Tension Settings

[jeninmaryland]

First of all this site is very helpful! (Any advice for the following questions would be greatly appreciated!)

Now to my question.....my fiance and I are interested in a tension setting for my engagement ring. However, we still have a few questions about the process of setting the stone. We would like to purchase a stone on the internet and have it set by a local jeweler in the Washington D.C./Southern Maryland area. (Note, we don''t have a specific jeweler in mind as of yet.)

However, looking over several of the sites from the manufacturers of tension settings we have found that it is standard to either purchase a diamond from them or mail your diamond to them for setting. For obvious (security) reasons we would prefer not to mail our diamond to a manufacturer.

On that same note, we were on Gelin and Abaci''s site and were unable to find locations of jewelers who carry their settings. I was under the impression - from other forum topic discussions - that this manufacturer in particular worked with local jewelers?

Thanks.

 

[slmulkey]

Hi! I have a Gelin and Abaci (GAI) tension set ring. If you email them through their website, you can ask them to tell which retailers in your area carry their rings. I did this, and was able to go look at them in person.

I bought my diamond through dirtcheapdiamonds, and then sent it insured to mickey roof jewelers (www.mickeyroof.com). The jeweler then sent it to GAI to be set. So basically, my diamond has been around! If you send it insured for the full amount through the US post office, and then have an appraiser check it out to make sure it hasn't been switched or anything funny like that, you shouldn't have any problems. Sure, it's a bit of a pain, and the postage with insurance costs about $50, but it is worth it.

I would have bought the setting from the brick and mortar store, but they wanted almost twice as much for it. Maybe you will have better luck with the store that you visit. You might want to price the setting that you like on the internet, and then see if they can beat it. The cheapest place I found was www.mickeyroof.com, but I only checked out a few online sites.

Some things to keep in mind about tension settings:

1)The diamond must be SI1 or better. (I only looked at VS2 and above just to be safe)

2)The setting physically weighs more than most.

3)You can't get it sized, so make sure that you have an accurate measurement.

4)Some of the settings might be hard to pair with a wedding band. (Mine looks fine with a wedding band, but I had to look for a band that was 2.5mm high so that it would match up with the engagement ring. Plus it had to be narrow (2mm) since my engagement ring is already 4mm wide.

5)Some of the bands are wide, I think that the smallest width is 3mm, most seem to be around 4 or 5mm. It's something that you might want to ask about when you find one that you want.

With all of these limitations, I love my ring and find it very unique. I haven't run into anyone yet that has a tension set ring. If you are worried about the stone falling out, get it insured and forget about it.

Good luck, and let us know which one you pick out.

(wow, I think this is my longest post ever)

 

[Rockford]

I recently had a ring made locally to look just like the one in the attached picture. Instead of titanium mine was made of platinum. It's not a true tension setting either as there was a little bar put in place under the stone to tie the two sides together. I wasn't hell bent on getting a tension setting; it was more the look that I was after. Going this way enabled me to do this. I also didn't have to send the stone off to some unknown party.
Resizing is an issue though. In my case we had the ring made 1/2 bigger than it technically should and had to "bubbles" put in the inside. These, in effect, make the ring ~1/2 smaller and can be removed in future if need be.

http://www.titaniumcommitment.com/pix/etoi135.jpg