Valquère

Valquère is a lab-grown diamond jeweller that runs an appointment-only showroom at Talstrasse 20, near Paradeplatz, inside the 8001 postcode. It sells engagement rings, solitaires, halo and trilogy settings, plus earrings, necklaces and bracelets, all built around lab-grown stones rather than mined ones, in white diamonds and a run of colored lab-grown stones (blue, pink, yellow, red and green) for anyone who wants something beyond the standard round white. The first thing worth knowing before you book, though, is who you're actually booking with. Valquère is a brand of the Belgian Baunat Group, and its Zurich showroom sits at exactly the same address and phone number, Talstrasse 20, Nähe Paradeplatz, 8001 Zürich, +41 78 245 25 52, as two other listings on this site, BAUNAT and BNT Diamonds. One shopfront, one appointment line, three brand names. That's not a red flag, group-owned showrooms in a small country are normal, but a newcomer to Zurich comparing three "different" jewellers should know they'd be walking into the same room.

Booking and the English-language showroom

The site runs an English version at valquere.com/en, which is the version this listing is grounded in, and booking is done online rather than by walking in. The showroom's own page states opening hours of 09:30 to 18:00, Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday available "on request only," and it recommends making an appointment rather than dropping by, in its own words, "so that we can offer you a personal experience." A virtual appointment option sits alongside the in-person one, useful if you want to see a stone over video before committing to a trip into town. For an expat still finding their feet in Zurich, an English-language site plus a video option removes two of the usual friction points of ring shopping in a second language.

What you get

Every stone Valquère sells is lab-grown rather than mined, produced by one of "two cutting-edge production methods," HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) and CVD (chemical vapor deposition), and the company says diamonds are graded from 0.3 carats up by outside laboratories, including the IGI. On the showroom page the standard quality tier is described as "FVS1 or EVVS2 grades," meaning F-color VS1-clarity or E-color VVS2-clarity as the baseline rather than the floor of what's technically gradeable, which is a reasonable middle ground for a buyer who wants a clean stone without paying for the very top of the scale. Settings run to bespoke work as well as the standard catalog, and metals available include 18kt gold and 950 platinum.

Sourcing claims, and what actually backs them

This category exists for buyers who want to check the paperwork behind an ethical claim before it factors into a deposit, so it's worth separating what Valquère can show from what it simply states. The diamond side is genuinely documented: Valquère describes itself as a "Certified Member of the Responsible Jewellery Council since 2022," gives a certificate number, 0000 6974, and links out from its own sustainability page to a Human Rights Policy, a Supply Chain Policy, a Supply Chain Due Diligence Report and an Annual Sustainability Report. That's a real, checkable audit trail, not a badge with nothing behind it.

The metals side is thinner. Valquère describes its gold and platinum as "ethically sourced and recycled 18Kt gold (au750) and 950 platinum (pt950)," but names no certification body, no chain-of-custody standard and no auditor for that specific claim, unlike the RJC-backed diamond sourcing above it on the same page. The site also says its production partners "strive to use renewable energy" and work to reduce their carbon footprint, again without naming a standard or a document. Both are worth taking as Valquère's own stated intent rather than an independently verified fact, and a buyer who cares about this specifically should ask the showroom directly what stands behind the metals claim, since the diamond claim clearly has documentation and the metals claim, on the pages available, does not.

Shipping, VAT and duty if you're buying from Switzerland

This is the part that actually decides whether an international buyer in Zurich should trust this listing, so it deserves the detail. Valquère's contracting entity, per its own terms of use, is "BAUNAT GROUP N.V.," registered in Antwerp, Belgium (company number 0899.153.574), not a Swiss entity. Its terms state plainly that "prices payable to BAUNAT GROUP N.V. remain exclusive VAT" and that for any delivery outside the EU, "prepayment of export and import charges and taxes, and other local taxes and charges can be asked to the client," with local taxes and border charges "paid to the delivery courier." Switzerland gets no country-specific carve-out in that clause: since Valquère is an EU (Belgian) seller, a Swiss delivery falls under the general non-EU wording above. In practice that means the price you're quoted excludes VAT, and Swiss import VAT and any customs duty land on you at the courier, not baked into the checkout price the way a Swiss-registered retailer would typically handle it. Neither the terms of use nor the dedicated customs FAQ page publishes an actual Swiss franc figure or percentage for that charge, so this listing isn't going to guess one either. What you should do instead: ask the showroom for an estimate before you order, or use the "indicative tax calculator" the customs FAQ page mentions it provides for non-EU countries.

The published delivery windows are more straightforward. Ready, fixed-price pieces ship in "10 to 15 working days," and the customs page confirms shipments originate in Antwerp. A tailor-made or bespoke piece takes longer, "approximately 4 working weeks" by the company's own FAQ. Prices on the site are quoted in a choice of currencies including Swiss francs, alongside euros, dollars, pounds, yuan, Hong Kong dollars and yen, so at least the number you see at checkout is a CHF number rather than a foreign-currency price your bank converts on the fly, even if that CHF price doesn't include what Swiss customs may ask for on delivery.

Returns and after-sales

Valquère's return window is 30 days from the day you receive the jewel, and it applies to "standard jewels shown on www.valquere.com with fixed prices," with tailor-made or personalized pieces explicitly excluded, so a bespoke commission is a final sale by design. Within that window you can choose a full refund or an exchange for another piece, and you're free to use whichever courier you prefer, FedEx is given as an example, to send it back. The policy doesn't say who covers the cost of return shipping, so budget for that yourself rather than assuming it's covered. The condition bar is fairly strict: the jewel has to come back in its "original, undamaged condition," and if it's missing its original packaging, documents or certificates, Valquère says it will deduct a corresponding amount from the refund rather than reject it outright, which is a fairer approach than an all-or-nothing refund but still worth knowing before you toss the box.

After-sales runs through a separate service page covering repair, resizing and other requests, with a stated response time of "within 2 working days," and completed jewels are sent back via FedEx. The resizing form's own size dropdown runs from size 45 up to size 70, so the practical range on offer is wide, though no specific resizing fee is published on that page. Backing all of it is a 20-year warranty, confirmed in near-identical wording on both the after-sales page and the terms of use, which describes it as a guarantee "against hidden defects of the product(s) till twenty (20) years after delivery," with hidden defects needing to be reported within two months of discovery. Twenty years is a genuinely long warranty period for fine jewelry and covers most of a marriage's early decades, even if the site is light on what counts as a "hidden defect" in practice.

Reputation

Valquère's own Trustpilot business page shows a 4.8 out of 5 TrustScore from 138 reviews, described by Trustpilot itself as "Excellent." Worth noting separately: the badge displayed on Valquère's own Zurich showroom page cites a much bigger figure, "5 out of 5 based on 4009 reviews," which reads as a Baunat-Group-wide trust score rather than valquere.com's own dedicated profile (BAUNAT's own Trustpilot page shows yet another, similarly large review count). The 4.8-star, 138-review figure is the one that actually belongs to Valquère as its own listed business, and it's a solid, checkable number rather than a borrowed group statistic. A search for signs the business has closed, changed hands or gone under turned up nothing: no bankruptcy notices, no closure reports, and active, recent promotional posts running into mid-2026, consistent with a business still trading normally.

Who it suits and the verdict

Valquère suits an expat or international buyer in Zurich who wants a lab-grown stone with a genuinely documented ethical certification behind the diamond itself, is comfortable booking an appointment (in person or by video) rather than walking into an open shopfront, and is willing to handle Swiss import VAT and duty separately from the quoted price rather than getting a bundled Swiss-VAT-inclusive figure at checkout. It suits someone who wants a long warranty on a ring they might resize more than once over the years, given the 20-year hidden-defect guarantee and the wide 45-to-70 resizing range, and it suits a buyer who is willing to ask a direct question at the showroom about what backs the metals sourcing claim, since the diamond certification is well documented and the metals language currently is not. The genuinely strong points, a real RJC-backed diamond sourcing chain, a clear 30-day return window on fixed-price pieces, a long warranty and a solidly rated Trustpilot record under Valquère's own name, are exactly what earns this a place on the list, alongside the honest caveat that this is one showroom serving three of the group's brands, and one seller whose Belgian VAT status means a Swiss buyer should ask about duty before, not after, placing an order.