Secrète Fine Jewelry — Local services in Washington

DO NOT TRUST THE OWNER. I brought my vintage Omega watch into the shop last year to have a part of the movement serviced. I received a notification to pick up the watch but unfortunately could not for some time. When I went in to pick up the watch I was told that they could not locate it, but not to worry as they were looking into it and would notify me when it was found. Weeks went by and periodically I would check in by calling the shop only to be blown off by the staff or told that the owner would call me back (which he did not). Finally I went into the store physically to see if I could get more information and yet nobody had any. Finally when I felt like I was out of options I wrote a negative review detailing my experience with the shop and voila! The owner, Eli, called me wanting to "make things right" (meaning he wanted me to take down my negative review). He invited me into the store and began trying to negotiate with me to take my review down. He offered me to pick a new watch from his shop that was supposedly "nicer" than the one I had previously entrusted him with but was obviously trying to steer me towards ones that I knew were not on par. I tried to be nice about it but he continued to downplay the value of my watch that he had lost. With the negotiation going nowhere he offered me a supposedly "very nice" watch from a brand I had never heard of that he claimed was twice the market value of my lost watch because it was gold. Seeing the negotiation going nowhere, I unfortunately believed him. To close the encounter, he made it extremely clear that it was important that I take down my negative review, and even called me on my cell phone to remind me. Now as I am looking to get another watch elsewhere, I wanted to see what value I could get out of the watch that he had compensated me with. Turns out next to nothing! A reputable watch dealer informed me that instead of it being "gold" it was in fact gold plated and that while SOME watches from the brand had decent market value, the one he had negotiated me into had nearly zero because it was not a chronograph. PLEASE nobody make the same mistake that I made trusting the owner or I guarantee he will try to take...

I would not recommend purchasing an engagement ring from Secrete because of their poor communication skills and their seeming inability to follow their own timelines. During our initial consultation, the associate Sara said that they could design a custom engagement ring and that a digital rendering of the ring would be created for our review and approval, typically within a few business days. My girlfriend provided a detailed sketch of her desired ring design, accompanied by reference images and thorough notes specifying each element. That email was sent six weeks ago … and as of today, we have still not received the digital mock-up.

Secrete’s communication skills are extremely subpar. Routine emails inquiring about the status of the design went unanswered for days at a time. Rather than receiving timely updates, we were repeatedly forced to follow up, often with no substantive response. Given that Secrete was clearly behind schedule, proactive communication should have been the standard, not the exception.

Eventually, we were told that the design would be ready in "a couple of days." That message was sent two and a half weeks ago. Since then, we have received no further correspondence, not from Sara, nor from anyone else at Secrete.

In a final effort to get the ring desired, we sent a carefully worded email expressing our dissatisfaction and requesting a clear update. We also stated that, absent a meaningful response, we would need to explore other jewelers. That message was sent two business days ago. Disappointingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, we have yet to receive a reply.

Our experience reflects a pattern of overpromising and under delivering. What was supposed to be an exciting and memorable process has instead become one of disappointment and frustration. At this point, we have lost confidence in Secrete’s ability to fulfill even basic expectations and...

We had an awesome experience designing our custom engagement ring with Secrète! This was our first experience buying fine jewelry and Mari was somehow able to translate a doodle on a post-it note into a perfect ring! Here are some conclusions from the whole experience:

-Don’t be intimidated by the location—they had rings at a lot of price points and were really welcoming of the fact that we already had a family “heirloom” diamond -Ask a lot of questions! Mari was very helpful both when we were in the store and afterwards when I would send her questions by email. She guided us through the whole process, which was invaluable for such an important decision -Definitely prioritize an independent jeweler over a big box jeweler. Not only is the quality top notch, but you’re also getting a level of service/responsiveness that just can’t be replicated by the chain stores

We are so happy with the final result that we’ll be going back for our wedding bands. Couldn’t recommend this store or...