Berganza

Berganza is a family-run antique and vintage jewellery dealer on Hatton Garden in London, England's historic jewellery quarter. It sells pieces from its own collection rather than aggregating stock from other dealers, and it also buys jewellery from the public, so the relationship runs both ways. For a Zurich-based expat weighing up a trip to a Swiss auction viewing day against something that can be handled by post and video call, it is worth knowing what you are dealing with: an English-speaking business, a documented history running back decades, and a set of aftercare terms that are published rather than implied.

History and pedigree

Paul Daughters started as an apprentice polisher in Hatton Garden at 16. By 1972 he owned his own lapidary workshop on the top floor of 34-35 Hatton Garden, employing 18 lapidaries and 3 secretaries, at the time the largest such operation in England. In 1981 he was asked to repolish a well-known royal engagement ring sapphire, a detail the company still tells on its own history page. Berganza itself was established in 1985, and the business moved to its current address at 88-90 Hatton Garden in the early 1990s. It expanded those premises in 2012 and published a book on the history of marriage rings in 2014. In 2017 Paul's son Justin took over as managing director, a handover that 1stDibs' own editorial coverage corroborates independently, with Paul continuing as chairman. Berganza has kept growing since: it took on the shop next door in 2021 and added an office and photo studio in 2024. Its own site also describes "over 70 years in the trade", which reads as the family's combined time in the jewellery business rather than the shop's own age, since Berganza itself is a 1985 company. Worth knowing the difference before you repeat the figure.

What you get

The stock is organised by era (Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Edwardian, Art Deco, and 1940s and 1950s pieces), by cut (old cut, old mine cut, emerald, step, Asscher, rose, and cabochon), and by design (solitaire, flanked solitaire, cluster, coronet cluster, and three-stone settings). There is also a straightforward carat-weight filter running from 0 to 0.99 carats up through 5 carats and above, and an engagement ring category priced up to £5,000 (its listed prices run in pounds sterling throughout). Signed pieces from named makers, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Tiffany & Co., Chaumet, Bulgari, Hermes, Kutchinsky, Oscar Heyman and Rene Boivin among them, sit alongside a full A-Z maker index for anyone chasing a specific hallmark. This is the estate-piece appeal the category is built on: a design from a maison you already recognise, at a price a new equivalent would not touch.

What stands out

Documentation is where Berganza earns its place here. It runs dedicated pages on hallmarks, makers' marks, and the pricing of antique jewellery, aimed at explaining condition and rarity rather than just photographing a piece well. On completion of a purchase it automatically emails a replacement valuation, priced at roughly 30% above the purchase price, referencing the gemstone or diamond reports that came with the piece, useful if you need proof of value for a Swiss home contents policy the moment the ring arrives. That valuation habit, paired with the maker index and provenance pages, is a genuine point of difference from a dealer that simply lists what is in the cabinet.

For a newcomer buying from Zurich

Delivery to Europe is complimentary and fully insured, according to Berganza's own site, and the standard quoted window for Europe is 3 to 5 working days. Higher-value or further-flung shipments go by specialist insured courier (the site names Malca Amit and Ferrari), quoted at 7 to 10 business days, and every parcel is tracked, signed for, and insured in transit. What Berganza does not do is absorb duty: the site states plainly that customers are responsible for all local import taxes, so budget for Swiss import VAT on arrival rather than assume the free delivery covers it. There is no Switzerland-specific rate published, so do not expect one quoted at checkout; it will be settled at the border.

Returns run on a 14-day full money-back guarantee for online purchases arriving unseen, with free return shipping, provided the piece comes back in its original condition with security tags intact. The one real catch: an altered or resized ring forfeits that right, so try it on before you send it to a jeweller rather than after.

Aftercare is the part worth planning around if you expect to be in Switzerland only a few years. Two resizings are complimentary within the first 6 months of purchase, taking about 10 working days once a 50% deposit is paid, but that means posting the ring back to London rather than finding a local jeweller. Repairs work the same way: free in the first year if the piece is genuinely faulty, otherwise around 5 to 6 weeks from a 50% deposit, with an initial quote inside 1 to 2 weeks of your appointment. Updated valuations, recommended every 3 to 5 years, cost £75 and take about 3 weeks (waived if you are on the annual clean-and-check plan). None of this is unusual for a specialist dealer, but it is worth knowing that ongoing care means a round trip to the UK, not a walk-in down Bahnhofstrasse.

On payment, the checkout supports Stripe across its full range of currencies, so paying from a Swiss card is not an issue even though prices are listed in pounds. Everything on the site, from the FAQ to the appointment booking form, is in English only, which suits this audience rather than working against it. Appointments can be booked as a video call or in person at 88-90 Hatton Garden, and the showroom keeps regular hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 11am to 5pm.

How it compares, and who it suits

Against a Koller or Schuler auction lot, Berganza trades the possibility of a bargain hammer price for a fixed price, an immediate purchase, and a published returns window, none of which an auction house offers on a lot you have won. Against buying new, the appeal is the same one that runs through this whole category: a design you cannot commission today, often at a lower price per carat than a comparable new stone, backed here by a paper trail that goes further than most dealers bother with.

It suits a buyer who already knows Hatton Garden by reputation, wants a maker-marked or era-specific ring without flying to London to see it, and is comfortable with a UK-based aftercare cycle rather than a Zurich-based one. It is less suited to someone who wants to walk in, try on ten rings, and walk out with one the same afternoon; a considered, mostly remote purchase is the normal path here.

The verdict

Berganza gives an expat buyer in Zurich a genuinely different route into a vintage or antique engagement ring: its own stock rather than someone else's consignment listings, a documented decades-long history, insured delivery to Europe at no extra charge, and a returns and valuation policy that is written down rather than promised on the phone. The only real friction is logistical, resizing and repairs mean shipping the ring back to London, and import duty lands on your side of the transaction, but neither is hidden, and both are the ordinary cost of buying from a specialist a border away rather than a reason to look elsewhere.