Monday, July 29, 2013

Harry Winston on Fifth Avenue--where diamonds are a girl's best friend?

Look: New York City has Tiffany's, Cartier, the Diamond District and all kinds of glittery places that sell very high end jewelry..

I am the last person to ask about this and I sort of question whether it is worth running this, but,oh well, it may be fun...I want to see what the reviews say. 

Yeah--some real complaints here, among them is that they are snooty as hell..Ha ha ha--what a mixture of raves and sour apples THIS place gets!!!

OK, so this is just for the hell of it!

Harry Winston

3.0 star rating
16 reviews Rating Details
718 5th Ave
(between 56th St & 55th St)
New York, NY 10019
Neighborhoods: Midtown West, Midtown East
(212) 245-2001
Nearest Transit Station:
5 Av/53 St (E, M)
5 Av/59 St (N, Q, R)
57 St (F)
Hours:
Mon-Sat 10 am - 6 pm
Price Range:
$$$$
Accepts Credit Cards:
Yes
Parking:
Street
By Appointment Only:
No

Review Highlights   What's this?

  • "Sells diamonds, so I've never been inside." In 6 reviews
  • "...and my brother's first wife's engagement ring - are from this..." In 3 reviews
  • "...a private little nook in this massive store, to be shown possibly any..." In 5 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
Sort by: Yelp Sort | Date | Rating | Useful | Funny | Cool | Total Votes | Friends' | Elites'

16 reviews in English

  • Review from

    5/25/2013 1 check-in here
    Best security team in NYC!!!
  • Review from

    12/8/2012
    Ok, I know I'm on 5th Ave. I get that Harry Winston is like "Whoa" in all the movies but I'm sure they have something for commoners too right? Wrong. We walked in looking for a wedding band and what is $2-4k at the other Jewelers (Cartier, Bulgari, DY etc) is over $6.5k here. And they only had like 5 bands! Wow. Walk in, Walk Out.
  • Review from

    • 60 friends
    • 210 reviews
    6/12/2012
    While their quality may be the best, the service could be a bit friendlier. I wish they were set up more like Tiffany's or other jewelry stores where you could browse the jewelry. Instead, it's sit down only and even when I came in with my boyfriend and my mother  and had them write down the information, I felt like they didn't take me seriously. And even if I wasn't, they should be trying to make you want to buy instead of making you feel like you don't belong or you're bothering them. I am very split between giving them a 3-star and 4-star review. I'm leaving it at 3 just because I think the service greatly impedes your ability to shop and WANT to shop. I used to think that I would only want a ring here but they're just so unhelpful that it taints my view of their jewelry itself.
  • Review from

    • 109 friends
    • 293 reviews
    2/27/2011
    The bf surprised me by taking me here to pop my engagement ring shopping cherry and boy oh boy did this store make my very first time memorable....

    From the moment we walked in, i was swept off to a private little nook in this massive store, to be shown possibly any and every diamond a girl could ever want...I was enthralled by the Intense pinks, and shiny yellows, to the traditional white diamonds...I know truly know what it means to say diamonds are a girl's best friend...
  • Review from

    • 15 friends
    • 49 reviews
    9/16/2010
    This word has been used and abused, but just imagine for a moment that it wasn't..... this is a very posh little store.  The whole store is in a beautiful blue design, which provides a big, bold backdrop for all of their diamonds.  The staff is a mix of young attractive females and experienced gray-haired men.

    The store looks great, but I can only give them three stars because, as far as I can tell, the Harry Winston brand has hung up its gloves.  All of the rings in the store are cookie cutter molds of the original Winston classics.  The diamonds are super high cut and quality, but you can toggle to those same attributes over at Blue Nile and get the diamonds for less than half the price.  Harry Winston's designs have been replicated and riffed on by so many others, it's super easy nowadays to seek out your own handmade creation that captures Harry's original essence.  If you really want a Winston, I strongly recommend following the Sotheby's auctions.  True, vintage Winston's show up all the time and you can win them at Blue Nile prices, not Harry Winston retail store prices.
  • Review from

    • 111 friends
    • 2108 reviews
    2/18/2006 1 photo
    Tiffany's may be better known, but in reality this is Manhattan's premier jeweler. Many of the baubles you see on Tinseltown red carpets - and my brother's first wife's engagement ring - are from this venerable institution. Although Hollywood starlets return the diamonds once the event is over, my bitchy ex-sister-in-law kept hers when the marriage ended. My brother couldn't care less . . . he made his first million AFTER the divorce.
  • Review from

    • 65 friends
    • 215 reviews
    8/19/2008
    smelled like old people in that store.  like a mix of mothballs and that old lady perfume...and sweater.

    and the customer service was horrible just as described in the reviews below.  horrible!  we asked to see engagement rings and they said, "start at that corner".  that's all was ever said to us in that store.
  • Review from

    • 10 friends
    • 25 reviews
    12/18/2012
    Probably one of the worst shopping experiences here.  The sales representatives are beyond pretentious. Like others who have posted a review we had the same experience.
  • Review from

    • 135 friends
    • 74 reviews
    10/18/2011
    This specific location is by far my favorite. The staff at this location are always very polite and helpful. My parents gave me a very nice necklace from here and the experience was remarkable. There was no pressure to get anything that I didn't like and well I guess as much money as people spend here there shouldn't be.  Not only did I get a beautiful piece of jewelry from here but they have kept it in good shape. I love HW
  • Review from

    • 6 friends
    • 14 reviews
    11/11/2010
    The diamonds are beyond beautiful (and about $15,000 overpriced per carat), but I recommend you only shop at Harry Winston in NY when you're in the mood to be treated like a piece of crap. Perhaps because my boyfriend and I are in our 20s, the staff rolled their eyes when we walked in and acted as if our presence was a huge bother. Nothing was on display, so the woman we were working with sighed and took us up to the vault, where she demanded to know what kind of ring we were after, because otherwise, she "couldn't help" us. She also told us that she really wasn't very prepared for us because we hadn't made an appointment. Later, she asked if we were students (we're not). In short, we're not buying anything from these people because they're meeeeeannnn!
  • Review from

    • 175 friends
    • 231 reviews
    4/22/2011
    Granted the staff was friendly, unless you are wearing a vest made of money, I don't know what you have to do to be taken seriously.  The salesman explained that any ring I was referring to would have to come from the vault in a tone that seemed like he really did not want to go to the vault.  It was not a bad experience but I wish it had been better.
  • Review from

    • 19 friends
    • 60 reviews
    2/20/2012 1 photo
    Absolutely, fantastic! It's very expensive store. but once you buy their stuff, they can take care of them forever. and send me card every year and gift;) Thank you
    Listed in: Up town
  • Review from

    • 52 friends
    • 81 reviews
    11/11/2010
    We came here when shopping for our wedding bands. The yelpers were right about this place not having an extensive collection to shop for. The designs were kindda old for our taste but I guess old people with money do like Harry Winston stuff.
  • Review from

    • 1 friend
    • 35 reviews
    4/20/2011
    This place is amazing.  And any time I have had any problems with anything, they have fixed the jewelry we have gotten there -- no charge, and shipped it to me, where ever I am, when they are fixed.  Again, free shipping.  They stand by their workmanship.  I don't know of another jewelry store that does this.  And I have purchased some expensive jewelry.  I LOVE JEWELRY!  Yipee!
  • Review from

    • 149 friends
    • 1422 reviews
    2/4/2006 First to Review
    Lovely corner building on FIfth. Sells diamonds, so I've never been inside.
  • Review from

    12/16/2010
    I have never been in a store that made me feel quite so out of place.  Sure, we're on the younger side, but not all young people are poor or cheap.  They went through the motions of helping us, but the sales lady seemed like she was just being polite in a "I have to be polite to you" sort of way.

    They don't have many wedding bands anyway, at least not that they showed us (and of course only ones with diamonds in them).
 

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