De Beers

46-50 Old Bond St, W1S 4QT · View on Google Maps · Visit website · 02077589780

Every other jeweller on this site buys its diamonds. De Beers digs them up. The group was formed in 1888 and the retail jewellery house in 2001, and that vertical integration is the whole proposition: stones curated from discovery in Botswana, Canada, Namibia or South Africa through to the ring in the case.

What that buys you practically is provenance you can actually verify. Every stone carries the De Beers Marque, an inscription confirming it is natural, untreated and traceable. Most jewellers can tell you a stone is ethically sourced. This one can tell you which country it came out of, because they own the operation that took it out.

They are natural-only, and given they are the company that spent a century building the market for natural diamonds, that is unsurprising. It is worth knowing before you visit, because nobody there is going to present lab-grown as an option.

Rings are sold as a setting plus a chosen centre diamond, which is why prices are quoted as "from". The DB Classic round brilliant starts at £2,125, DB Classic Pavé at £2,475, Infinity at £2,700, the Aura cushion cut at £4,950 and the Aura round brilliant at £5,500. Larger and rarer combinations climb steeply: a DB Classic trio in emerald cut is £35,500.

The Old Bond Street store pushes appointment booking but does not refuse walk-ins. Note the unusual hours on their Google profile, which shows a much earlier Thursday opening than the rest of the week.

They publish no bespoke process, timescale or deposit terms on the current UK site, so if you want something made rather than chosen, establish all three at the appointment.

Eighty-nine reviews at 4.8, which is a small sample for a house of this size. Only nine are from the past year.

Thirty-seven per cent of reviews with text mention ring buying, which is actually high for a Bond Street house. The pattern across all the luxury names on this site is the same: people spending five figures on a ring rarely go home and write a Google review about it, so the review record tells you far less here than it does about a Hatton Garden workshop.

Three reviews sit below four stars with no shared theme. They reply to 27 per cent. Treat the rating as weak evidence either way and judge this one on what you see in the room.

Review figures taken from Google and checked in July 2026. We recount them monthly.

This suits someone for whom the origin of the stone genuinely matters and who wants that backed by ownership rather than assurance. If you have read about traceability and found most claims vague, this is the one house that can answer the question completely.

It also suits a buyer who wants a Bond Street purchase with a real entry point. At £2,125 the DB Classic is more accessible than most people assume of the address.

It will not suit you if you want a lab-grown stone, a bespoke commission with published timescales, or the best possible stone for the money. You are paying something for the name and the provenance apparatus, and that is a reasonable trade only if you value both.

How much is a De Beers engagement ring?

Published starting prices include the DB Classic round brilliant from £2,125, DB Classic Pavé from £2,475, Infinity from £2,700 and Aura cushion cut from £4,950. Rings are priced as a setting plus your chosen centre stone, so the final figure depends on the diamond.

Does De Beers sell lab-grown diamonds?

No. The retail house sells natural stones only, each inscribed with the De Beers Marque confirming it is natural, untreated and traceably sourced.

What is the De Beers Marque?

An inscription carried on every stone confirming it is natural and untreated, and linking it back to its source. Because De Beers owns its own mining operations, they can identify the country a stone came from rather than only assuring the supply chain.

Do I need an appointment?

The store encourages booking an in-store appointment but does not say walk-ins are refused. Check the current hours on their Google listing, which shows a different Thursday opening from the rest of the week.