“I bought an engagement ring and wedding band. 
Why didn’t anyone tell me about the problems I could have?”

Everyone on the internet and in stores has a great idea of what you should buy when it comes to an engagement ring.  Just a small issue, is that it is still your money and while you want to get a fair value, why isn’t anyone telling you what not to do, or in this case buy…unless you can live with the consequences.

I am going to show you some of the problems I see regularly that you should have been told when you were buying your ring. 

Why wasn’t I told about that?

When it comes to mistakes, or problems later, how could salespeople give you that information, when they themselves don’t have the training or knowledge to pass on?

Don’t buy this…unless!

Rings with one shared claw, diamond looks like it floats.

This is the design I love but hate. The diamonds will rub against the engagement ring and eventually loosen or chip.

Shared center claw holds diamonds in but is prone to knocking and getting loose.

Super thin bands with diamonds set in them. 

Just how long will those little prongs with such small amounts of gold hold in the diamonds?  I am not sure how long but I am sure they will fall out eventually.  Or the prongs will wear out all at once and that can be an expensive repair job.

A popular style of a thin ring with side diamonds.  While very on trend, there is very little gold prongs holding in the diamonds.

Diamonds set all the way around the ring.  

The lovely eternity ring.  Great look for sure.  What happens when you want to size the ring, say years down the road and your finger gets bigger due to having kids or arthritis?  Sizing these rings is possible but can be a nightmare for a jeweller and that means lots of time spent.  Lots of time means extra costs.  And then there is the problem when tips wear out.  Because the ring revolves around the finger, the tips wear out evenly around the ring.  Ouch! That can be costly.  But here is the one problem I see over and over with eternity rings.  A couple diamonds at the bottom are broken.  Usually, something heavy is picked up, or a regular activity like pushing the bar on a big exit door hits the diamonds at the bottom and smashes them.  Just knowing these issues before you buy can help prevent the problem.

This ring highlights a few issues.  It is an eternity ring with the single shared prong mentioned earlier. And it was worn next to ring that rubbed the center prong setting.  The center setting shows marks where gold is worn away.  The shared prong on the bottom and sides are worn down and there is barely any metal left holding the diamonds.  This ring needs extensive repairs.

Center Setting is rubbed by band.

The center prong sticks out on sides and gets a groove cut on the side by the band.  This jeopardizes the strength of the claws that hold in your center diamond.  (See picture above.)

Engagement rings with lots of side diamonds. 

They will rub against the wedding band or the diamonds in the wedding band until the metal holding the diamonds will rub off, or the diamonds will rub against the other diamonds and chip. Besides, when the engagement ring is worn next to the wedding band, the side wall diamonds are hidden.

By wearing a wedding band next to this engagement ring, the side wall diamonds will wear against the band or the band will wear the gold prongs.

Engagement rings with very thin galleries or supports.

Manufacturers often make the rings light to save on metal costs.  That won’t help you in the long term.  Your ring will likely break for no reason you can think of.  Repair will only leave you with a weak structure.  Next thing you see is a diamond is gone.

The gallery on this ring is about one third the thickness I typically use.  It gave out and cracked in about four places and lost a diamond on the end.  The real fix is to make the ring again.

The same ring as above has a few other things to note. The underside of the gallery shows a different shade of white gold.  The whiter color also shows some small holes on the right side of the ring.  This is because the ring was made using a lot of solder.  Solder is great for repairs but not for building structural components.  Even the side of the ring is made in a couple distinct parts. 

Not soldering the two rings together.

Sure, I hear a lot of clients that say they want to be able to wear their wedding bands separately.  And I bet it is about 50:50 how many people actually do wear their bands alone.  The problem here is that the two rings will rub together and wear down the sides and bottom of both rings.

Notice the wear on the side of this ring.  It is from rubbing against the engagement ring.

This is the same ring as above.  Where the diamond is missing. The small prongs that hold the diamond in place have worn down due to the band rubbing next to the engagement ring.  The result is that there wasn’t enough strength left in the prong to hold the diamond in place.

Rings that are open in the middle.

Moi et toi rings that are not joined at the center and on a thin band. Or bands that are open in the middle.  Great look.  Guaranteed to break or split when it catches or is spread apart.

This ring is a classic example.  Nothing holds the two sides together.

Rings with very high settings. 

These are designed to give you issues.  The claws get caught and pull away from the gemstone.  Or maybe the claws are so high and thin they just move with a slight knock.

This ring has a very tall setting with thin claws and no bar to hold the claws together.  Note how the claws are not resting on the gemstone.  This gemstone is about to fall out.

Don’t wear any ring to the gym.

Just the other day I told a young bride not to wear her ring to the gym.  She said, “When can I wear my ring?”.  I see this almost weekly.  Gold will not take the punishment of a dumbbell or exercise equipment.  Even if you wear gloves, the hard metal will dent the precious metal in your ring.  Take off your rings, wear them on a chain or leave them at home.

This ring came to us for repair.  It was worn to the gym.  Note the small dents all over the ring.  Several diamonds were broken (marked in purple).  And the platinum over the diamonds was worn down.