in person. When it arrived, I knew it was a winner. I took the stone to an independent appraiser (Lois Bouchard in Cary, NC - she was fantastic to work with, too), and she was over the moon on the stone. Having seen it with my own eyes, and having received rave reviews from an appraiser, I knew this oval was gonna be our guy.

Next came the setting. I was not only pleased with his diamond sourcing work, but I genuinely liked working with the guy, so I decided to have Yekutiel and I.D. Jewelry make my setting. My SO was very particular with what she wanted, and Yekutiel patiently worked with me through all of these details. I wanted a delicate ring with an even more delicate halo. Yekutiel and his team were all over it. We worked through several CADs and finally came upon our production design. Then began the waiting game. I was confident the entire time that the ring would turn out beautifully, but I.D. Jewelry really surpassed my expectations. The quality of the setting to my sometimes overly discerning eye, and to the eye of my independent appraiser, is exceptionally high. And to top it off, the cost of the setting came in considerably lower than I was initially quoted. I am not very easy to please, but this experience left me 100% satisfied.

More importantly, my new fiance is also 100% satisfied with the ring. She initially helped me with the search, but I eventually cut her out of the process to preserve some semblance of a surprise. However, I would often speak highly of my dealings with I.D. Jewelry, and for that reason, we hold it and Yekutiel in special place in our hearts. Thank...

There aren't enough positive words to describe the amazing experience I had working with Yekutiel and the team at ID Jewelry. I recently hit a milestone in my career and decided to gift myself with a pair of grown up, investment grade diamond earrings. After stopping in to a few different places on 47th Street and not having positive experiences, I found ID Jewelry thanks to their stellar Yelp reviews and am so glad I did! I messaged Yekutiel on Yelp and heard back from him within 30 minutes and we set up a call. Funnily enough, because I was at work when we spoke and didn't want to be too obvious about what I was talking about, when he asked the range I was looking in I said "four to five" when talking about GIA certified 1.5-2 ct colorless studs, which he took to mean $400-$500 when I actually meant $4k - $5k. Instead of scoffing at me, he invited me to make an appointment so he show me what he had in my price range (which again, he thought was 10x less than it really was) and help educate me about diamonds.

Anyway, the time came for our appointment and the miscommunication was quickly rectified, but I was immediately impressed by his openness and willingness to make an appointment with me even though what he understood to be my request would have been a truly ridiculous one. During our appointment, he really took his time to walk me through what makes a beautiful diamond, and why even if a diamond is colorless, with no visible inclusions, and a GIA rating, the cut can still make it look like "frozen spit." He educated me on "hearts and arrows" and showed me some examples of stones that reflected true investment grade diamonds. After this, we settled on some parameters - H color, SI2, a truly excellent cut, and about 1.5 carats for a budget of around $5000. He didn't have stones in his possession that matched what I was looking for but assured me that he would hunt a pair down that I would love, and would be no less in quality than he would give his own wife.

He wound up locating a pair that he thought would be perfect, but he had to get them from another vendor and told me that he wanted to get them and examine them first to make sure they were of the right quality. The next day we spoke on the phone and he let me know that the diamonds were no longer available, but he promised he would continue the hunt - and to my surprise and delight, he found a pair that far surpassed the color benchmark we had set (D color, SI2, 1.46 total ct, ideal cut) that he said he would give me for the same price he originally quoted me at. I picked up the earrings this afternoon and I can not believe how beautiful they were. I seriously can't stop looking at myself in the mirror and don't want to ever take them off! Jade did an amazing job setting them in a basket setting that lies nearly completely flat on the ear so their brilliance and beautiful color is on display. And then he told me that they actually wound up costing him less than he anticipated so he reduced my cost to match.

Yeketiel also very kindly fixed my pearl studs (one of which had become unglued from its setting) as well as cleaned my diamond and emerald ring and diamond pendant for no additional charge.

The whole experience from top to bottom could not have been better. Not only do I have a pair of absolutely stunning earrings that surpassed all expectations that will hopefully stay in my family for generations, but the level of warmth, knowledge, and passion I experienced as a customer has confirmed that I will never go anywhere else in NYC for my jewelry. One day when I get married I'll tell my fiance to go to Yekutiel for my engagement ring!

Thanks for...

I am insanely analytical and extremely detail oriented. I double..triple check everything..and always look for best value (hate buyer’s remorse). Because I research everything to death…I am the “go to” guy for all my family and friends when deciding on purchasing expensive products. Now that you get a sense of my mentality on consumer goods..let me tell you why IDJ is one of the best (if not the best) place for engagement rings and jewelry in the entire USA.

New York is the mecca of diamonds...highest volume, most selection, and if you find a trusty dealer – great value. Knowing that, you have to find a dealer you can trust and that you feel cares about you. Living in DC, I wrote emails and called the top 20 dealers in NYC based on research I had done on pricescope, yelp, and other various websites. The most important factors to me..was finding a dealer that could get me the perfect oval diamond, deliver a high quality ring, and one that I really trusted.

After talking and dealing with all those other dealers – it was clear IDJ was my #1 choice. IDJ was exceptional..I was blown away by Yekutiel’s willingness to put in effort to hunt/search diamonds for me. He completely understand my needs and wasn’t pushy. The prices he quoted were also very fair compared to other dealers. I just felt like they embodied the best combination of trust, value, and customer service. As of today, Yekutiel and I have exchanged probably close to 150+ emails (no joke!). I am not surprised that they are recommended by so many people on pricescope..nor that all their yelp reviews are a solid 5/5. Yekutiel, Tammy, and the rest of the team are incredible. They represent the epitome of how to treat and retain customers.

I actually had an excel sheet for tracking all the dealers I contacted..and all the oval diamonds they told me about. The list had about 30 different oval diamonds..listing out color, cut, clarity, carat, dimensions, fluoresces, price, etc. The diamond Yekutiel found for me jumped out. It was exactly the type of diamond I was looking for at my budget (best bang for buck). IDJ is known for finding customers great value diamonds within your budget and my experience with them was no different.

They also made me a customized engagement ring based on images I sent them. Yekutiel constantly sent me pictures/videos of the CAD designs (which we modified until it was exactly how I wanted it) - the final results were spot-on! It turned out better than I could have imagined and my fiancé was floored when she saw it! She gets soooo many complements about her ring...it makes me feel great. lol

So in conclusions, Yekutiel and the IDJ Team to me represent the best "bang for buck" trustworthy dealer in NYC. The effort he puts into working with you and finding you the perfect diamond is immeasurable and the quality of work is remarkable!

So if you’re in the market for an engagement ring, do yourself a favor – STOP READING, STOP SEARCHING, GO...