I-Primo Diamonds Jewelry Review: Are they worth the price & wait?

When visiting the I-Primo store in Hong Kong, you will notice that it is smaller and does not stand out among the other popular jewelry stores. This mainly has to do with its being a Japanese company, although some effort could have had better results.

The store’s display of diamonds and engagement rings in gold-obsessed Hong Kong makes it stand out. This is a blessing for those wanting to go out of their way.

I-Primo has a slightly different approach to engagement ring buying, which is probably not the best business model. Like some other stores, you cannot walk into an I-Primo store and purchase an engagement ring. Diamonds have been set out in the store to choose from, along with settings for them. While this is still common in many stores, the difference is that it takes I-Primo five to six weeks to ship the finished ring to you. This is an unprecedented amount of time and does create setbacks for many who wish to purchase a ring and have it ready in a couple of days.

Diamonds: The diamonds sold at I-Primo are beautiful, although the store does focus on smaller diamonds. The diamonds are bright and eye-clean and do offer a significant amount of brilliance to an engagement ring.

Certification: Most jewelers in Hong Kong sell their diamonds with GIA or AGS certifications. I-Primo offers GIA certifications only for their XXX diamonds. While it does amount to an achievement, lesser-quality diamonds do not come with this same certification.

Staff: The staff at the I-Primo stores are helpful and attend to customers quickly. They know diamonds and do their best to help customers match their preferred diamonds with the perfect settings.

Unfortunately, I-Primo sells its diamonds at an incredibly high premium. The overheads and other costs that go into running a physical retail store are much higher than running an online store, but many jewelers manage to keep this pricing down in their stores.

I-Primo does not manage to do this. If you take a certain quality ring from I-Primo and compare it to a similar ring at James Allen or Blue Nile, you will notice that the ring from I-Primo comes in at nearly three times more. No added service or experience makes up for such a price hike; hence, it is better to stick to an online store.

The whole concept of I-Primo is around custom orders. Customers can only purchase a ring by pairing a diamond found in-store or online with a setting found in the collections offered. For a personal touch, each I-Primo engagement ring is named after a zodiac sign or a star. This allows a customer to choose a ring with special design concepts and a story to go with it.

The I-Primo website is clean, modern, and uses star charts and star sign imagery to push the concept of their collections for engagement and wedding rings.

There are a decent number of options available to search through the site. The rings are labeled and separated by the star constellations, giving a luxurious feel to the page.

The rings are displayed nicely, with enough imagery and a whimsical description for each ring. You will notice that some of the rings fall into the Flowery category, a collection of delicate rings inspired by nature.

Overall, the site has a good amount of information and displays the diamond engagement rings well.

I-Primo, despite the other faults, does provide incredible customer service. However, the fact that it takes nearly six weeks for a ring to be delivered is alarming. Customers are in good hands both in-store and online when shopping at I-Primo.

Professional Cleaning: I-Primo offers professional cleaning free of charge to customers.

Repair Service: A one-year repair service is offered for engagement rings, wedding rings, and manufacturing defaults.

Engraving: I-Primo welcomes customers to have their initials or anniversary dates engraved on the inside of their engagement or wedding rings purchased from the store.

There is no financing offered on the I-Primo site. It would need to be discussed in-store. Besides, customers will need to use a third-party financing service.

• A beautiful collection of engagement rings
• Some diamonds are sold with GIA certification
• Stunning diamonds available

There is no doubt that I-Primo does sell some stunning engagement rings and radiant diamonds to match. But the price of these engagement rings and diamonds and the long wait customers must undergo until their ring is ready are off-putting. Some diamonds and engagement rings cost nearly three times more than you could find at James Allen or Brilliant Earth, which is a huge markup. The rings and diamonds are beautiful but not worth the extra premium.