Kimai

Kimai is not a Zurich shop, and it does not pretend to be. It is an EU jewelry brand, founded in 2019 and making its pieces in Antwerp, that sells lab-grown diamonds set in 18-karat recycled gold and ships worldwide, Switzerland included. For a newcomer to Zurich who wants a ring without booking a week off to visit a Bahnhofstrasse boutique, that is exactly the point: the whole process, from browsing to a design consultation to delivery, happens in English, online, with two physical showrooms (London and Paris) for anyone who wants to see the pieces in person along the way.

What you get

The engagement ring range runs from simple pear and oval solitaires to trilogy settings, with published starting prices for the pieces we checked: the Jackie Pear Ring from €3,660, the Maria Oval Ring from €3,200, the Judith Elongated Cushion Ring from €2,700, the Grace Round Ring from €2,710, and two trilogy designs, the Clara at €6,995 and the Isadora at €7,495. Every stone is lab-grown, and Kimai says any diamond above 0.50 carats is sent to the IGI for independent grading, on the basis that GIA, HRD and IGI now grade lab-grown and mined stones by the same standard. That is a fair point and a useful one for a buyer who wants a certificate that means something outside Kimai's own marketing copy.

The brand's pitch is transparency: "high-quality, low-impact, and fully traceable" is the line on the homepage, and the founders, Jessica and Sidney, frame the whole company around moving away from the mined-diamond supply chain. It is worth being precise about what that claim rests on. Kimai's own pages cite a study finding that mined diamonds produce more than 30 pounds of sulfur oxide and 125 pounds of carbon per carat against "little or no gaseous emissions" for lab-grown stones, which is a claim about lab-grown diamonds generally, not an audited figure for Kimai's own supply chain specifically. The site does not publish supplier names, mine or foundry locations, or a chain-of-custody document for the gold or the diamonds it sells. So take "fully traceable" as Kimai's own description of its sourcing philosophy rather than a documented, third-party-verified claim, in the same way this category asks of every listing. The IGI, GIA and HRD grading is real and independently verifiable; the sustainability framing is the brand's own and worth reading as such.

The buying process

For an engagement ring specifically, Kimai offers a bespoke route rather than pure off-the-shelf buying. You book a consultation, in person at one of its stores or virtually, and Kimai states these are "complimentary and available in English or French." Nothing on the pages we checked mentions German, so if you need the appointment in German, ask before booking rather than assume it. The bespoke process runs through getting-to-know-you, sketching, diamond selection and crafting before delivery: a €500 deposit is collected once you move to sketches, and that amount is deducted from the final invoice rather than charged on top. Kimai quotes "up to 6 weeks" to craft a bespoke piece, with the option to ask for a faster turnaround if you need one. For the ready-made engagement ring designs already listed on the site, the published lead time is different and longer: 6 to 8 weeks to be shipped, against 7 working days for other in-stock jewelry and up to 3 weeks for made-to-order pieces outside the ring range. That gap between "in stock" and "engagement ring" lead times is worth planning around if you are working to a proposal date.

Shipping to Switzerland, and a correction

Kimai's checkout groups Switzerland under its "Europe (EUR€)" region, and its marketing states plainly that "import duties and taxes have been included in the final price" for orders shipped to "the UK, US, EU & UAE." Read quickly, a Swiss buyer could take that as covering them too, since Switzerland sits in Europe and the price is already quoted in euros. It does not. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, and Kimai's own FAQ does not list it among the countries where duty is folded into the price. Everything outside that named list falls under Kimai's "rest of world" terms, where the delivery company, not Kimai, can collect import duty and Swiss VAT at the border. In practice that means a ring bought from Kimai and shipped to a Zurich address should be budgeted with Swiss import VAT on top of the checkout price, not included in it, whatever the "Europe" label on the currency selector might suggest. It is a distinction worth getting right before you commit to a design, since it is the one place this brand's marketing and its own small print pull in different directions.

Shipping itself is genuinely global: Kimai states it ships worldwide, with the sole exceptions of Russia and China, so a Swiss delivery address is not in question, only the duty treatment on arrival.

Returns, resizing and warranty

The homepage banner advertises 14-day returns, but the FAQ page is specific about what that excludes: "all rings (including engagement rings), engraved items and any pieces marked as made to order are final sale and cannot be returned or refunded." For a category where the ring is the whole point, that is the detail to know going in, and it is the one genuine caveat here: there is no cooling-off period on the ring itself once it ships. Kimai balances that with a complimentary resize for engagement rings, up to two EU sizes above or below your original size where technically possible, and a straightforward manufacturing warranty: free repair for manufacturing defects, plus one free replacement for a lost stone up to 0.15 carats. Payment runs through PayPal, Amex, debit and credit cards, and bank transfer, with Klarna's pay-in-3 or financing available depending on the country you order from.

How it compares and who it suits

Against a Zurich showroom with a resident goldsmith, Kimai trades the in-person fitting and same-week resize for a lower price band, a faster design language aimed at a younger buyer than the classic solitaire houses, and an entirely English-language sales process from first click to delivery. That suits an expat who wants to move fast, is comfortable buying a ring online or over a video call, and is not fussed about visiting a Zurich boutique in person. It suits less well a buyer who wants to try rings on in Zurich itself before deciding, since the only physical stores are in London and Paris, or a buyer who needs certainty about a return window on the ring, since there isn't one.

The verdict is still a positive one. Kimai's diamond grading is independently verifiable, its consultation is genuinely free and in a language most newcomers to Zurich will be comfortable in, its bespoke deposit is credited back rather than lost, and its resizing and defect warranty are clearly stated rather than buried. The one thing to correct before you order is the duty question: budget for Swiss import VAT on arrival, treat the "traceability" language as Kimai's own framing rather than an audited certificate, and the rest of the experience holds up as described.