The Quiet Round

Sometimes the brief is simply: no tricks. Tom asked for a classic solitaire that would never go out of style, in a width that suited his partner's small hands. We used a 6.5mm round stone on a 1.8mm four-prong setting, finished the prongs to a soft round so they would not catch on sweaters. No halo, no pavé, no nonsense. 4 weeks. This is the ring we show people who say they do not know what they want.

The center is a 6.5mm round brilliant moissanite in 14k white gold, 2.6 grams finished. The band is 1.8mm wide and 1.4mm thick, tapered to 1.5mm at the base so it stays comfortable on a size 4.5 finger. Small hands make narrow bands look right and make wide bands look borrowed. She wears a 4.5, and that number drove the whole drawing.

Four prongs, 1.0mm round wire, at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock, each filed to a soft dome about 0.3mm above the girdle. That number is the one that matters. A prong filed flat snags knitwear, and a prong left at 0.6mm is a hook. We file, run a fine rubber wheel over each tip, then polish the head with rouge before the stone goes near it.

The first head I made was a basket with a rail under the stone at 1.3mm. Set and viewed from the side, the rail read as a shelf and the ring looked like it was trying too hard. I cut the rail to 0.9mm, which meant re-casting the head. Two days gone. Tom never knew.

Finishing is three passes: tripoli on the band, rouge by hand on the head, then rouge on a string to reach under the basket. Ultrasonic for five minutes, then a 10x check for a light line under each prong tip, which would mean the prong is not touching the crown. She has had it sized once, a quarter up, and we did it in a day because there is no pavé on the shoulders to disturb. That is the quiet argument for a plain ring.