Help With Eternity Band

[DottedFever]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post, so please accept my apologies if I am posting in the wrong section.

I have a 2.1 carat round brilliant diamond, that I am planning to set either in 1.8mm or 2mm knife edge Tiffany style solitaire ring. I am looking to pair my engagement ring with an eternity (or even 3/4 eternity) band. This picture is my inspiration:


I have been looking around the forum, but the "pointer" language is very confusing to me, so I was wondering if someone could explain what the pointer system means. Does the pointer size refer to the carat size of the individual diamonds on the eternity band?

More importantly, what size eternity band would you recommend I get to make my ring look similar to the attached picture?

Thanks.

 

[JulieN]

there are 100 points in a carat.

 

[LetItShine]

"Pointer" refers to the size of the individual diamonds in an eternity. So if you had an eternity with 10 point stones each stone would be 1/10th of a carat. I have a 1.4 ct solitaire with a 12 pointer eternity (20 stones, 2.4ctw). The width of my ring is 3mm. If you are trying to replicate the look you posted, my guess would be an eternity with 10 point stones. I wear a spacer so that my eternity doesn't damage my ring.

 

[LetItShine]

Here is a bad cell phone picture to give you a visual. There are also other threads about eternities on the site you can read.

 

[gregchang35]

A couple of things to keep in mind with eternities.

3/4 or full eternity.

If you are not planning on having any kids, then the full eternity. if you are planning on a few kids, a few posters have mentioned that the finger size increase after having one or multiple kids. So, a full eternity is probably not a good idea, as it is hard to resize.


Have it sized 1/4-1/2 size bigger

If you are not planning on having kids in the near future, you will need to considder that the eternity ring size has to be about 1/4 size bigger than what you currently are; especially if it is to be paired with your solitaire. The reason is that more finger coverage with the bands, means more skin tissue is going to be covered. With that, it means there needs to be more gap (increase in size of one ring) to accommodate for this extra skin tissue, otherwise it may be too tight.

If the eternity is slightly bigger in size, the eternity ring may spin. If it is a full eternity, it wont matter. However,with the 3/4, the ring may spin and you will see some or all of the 1/4 section that does not have the diamonds.

try the combination at a BnM store

Do this so that you get a feel of how the eternity sits with your solitaire. There is a thickness ( measurement from the fitting surface to the outer surface) of the ring that some ppl can tolerate. Some say it is 2mm thick. EG: a 15 pointer diamond is going to be bigger and taller or depth is going to be greater than the 10 pointer diamond. What that means is that the 15 pointer is going to touch the other fingers either side of your ring finger, more so than the 10 pointers. Some can tolerate the 15 pointers thickness, others cannot. So while the 15 pointer may look good with the set that you have, it may be uncomfortable to wear. You may need to consider a channel set eternity; but the thickness of the band is still the issue. For some, the thickness does not bother them at all.

Channel set or prong set.

While you are at the BnM store, try the prong seteternity and then try the channel set eternity. Prong set is great but sometimes it may be uncomfortable to wear. but it also depends on the size of pointers that you choose. if prong set is too uncomfortable, then a channel setting may be better. Of course, that will change the overall look of the set.

Have fun experimenting.

 

[DottedFever]

Thank you all. All of the information you have provided helped me understand the details much better. I think I will go with a 3/4 eternity ring for practical purposes. I can't stand loose rings, and it would be a shame not to be able to wear my ring after a few kids.

Now to figure out what pointers to get

 

[DottedFever]

Thank you all. All of the information you have provided helped me understand the details much better. I think I will go with a 3/4 eternity ring for practical purposes. I can't stand loose rings, and it would be a shame not to be able to wear my ring after a few kids.

Now to figure out what pointers to get

 

[Maisie]

That Tiffany band you posted as your inspiration is 3mm wide. Your jeweller will be able to work out what size diamonds you need if you say that's the width you are looking for

 

[DottedFever]

That Tiffany band you posted as your inspiration is 3mm wide. Your jeweller will be able to work out what size diamonds you need if you say that's the width you are looking for

Thanks. That's a helpful piece of information. Do you think a 3mm band would be too thick next to a 1.8 or 2mm engagement ring? I believe the Tiffany's solitaire settings are closer to 2.5mm…?

 

[DottedFever]

Here is a bad cell phone picture to give you a visual. There are also other threads about eternities on the site you can read.

Beautiful set! What is the thickness of your engagement ring?

 

[LetItShine]

Thanks. The width of my engagement ring is 3mm.

 

[Maisie]

That Tiffany band you posted as your inspiration is 3mm wide. Your jeweller will be able to work out what size diamonds you need if you say that's the width you are looking for

Thanks. That's a helpful piece of information. Do you think a 3mm band would be too thick next to a 1.8 or 2mm engagement ring? I believe the Tiffany's solitaire settings are closer to 2.5mm…?

I don't think the width of the engagement ring is as important as the size of the diamond in it. Your diamond is definitely big enough to wear with a 3mm diamond band

 

[mns12]

For visual....here is my original ER (1.5 ct) with approx 15 pointer eternity band.
I think I am close to a size 4-4.25 but got this sized at 4.5. Yes, it does spin..but it doesn't bother me a bit since it is eternity.
One important thing to note, BE CAREFUL of how the band sits against your ER. I had a platinum, cathedral solitaire setting and over 10 years the wedding band ate at the prongs and one day I hit my ring on the sink and the entire stone with prongs popped off.
I had NO idea that would happen and was fortunate it happened in my house and I found the diamond!

 

[Candygrl]

I have a 1.8 ct in a tiffany style knife edge. I have a fully eternity from IDJ that's 2.11 ct with 10 pointers. It's perfect and I love love it!

 

[Candygrl]

Better picture shown the my rose gold spacer.

 

[LLJsmom]

I've always wondered why many people say go for a skinny eternity. Now I know. If you keep your eternity skinny enough that the band does not run into the edge of the center stone, you will still get to see the complete circular outline of your center stone, which is the whole point of getting a solitaire setting in a plain shank in the first place. I totally understand the desire for bling (see my avatar). But I think this is something you will discover only after wearing a big eternity for a while. I would say get CZ of both, skinny and a fatter eternity and test them out for at least a month each before committing.

 

[DottedFever]

There are so many factors to consider. I had no idea the eternity band could eat into your main ring. Now I'm thinking I should get a plain wedding band for daily wear, and save the eternity or 3/4 eternity for special occasions. I would do a spacer, but my fingers are small and short. A spacer + band + ER would look bulky on my hand.

I am loving all the photos! It's making me so excited. I'm thinking the 10 pointers will be a nice size for my engagement ring, but not too big on my fingers. I like the idea of doing a test run with CZ's. One of my worries is that I will pick something, spend time with it and then find a fault with it down the line. The CZ test runs would be a good way to prevent that.

 

[DottedFever]

@mns12 and @Candygrl, WOW at your sets! Truly. What is the thickness of your engagement ring? It seems like it doesn't make much of a difference, I'm just curious to know.

I'm debating between a 1.8mm and a 2mm thick engagement ring. What are your thoughts on that? I want to showcase the center diamond as much as possible. Because of that and because I'm a size 4, I was leaning toward a 1.8mm initially, but now I'm wondering if that would be TOO thin, especially next to a 10 pointer eternity. Any suggestions?

 

[mns12]

@mns12 and @Candygrl, WOW at your sets! Truly. What is the thickness of your engagement ring? It seems like it doesn't make much of a difference, I'm just curious to know.

I'm debating between a 1.8mm and a 2mm thick engagement ring. What are your thoughts on that? I want to showcase the center diamond as much as possible. Because of that and because I'm a size 4, I was leaning toward a 1.8mm initially, but now I'm wondering if that would be TOO thin, especially next to a 10 pointer eternity. Any suggestions?

Thanks!! That was my original set but I recently re-set my solitaire into the Emilya halo which I LOVE!! Of course looking at this pic again makes me appreciate my solitaire as well. If only I could have both..ha ha. I'm pretty sure Victor just told me my original ER band was about 2-2.2mm..it wasn't uniform. For me, I think it was a perfect fit for my solitaire. Now with the Emilya the shank is ~1.8mm which I love for this setting..but feel like it would be too thin for the solitaire. Just my personal preference though.
I think the 10 pointer eternity would like awesome with ~2mm ER!!