Queensmith

Queensmith is a Hatton Garden jeweller that designs and makes engagement rings to order, and it is one of the few names in that trade still doing the making itself rather than farming it out. The company says as much on its own site: unlike many Hatton Garden jewellers who now outsource production, Queensmith crafts every ring in-house, in a workshop behind its flagship showroom at 98 Hatton Garden. For a buyer in Zürich comparing UK sellers before or instead of visiting a local showroom, that in-house claim matters more than it sounds, because it is what makes a genuinely bespoke commission possible rather than a catalogue piece with your initials engraved on it.

What you get

The buying process is built around a consultation rather than a checkout button. Book an appointment at the London showroom, at the second nearby address on Greville Street, at the appointment-only Birmingham showroom, or over a virtual call, and a gemmologist walks you through diamond choice, setting style and metal before anything is made. Queensmith is explicit that this extends to people who are nowhere near its showrooms: its own FAQ says it works with couples across the UK and overseas through virtual appointments, which is the detail that actually answers the expat's first question, whether they can do this properly without flying to London. English is the only language the site operates in, which is no obstacle for an international buyer in Zürich but worth knowing if English isn't your working language.

Two paths run in parallel. A bespoke commission takes around 4 to 5 weeks to manufacture, and Queensmith advises allowing 6 to 7 weeks in total once design time is added. For anyone on a tighter proposal timeline, a smaller quickship range ships within 1 week. Both natural and lab grown diamonds are offered across every ring style, and lab grown has become the more popular choice: Queensmith states that around 70% of its couples now pick a lab diamond, largely because it stretches a given budget to a larger or higher grade stone. A handful of ready-made styles give a sense of where prices start: the Marlo starts from £1,395 in gold or £1,775 in platinum, the Margot from £1,595, and the Blake from £1,195, all before any diamond upgrade or bespoke changes.

Craftsmanship and ethics

The in-house workshop is staffed by goldsmiths, gemmologists and designers working alongside each other, and showroom visitors are offered a tour of it as part of their appointment, a chance to meet the people actually making the ring rather than just the sales team. On sourcing, Queensmith points to the Kimberley Process, which it credits with removing 99.8% of the global supply of conflict diamonds from the market, as the baseline for its natural stones, alongside its lab grown range for buyers who want to sidestep mining altogether. All diamonds sold come certified, and the site's badge strip promises a lifetime warranty on top of the certification.

Ordering from Zürich: VAT and cost

This is where a Swiss buyer needs to read past the marketing copy. Queensmith's terms and conditions state plainly that all prices shown on the site, in store or quoted to a customer already include UK Value Added Tax, and that this VAT has not been reclaimable on export since a change to the Retail Export Scheme that took effect at the start of 2021. In practice that means the price on the page already has UK VAT baked in with no way to strip it back out for an export sale, so a Zürich buyer isn't buying VAT-free and then facing only Swiss import VAT on arrival: they are effectively covering UK tax on top of it. Queensmith is also not specific about the cost of getting a ring to Switzerland itself. Its delivery page doesn't quote an international shipping rate or a delivery window and instead asks you to get in touch to learn how much your international shipping could cost, and its terms are equally direct that all international postage costs, including any and all import duties, are paid by the customer. None of this is unusual for an international purchase, but it is not disclosed as a flat number anywhere on the site, so build a quote into your budgeting conversation before you commit to a design.

The business address restriction

The one term worth flagging clearly, because it changes how you'd actually receive the ring, is that Queensmith currently restricts international deliveries to business addresses. Its FAQ states it without qualification: international deliveries are currently deliverable only to business addresses. The full terms repeat the same point for its international carrier, saying Queensmith is able to deliver to most countries internationally, but at this time is only able to send to a business address. Nowhere on the site is Switzerland named specifically as a served or excluded country; the language throughout is "most countries" and "most countries internationally," so a private buyer with a home address in Zürich should confirm directly with Queensmith how a Swiss delivery would actually be routed before placing a bespoke order, since a home address alone may not be enough to get the ring shipped under the current policy.

Returns, resizing and aftercare

Once a ring arrives, Queensmith's standard policy gives 40 days to return it, provided it's unworn, undamaged, in saleable condition, and complete with its original packaging and certificates. That window matters less for a bespoke commission than it sounds, though, because the same policy excludes bespoke commissions, personalised items and engraved items from returns unless they're faulty, along with any order where the diamond is priced above £25,000 excluding VAT. Since most of what Queensmith sells is made to order, the realistic return right for a custom Zürich order is narrower than the 40-day headline suggests. Where a return does apply, a refund follows within 28 days, and returning a ring without its GIA certificate carries a £350 fee per missing certificate. International returns are handled by the customer choosing their own tracked, insured courier and keeping proof of dispatch, which is workable but adds a genuine cost and errand on top of the original purchase.

Aftercare is generous by comparison. One free resize is available within 60 days of receiving the ring, and Queensmith says the resizing work itself typically takes one working week once the ring is with them. What the resizing page doesn't spell out is what happens once the ring has already left the country: whether that 60-day window and the free resize still apply to a ring sent to Zürich, and who covers the cost of shipping it back to London for the work. That's a fair question to put to Queensmith directly rather than assume either way. Beyond the free resize, ongoing servicing, cleaning and polishing are offered for the life of the ring under the lifetime warranty, with polishing scheduled roughly every 3 years.

Who it suits

Queensmith fits a buyer who wants a genuinely bespoke, in-house-made ring, is comfortable running the whole design process over a virtual appointment, and doesn't mind paying UK prices in pounds with UK VAT embedded rather than shopping VAT-free. It's a weaker fit for someone who wants a guaranteed no-quibble return on a custom piece, since bespoke work sits outside the standard returns policy, or for anyone who can only receive parcels at a home address, given the current business-address rule on international shipments.

Verdict

Queensmith earns its place here on the strength of its craft claim and its transparency, not just its reputation: it's rare for a jeweller's own terms to spell out a shipping restriction this specifically rather than bury it. The company is still very much active, trading as Queensmith (Group) Ltd, a UK company incorporated in 2011 and listed as active on the Companies House register, with London and Birmingham showrooms and a design process open to overseas couples by video call. For a Zürich buyer prepared to confirm delivery details and factor in UK VAT and Swiss duty before ordering, it's a strong option for a genuinely custom ring rather than a boxed one.