Before you start reading this post please note that I like this customer a great deal and I did tell her that I was going to write this article for the sake of others.

I hope it does not sound too negative and the end result here was very luckily the same as what we planned for when I originally made the ring.

7 years ago

Seven years ago I was asked to make the tension set ring to the right based on a design that the customer had seen elsewhere. I made the ring but I do not trust tension setttings and this article shows why.

Tension setting involves a gem being held into the setting solely by the tension of two opposing pieces of metal. It is not an everyday wear style of setting in my opinion and this customer intended to wear this ring every day.

The customer agreed to make the ring extremely thick to give it more strength to secure the diamond. I also heat treated the metal to make it even harder.

The customer also agreed to have me periodically check the ring (free of charge) to see if the diamond was moving at all. We had a plan if something started to go wrong and we just needed to be able to keep an eye on the ring.

If something went wrong

The plan would be to fit a hidden small rail under the diamond to add stability and stop the ring from separating if that was occurring. The key here would be that the customer promised to bring the ring back in for the free check up. LOL…am I repeating myself yet?

I was so sceptical of this style of setting I wrote an article about it at the time I made the ring expressing my concerns.

Article: To tension set or not to tension set

Like many of my customers she forgot in her busy lifestyle to bring the ring back in (for the free checkup). I emailed her one month after the ring was made reminding her. No reply. I understand, we are all very busy.

Seven years later the inevitable happened.

Seven years later and the diamond has come out of the ring. I like this customer a great deal and there is no way for me to write this next bit without sounding like I am being mean to her, but as soon as there was in issue she found the time to contact me. Fortunately the diamond was found.

With no re-tensioning or checking of the ring the diamond coming out would be something I would think inevitable. Over time I would expect that the diamond would occasionally be bumped and that would displace the metal supporting it bit by bit. This is something that could be corrected with re-tensioning and a small alteration but I never saw this ring for 7 years.

The “free” planned solution - 7 years on

Back when I originally made the ring the plan was to add a rail under the diamond free of charge if we had any issues that we spotted during the check ups. The rail would add stability and also stop the ring from pulling apart.

Like new again - but a little different.

Above are some photos of the ring I took after the under rail had been added and the ring cleaned and rhodium plated. The ring was created in 9ct white gold, is 11mm wide, 2.3mm thick and weighs 19 grams. Most rings today are made at 1mm or less thickness.

The reasons why I will no longer make this style of setting.

When the ring came back to me the first thing I did was expand it open by pushing it up a mandrel. I then placed the diamond back into the setting and closed it by pushing it back down the mandrel.

I did this to check how it was sitting in the ring before it came out. I fully expected it to wobble in the ring but as you can see in the video it did not!

One way for a diamond to come out of a tension setting is for the ring to be dropped and for the impact to cause the setting to spring open momentarily releasing the diamond. This ring has no signs of being dropped or heavy marks on it at all. This customer had taken good care of the ring in my opinion.

So how did the diamond get out of the ring? I have no idea but I do know that I will no longer be making this type of setting for two reasons.

1. I never trusted this style of setting and even with the metal at 11mm wide and 2.3mm thick the diamond still came out of this setting.

2. Even when the checkups are free many customers do not take the time to have their jewellery checked. They wait until they have a problem. Yes I know, we are all busy.

Article: Diamonds are forever but your jewellery is not.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I have been spending most of my free time in Barron Gorge of late but last weekend I did revisit Millstream Falls which I have not been to for quite some time. I think I prefer it with the current slow water flow as it allows you to see that magnificent rock wall better.