Trumpet & Horn

Trumpet & Horn is a Los Angeles vintage and antique jewelry dealer that sells its own stock at a fixed, published price. There's no bidding, no reserve, no hammer fee. Every ring on the site carries a "Quick Buy" button and its own price tag, and if you set your shipping country to Switzerland, that price switches straight into Swiss francs. For a buyer who has just moved to Zürich and doesn't want to guess at a conversion rate or wait on an email reply for a quote, that's a genuinely different shopping experience from the appointment-only estate dealers on this list.

The business was founded in 2012 by Jerome and Kim Heidenreich, and it changed hands in 2023: they sold it to Wyler Weir and his father Jack, who run the Beverly Hills vintage house Jack Weir & Sons. One outside source gives the sale year as 2024 rather than 2023, so treat the exact year with a pinch of caution, but the substance is not in dispute: this is no longer a founder-owned shop. What has not changed is the shopfront. The site still trades under the Trumpet & Horn name, still runs its familiar weekly drop, and Jack Weir & Sons's own page on the acquisition says Jerome (Jerry) stayed on afterward in an advisory role rather than walking away entirely. Worth knowing if you bought here years ago and are coming back, and worth a mention here because a change of ownership is exactly the kind of thing a listing like this should surface rather than gloss over.

What you actually get

The core of the offer is dated stock, not a generic "antique style" label. Trumpet & Horn's own education pages draw a real line between "vintage" (its house definition: made at least 20 to 30 years ago) and "antique" (100-plus years old), and they are explicit that anything described as merely "vintage style" is a modern piece inspired by an old design rather than the real thing. Their in-house T&H Exclusive line, which reuses old diamonds and gemstones in new settings, is labelled as exactly that: vintage-inspired, not vintage. That's a useful distinction most sellers blur, and it's the reason this dealer earns its place in a category we rank on documentation, not on how a piece photographs.

The genuinely vintage and antique stock is graded piece by piece. Pull up a random example from a recent drop, an Art Deco ring dated to the 1930s, and the listing gives you a GIA report on the 1.40 carat old European cut center stone (color H, clarity SI1), 30 accent diamonds graded G-H color and VS clarity, a platinum setting with hallmarks, and a total weight of 2.63 grams. That ring was priced at CHF 9,462 the day we checked. Elsewhere in the same catalog you can find a Victorian toi et moi ring in low-karat gold at CHF 642, and a 5.14 carat Victorian diamond ring at CHF 65,821, so the range runs from pocket-money vintage to serious stone weight, all under the same grading standard. Every purchase, per the site's FAQ, comes with a professional in-house appraisal suitable for insurance purposes, on top of any third-party lab report the stone itself carries.

The buying process for someone new to Zürich

You don't need to fly to California to buy here. The homepage banner advertises a concierge team booking virtual and in-person appointments seven days a week, and the FAQ page confirms the showroom itself sits in Beverly Hills, reachable by phone or by emailing sales@trumpetandhorn.com. Everything is in English by default, which matters if German-language jewelers elsewhere on this list are not where you want to have a technical conversation about clarity grades and settings. There's no requirement to book an appointment at all if you already know what you want. The catalog is fully browsable and buyable online, with a live cart and checkout, which is closer to how you'd shop for anything else than to how a traditional atelier works.

New stock lands every Friday, with roughly 10 new pieces added to the site each week according to the FAQ, so the catalog turns over quickly. If you see something you like, it's worth acting on rather than waiting, since sold pieces are one-of-a-kind and don't come back once gone. The site also runs a 7-day hold against a 20 percent refundable deposit if you want time to think without losing the piece to another buyer, and separately lists a short-term 30-day installment plan and a 5 percent discount for paying by wire transfer or check. Those payment options are described generally on the site without stating whether they extend to buyers outside the US, so don't assume the installment plan or the discount applies until you ask directly.

Shipping, duties and the one thing to get right

Shipping to Switzerland is free, sent via FedEx, with a typical delivery window of 3 to 5 days once the order ships, and the parcel is insured in full for loss, damage or theft. Orders that don't need resizing ship within 2 business days of payment; if the ring needs sizing first, add two to three days to that.

Here's the part worth being precise about, because it's easy to get wrong: the checkout does not calculate or collect Swiss import duty or VAT. Trumpet & Horn's own shipping page is explicit that international customers are responsible for any customs duties and taxes, and that you'll hear about what's owed from the local FedEx facility once the parcel actually reaches the destination country, not before. In practice that means the price you pay at checkout is not your landed cost. Budget for the possibility of a separate customs bill on arrival, and don't take a Swiss checkout price as the final number the way you might with a dealer who bakes duty into the sale.

Resizing, returns and the warranty

Resizing is complimentary on essentially every ring in the catalog, and the FAQ quotes a typical turnaround of 2 to 5 business days. That's a meaningful reassurance for a piece bought sight unseen from another continent: get it wrong on size and the fix doesn't cost extra, only a little time. On top of that, every purchase carries a 1-year service warranty covering manufacturing or structural issues (loose stones from workmanship, minor repairs tied to how the piece was originally built), with complimentary cleaning and prong checks folded in. It excludes ordinary wear and tear, accidental damage, and any work done by a third-party jeweler in the meantime, and a warranty repair shipped round trip carries a flat $100 fee if you're sending it back from outside the free-shipping terms of the original order.

If the ring isn't right, you get 7 calendar days from delivery for a full refund, or 30 calendar days to exchange it for something of equal or greater value. Resizing the ring doesn't forfeit that return window. The one carve-out is the T&H Exclusive line and anything made to order, which the site treats as final sale, so read the product page carefully before you buy something built rather than sourced.

How it compares and who it suits

Set against the other names in this category, Trumpet & Horn's edge is not heritage or a storefront on an old European street, it's process. Each piece is dated to a specific decade or era rather than sold under a vague "antique style" banner, graded by an independent lab where a diamond warrants it, and backed by an in-house appraisal on top. That combination of individual dating and paperwork is exactly what this category rewards, and it's rarer than you'd expect even among dealers who deal seriously in old stock.

The trade-off is distance and a currency and customs step that a Bahnhofstrasse dealer doesn't ask of you. You're buying sight unseen from a shop that reviewers describe as attentive and knowledgeable in person, but you won't get that in person unless you fly to Beverly Hills or settle for a video call. And the ownership change in 2023 means you're dealing with a business under new stewardship, even if day to day nothing about the site or its policies appears to have shifted.

For an expat in Zürich who wants a specific decade's design rather than whatever a local dealer happens to have in the case, who's comfortable buying online in English, and who's willing to handle a Swiss customs bill separately from the purchase price, Trumpet & Horn is a strong pick. The free worldwide shipping, complimentary resizing and 1-year warranty take most of the risk out of buying overseas, and the return window gives you a real way out if the ring doesn't work once it arrives. Just go in knowing your checkout total in CHF is the price of the ring, not the total landed cost.