Robert Hilton, Jeweler

I have an engagement ring that was custom-​made by a family friend, who is a bench jeweler and has unfortunately retired. I don’t know much about jewelry, but I did notice that a piece of my ring seemed to be missing, and I was given Robert’s name. He was able to speak with me on very short notice and quickly diagnosed that the problem was simply normal wear resulting in a missing tip.
When I showed up at his studio in Portola Valley with my husband and kids in tow, he was extremely friendly and sweet to my children but also able to talk to me about the problem, which seemed easy enough to fix. He told me a little bit of his family history and also told me about how he got into the jewelry business, which I found fascinating. He then told me that I would need to probably think about replacing the other tips on my ring, but not for a long time, which I appreciated, because he armed me with knowledge but didn’t try any heavy sales tactics. He had my ring fixed in an hour, the price was incredibly reasonable, and he earned himself a new lifelong customer. If we have any future jewelry needs in our family we will definitely be seeing him again.

By far the best experience I’ve ever had with a jeweler. I visited 8 places looking for an engagement ring and found Bob. We clicked right away at his office/​workshop and I soon found myself in the design process. He is 3^rd generation in his profession and knew exactly what I wanted, even though I couldn’t explain it very well. He used my grandmother’s diamond in a platinum setting of my design, which later fit the wedding ring (which he also made) inside of it. My wife was so impressed that she had Bob make my ring. He even drove the wedding rings 2 hours out of his way to deliver them. This guy is totally reasonable, fun, and creative. I can’t say enough about him. Do what I did, stop looking for jewelry and find yourself a jeweler.