After hiking through Mount Faber Park, we exited at Depot road and made our way to Poh Kim Jewellery ☺It’s actually a hidden gem inside an industrial estate so do not be shocked if you do not see any familiar looking jewellery retail shops.
Poh Kim Jewellery is tucked at a corner on level 6 of the industrial estate and tbh, I wouldn’t have dared to come alone if not with T LOL. But when we arrived, we were greeted by a cute auntie that welcomed us.
It does not look like a jewellery shop at all. It looked like a lab/warehouse on our first impression. They do not have jewellery on display, no pretty models plastered over their shop. It looked like a normal office and T&I had to double check we were at the right place haha. Although it was a weekday, there were a few couples inside the shop choosing their rings alr and Mr Kim Seng was attending to them. The auntie showed us to a corner and said she would bring us the different wedding bands for us to try on. While the set-up of the place was unremarkable, but we felt really cosy and comfortable in the environment.
While waiting for the wedding bands, we started chatting with the auntie sitting beside us who was hard at work making the wax up for the ring. It was interesting because it reminded us of lab work in school lol. So we started asking her about the sprues, investing and casting. She was patient and started introducing to us the different materials and what are the general steps in casting a ring.
Here’s a picture of the workplace:
While we were in the middle of the conversation, we were presented with multiple trays of wedding bands and the number of choices were beyond what we expected! We were told that if we have any design in mind, we could just show them the ring and WALA they will make it for you. Hehe. So anyways, prior to going to Poh Kim, we went to many shops to check out their wedding bands and I’ve narrowed down to two types. 1. Criss cross type. 2. The half eternity band. I couldn’t decide between the two TT so T suggested I get the criss cross design and then next time he would buy the other one if I want LOL. T chose a simple and flat design which didn’t match mine. But it’s okay!
Mr Kim Seng then came over to attend to us to get our ring size. Just like what the other brides have said on forums, he is really a humble man. We both felt really comfortable talking to him and didn’t feel that he was forcing sales onto us or what. We even talked about the mount faber park trail and random eating areas around that area. When we enquired the price, it was around $700-$800 which he said could only be finalized after the ring was done. This sounded fair as during casting there’s always shrinkage/expansion during the entire process so +/- of the gold weight is reasonable. With that, I paid a $200 deposit via paynow - they don’t accept credit card (sad no cash back/miles for us).
Let’s talk about why we bought our wedding bands from them without much hesitation:
1. Ring
The ring designs were to our liking and as we have been to many places, we could feel the weight in gold (pun intended). What I mean by this was that their ring is not hollow 18k gold but solid white gold as I could feel the difference in weight. I accidentally came across a forum online regarding another shop (which we also went) but they are selling hollow rings and thus their lower price range. Thank god I came across that review because we almost went for that because of their very attractive price (<$500). Side track a bit – hollow rings tend to break easily so unless you are really tight on budget, try not to go for them. I mean I wouldn’t want my wedding band to break haha, to most people its 不吉利. Also, it was close to our heart to get our rings from somewhere where we saw how they waxed-up their rings, invested, casted them and eventually polished them.
2. Price
Their price is not jacked up as they do not rely on advertisements to get their customers. I found out about this place via theheartlandboy and also bride forums☺ Their price is the same as those of bigger retailers AFTER discount – guess that’s how much they jack up their price for. We decided on it because we felt that it was value for money seeing how much hard work they put in by crafting their rings in house. I think it ranges within our budget of ~$1600 for both rings.
3. Ambience
It’s weird but I like how humble the whole set up is and there is no ounce of pretentious vibes present. Everything was so chill and somehow we just bought our rings!
If you are interested, do check them out on Instagram @pohkimjewellery. You could book appointment via Instagram and perhaps try to go on a weekday so that you will experience lesser crowd and more personalized service.
Here’s their address - 1092 Lower Delta Rd, #06-01, Singapore 169203.
If you are taking public transport, they are many buses that alight about 5 minute’s walk from them.
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