This anecdote – which ends well – was told to me by a friend. She agreed to let me publish it here. And I thank her for it because, as you will see, this story is really incredible!
The story takes place a good ten years ago now. I was working as a polisher in a rather important workshop, which is still my job.
This ring was a problem from the start. The team redid the design several times. Then they added stones, then removed some. Then the casting had to be redone at least two or three times. It had been polished, set, loosened, repolished, the two jewellers working on the project could not stand the piece any longer. Finally, the centre stone had to be found, which had been round, then marquise, then oval, before returning to the basic version: a round pink diamond of about two carats… A very pretty stone I must say!
The ring, almost finished, is about to be polished. Of course, with the setbacks, it had become very (but very) urgent. It was almost five o’clock in the evening and we had to deliver at nine o’clock the next day. I start working on it when – at the same time – two claws of the central bezel come loose. Because of all the changes, some of the welds had become very fragile. So the claws break, and the stone jumps! And I don’t see it fall, and above all I don’t hear it fall.
After the panic of the first two seconds, I switch off the machine, warn my colleagues (there were four of us polishers) and call the workshop manager. And we start looking. I clean my machine, look in the filter, we sweep and after more than two hours… still no stone. We check the bins, nothing either.
I warn my friend that I won’t be able to go to dinner with him and we decide to check our clothes. Modesty is not what suffocates the people of the workshops and here we are, all four of us, in our panties, shaking our blouses and our clothes. But still no diamond.
Finally, at almost eleven o’clock, our boss tells us to go home and that he will continue to look. A jeweller and a setter will stay behind to make the delivery the next day. I’m asked to arrive earlier, around seven o’clock. A stone is bound to be found.
My friend meets me downstairs from work and I leave for dinner with him… on my scooter. Then, at around eight o’clock, we’re back at my place. Polishing is a dirty job and I decide to take a shower. I take off my trousers and shake them. And at that moment, I distinctly hear a noise that I know too well. A stone falling on the floor and bouncing. I crouch down in my bathroom, and there, under my cabinet, I discover the damn stone! And it must have been stuck in my trouser cuff.
At almost midnight, I call my boss urgently… who doesn’t answer. So I decide to go to bed. Around four in the morning, my hysterical boss calls me back: “You have the stone, right? My God, you’re coming right now! Don’t move!
I was so stunned that I left for work in my pyjamas. I drop the stone off to my boss, who sends me off for a coffee. The stone is not even damaged. Then, at about 5.30, the ring is finally ready to be polished. And here I am, still in my pyjamas, finishing this piece. I go home around eight in the morning to sleep a little before coming back in the early afternoon… The ring is finished, it will leave for the United States in the morning. What a scare and what a story!
See you soon!