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On 2/28/2004 9:12:05 AM Griffin wrote:
That would depend on the bezel set, Dave.
Properly done bezel sets really don't occult much of the edge of the stone at all, but that entails a setting made dimensionally correct for EACH of the stones in a given piece, and then carefully set.
Easy to do as designers since we both make our mountings specifically for a set of stones we already have sitting in front of us before we spec the stone seats - but you have to remember that the commercially made pieces these folks are used to seeing have uniformly sized bezels, and those bezels by neccesity have to be set to the LARGEST diameter of any of the range of stones in their commercial lots. Usually the upshot to this is a HUGE amount of stone is occulted, sometimes way up the kite facets.
This does dramatically affect light return. Most bezel sets do exhibit this.
We get spoiled in our little corners of the mounting market, where 6/1000ths of a mm is an acceptable increment to dial in slop. Don't forget most stuff made for manufacturing is lucky to pull 3/10ths mm even IF they are using decently calibrated stones.
As for the rest of you all, now you see why designers get a little gefrunkt over people who go nuts over researching just the perfect stone dimensions and cuts, then have them mounted in one-size-fits-all commercial mountings half a dozen layers of generation loss below what we throw out as unnacceptable dimensional tolerance and symmetry.....
Hey, Dave, next time we get together over beers we should develop a grading system for mountings similar to clarity ratings for diamonds!----------------
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