Can an engagement ring be resized, and which settings cannot
A jeweller resizes by cutting the shank where it is plain, which explains why eternity bands, all-round pave and tension settings resist it.
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Guides
Considered guidance on choosing, wearing, and caring for fine jewellery.
Choosing the engagement ring together, or keeping it a surprise
Together or a surprise is really three separate decisions: who chooses the design, what she knows, and when the proposal happens.
Claw, bezel or pave: what each setting commits you to
What each engagement ring setting means for snagging, cleaning and repair years later, and why a claw can only ever be made so fine.
How much should you spend on an engagement ring?
The month's-salary rule began as a 1930s diamond advertisement, not a tradition. Here is what should actually decide your figure instead.
How to approve a ring design before it exists
The gap between approving a picture and receiving a ring, and the four questions that close it before anything is cast.
How to care for an engagement ring day to day
What daily wear actually does to a ring, the one habit that matters most, and what is worth knowing before wearing one for years.
How to find out her ring size without asking
You cannot simply ask, so here is how to find her ring size anyway, which methods are reliable, and what to do when it stays unknowable.
How to read an engagement ring quote
What a ring price is actually made of, and the one question that tells you more than an itemised breakdown ever could.
Natural or lab-grown diamond: what genuinely differs
A lab-grown diamond is a diamond, not a substitute. What is identical, what actually differs, and what nobody can honestly promise you.
Platinum, white gold or yellow gold: choosing a metal
Purity, alloys, rhodium plating, and the durability question nobody has settled. What to actually weigh up before choosing a metal.
The three papers: hallmark, grading report and valuation
Hallmark, grading report and insurance valuation answer three different questions, from three different issuers. Here is how to tell them apart.
Which diamond shape looks biggest on the hand?
Carat measures weight, not size. How proportion and shape actually decide the way a stone reads on a hand, and what to ask for instead.
Your rights when buying a ring, and the two that get confused
Changing your mind and being given what was agreed are two different rights. On a commissioned ring they point opposite ways.
Rings that are designed to be worn together
An engagement ring and a wedding band share a finger for a long time. That is a design problem before it is a commercial category.
Champagne diamonds: a guide to warm-toned stones
Where the colour comes from, how it is graded, what it costs relative to a colourless stone, and the two questions worth asking before you buy one.
How long does a bespoke engagement ring take?
The honest answer needs two numbers, not one: the part the studio commits to, and the part that moves at your pace. Plus how to work back from a date.
How to commission a bespoke Persian jewellery piece in the UK
What the commissioning process looks like from first enquiry to finished piece: design, stones, timing, deposit, and what the maker needs from you.
How to layer and stack gold jewellery
Necklaces, bangles and rings worn together. What makes a stack read as deliberate rather than accidental, and the older tradition it comes from.
Old cut diamonds, and why they look different
Old European, old mine and rose cuts throw light in a way modern cutting designed out. What differs, how to set them, and when not to recut.
What personalised really means in an engagement ring
An engraved date is customisation. Personalisation is when the silhouette, the stone orientation and the band profile all answer to something about you.
How to read a UK gold hallmark
Three tiny marks, struck by an office with no interest in the sale, telling you what the metal actually is. Here is how to read them.
What does handmade mean in jewellery?
The word covers three different processes, and the difference is not really hands versus machines. Here is what to ask a jeweller instead.
Which hand does a wedding ring go on?
In Britain, the left. In much of Europe, the right. Neither is more correct, and the reason usually given for the left hand is not true.
How Much Does Bespoke Jewellery Cost? An Honest Guide
An honest, designer's breakdown of what a bespoke 18ct gold engagement ring actually costs, and where the money goes.