Why are custom engagement rings so much more expensive than commercially made engagement rings? How should you decide which way to go when purchasing this special, once-in-a-lifetime ring? Is the extra cost worth it? All very good questions! I will endeavor to answer them all in this unique, tell-all blog. Part 1 is about the cost of a commercial, mass produced engagement ring, part 2 will be about the cost of a custom engagement ring, and part 3 will weigh the pros and cons of both choices. The battle is on! It is not quite the battle between good and evil, but I am probably a little biased.
Here are the steps to creating a mass produced versus a custom ring.

Let’s design a mass produced ring. Image a ring design: not just anything, but something that can be easily sized from a 4 to 10 by any jeweler without disrupting the “look” of it. Then we need the ability to put any size or shape diamond in it. So we’ll need a hole for a peg head. That way, we can accommodate any stone from a half carat round to a three carat pear. The cool thing about this is that when we have a customer for the ring, we can tell them that we will “customize” the ring to fit their diamond. They will walk away pleased.
Now, how do we manufacture this semi-mount? We want to bring the cost down drastically; we will have it designed once and sent to India. They will make a mold of it, shoot a run of about 10,000 waxes, cast them in 14K white and yellow gold, and then mass finish them. Mass finishing is really neat because all these castings are tumbled through different grits in a huge drum to create a high polish. However, it does diminish some detail, so let’s make sure our design isn't too intricate. With a final touch up and maybe some stone setting (in India), this semi-mount is ready to be sold at your local jewelry store. They will size it and plop in a peg head (at American labor prices of course).
How many of the engagement rings sold these days are mass manufactured overseas? A large percentage. Does the price of the ring seem too good to be true? There is a good chance it was manufactured abroad. In the US, there are some great design manufacturers. Tacori and Tiffany both manufacture low-volume produced designs through US labor. Stuller is a great facility in Louisiana that manufactures jewelry for jewelers. Some is produced mass and some is created “on demand,” one at a time.So how much does our mass produced overseas ring cost?
US design 2 hr @ $80/hr=$160
1000 units one-time costs:
Lot wax rings $200
Lot mass casting $400
Lot mass finishing $200
Lot despruing $200
Lot stone setting $3200
One unit labor cost = $4.36
Material cost per ring:
4 g 14K gold $136
0.56 ctw diamonds $560
Total US pre-production and overseas production costs $700
US store overhead 100% = $700
US store sales commission 7% = $98
1 hr sizing and peg head setting = $125
Our final price tag for this commercial mass-produced ring is $1623. Stay tuned next week when we price out a unique custom-made engagement ring.
And if you are ready to go ahead with a custom engagement ring, made just the way YOU want it, no matter where you live, visit krikawa.com, and prepare yourself for an amazing, custom ring experience. If you live near Tucson, Arizona, you can visit our local website to learn more about our workshop and showroom that is now open to the public.















