The Ring Is the One Purchase Worth the Drive

Reno has plenty of places to buy an engagement ring. Most of them sell the same settings from the same catalogs, staffed by people whose job is to close before you leave. That is fine for a bracelet. For the ring someone will wear for the rest of their life, a growing number of Reno and Sparks couples drive thirty minutes up the Mt. Rose Highway instead.

What they find in Incline Village is a family-owned store, in business since 1984, where the person across the counter is a GIA-trained jeweler rather than a commissioned associate. John Roxburgh has spent about two decades at the bench. He can tell you what a diamond is, what the paperwork says and whether the two agree — and if nothing in the case is exactly right, he can make it.

Two Ways to Get the Ring

From the case. The bridal collection runs from diamond bands under $1,000 to certified center stones in the tens of thousands and beyond: solitaires, halos, three-stone and vintage designs, eternity and wedding bands, in yellow gold, white gold, two-tone and platinum. Round, oval, cushion, pear, princess and old European cuts are all represented, and colored-stone engagement rings — sapphire, ruby, emerald, spinel — are a specialty most Reno counters do not have at all.

Made for you. Engagement rings are the most common custom project in our workshop. You choose the stone in person, John designs the setting around it, you approve a 3D rendering, and the ring is made here — most of it in house, in about four to eight weeks. The custom design page for Reno clients walks through the process step by step.

Both routes end the same way: a ring you saw under a loupe before you paid for it, from a jeweler who will be here to size, clean and check it for the next thirty years.

How to Choose a Diamond Without Being Sold One

The Four Cs are real, but they are also the script every chain uses to move you toward the stone with the best margin. A few things we would rather you knew before you walk into any store, ours included.

Colored Stones, Heirlooms and the Rings Nobody Else Has

The rings that make Reno clients drive up twice are rarely the standard round solitaire. They are the sapphire that has to be the exact blue she pointed at in a photograph. The alexandrite that changes color in evening light. The grandmother's old European cut diamond that deserves a setting made for it instead of a mounting off the shelf.

That is where a working bench and a deep colored-stone inventory make the difference. We keep sapphire, ruby, emerald, spinel, tanzanite and alexandrite in the case, we can source rare material through suppliers the chains do not have, and we can set an inherited stone the same week we assess it. For a family diamond, the stone never leaves the building — it goes from the consultation table to John's bench and back.

What Reno Couples Are Choosing Right Now

Trends matter less than the hand the ring is going on, but it helps to know where the market is. Yellow gold has come back hard after two decades of white metal, and it flatters warm skin tones and colored stones in a way platinum cannot. Ovals now rival rounds as the most requested center shape, partly because an oval reads larger for its carat weight. Bezel and half-bezel settings are up — cleaner, more secure, and much kinder to anyone who works with their hands or climbs.

The counter-trend is just as real: old European and antique cushion cuts from the estate case, set in something modern, for couples who want a stone with a history. And colored center stones — a deep Ceylon-style blue sapphire, a teal or peach sapphire, a red spinel — are no longer the unconventional choice; they are simply the choice for people who want a ring that is recognizably theirs.

We stock across all of this, and John will tell you plainly which styles hold up to daily wear and which are better as a right-hand ring.

What Happens After the Yes

An engagement ring is the start of a relationship with a jeweler, not the end of a transaction. Sizing is done in our workshop, usually within days. Professional cleaning and a prong check every six months are complimentary, whether the ring came from us or not. If a prong ever wears or a stone loosens, the repair happens here — nine repairs in ten never leave the building. And when it is time for wedding bands, we already know the ring they need to sit against.

For insurance, we provide written appraisals prepared by GIA-trained jewelers and accepted by major insurers. Details are on the appraisals page.

Planning the Trip From Reno

Call first. An engagement ring visit is the one appointment where it pays to have John pull stones in your budget before you arrive rather than browse cold. From South Reno, ArrowCreek, Montreux or Damonte Ranch it is about thirty minutes up NV-431; from downtown or Sparks closer to forty-five. Free parking outside the door, and the lake is right there if the visit turns into a day.

Everything else Reno clients ask about — repairs, watches, selling gold — is in one place on the Forever Rox guide for Reno.

Frequently Asked Questions