Traditionally eternity rings are worn on the other side of a lady’s engagement ring to the wedding band. More often than not they are a mirror image in design to the wedding band with a style of setting stones that complements the engagement ring.

 

It therefore helps us to help you (especially if this ring is intended to be a surprise) if we can see what the wedding and engagement rings look like (photos will do)!

 

There is plenty of opportunity to maximise on the ‘bling’; please scroll through our portfolio on the right for a quick education on what to think about!

If you are now going to have three rings on one finger it is nice if they all complement each other.

 

An eternity ring where the stones are set into the band like the pictures above normally matches the wedding ring in terms of metal, band width, profile and height.

 

All of the bands above are 'channel' set but vary in the shape of diamond that's been set, the orientation of the setting and the ratio of the size of the stone to the width of the band.

This ring is a 3mm platinum band with a 'low D' profile (slightly rounded) set with 1.8mm diameter round brilliant cut diamonds. This leaves a safe setting edge of just over 0.50mm each side of the diamond. A finer setting edge isn't going to wear as well over the years.

 

The diamonds are 'channel' set and if done well ,there should be no gaps in-between each stone and the setting channel should be clean and straight.

This is another eternity ring where the stones are set into the band however they are now 'grain' or 'pave' set. This can be a really sparkly design as the grain add another surface for the light to bounce off.

 

The small grains can complement a claw set engagement ring as they are like mini claws. There are other styles of setting stones including 'flush' set, 'fish tail' and 'micro' set.

 

Please come in to the shop to see examples of different styles to try on.

An alternative to setting stones into a band is to have a design with distinct ‘head’ and ‘shank’ components. Here each stone is in it’s own individual ‘collet’ (setting) and it can therefore be much larger than if set into a band where we are limited by the depth of the stone relative to the depth of the band.

 

This design is a cast 7-stone design with each stone set into a 4-claw setting. Usually we can cast similar designs for different stone sizes in different metals. We would help you select suitable stones to use.

This is another 7-stone design with a 'head and a 'shank'; this time the stones are set into 'partial rubover collets' (rather than 'claw' settings in the previous picture). With a 'rubover' setting the metal goes around the stone; they wear very well over time and tend not to catch on things like claw settings can.

 

Being a two-piece casting you could have the head in white gold and the shank in yellow gold if you want to.

Traditionally eternity rings are diamond set and commemorate the birth of a child. Some people like their ring to also be set with blue sapphires for a boy or pink sapphires for a girl for example. Others might like to have particular birthstones incorporated into the design.

 

If you ask us to set coloured gem stones into a ring we will be quite frank about the risks of impact damage to certain stones that are not as hard as diamonds and sapphires. We can minimise the risks by ensuring the ring design is appropriate and we will advise on how to care for the ring.

You have probably grasped the concept by now that we can make rings however you want them. This ring is a ‘full’ eternity ring, which, whilst being absolutely stunning, is arguably not the most practical design.

 

We often make eternity bands where the stones are set 50-60% of the way around so there is a gap of just metal. This bit is worn at the bottom where the ring gets the most impact and it also allows a goldsmith to more easily re-size the ring in the future.

As with most of our commissions; we can hand make you a ring to your exact requirements, we can cast from our extensive selection of moulds and we can even use your old gold or platinum. This enables you to be quite creative with your ideas and together we can come up with some more individual designs.

 

Some people wear their eternity rings on their right hand; this means there are fewer design constraints as you’re not trying to match other rings.