Titanium Men''s Bands Revisited

[Mara]

This topic has come up a time or two, and we have been considering titanium for my fiance's wedding ring.

Yesterday we visited our jeweler in Aptos and asked about his opinion of Titanium. He said that they don't sell it and refuse to because it dents rather easily if you drop it, and that it cannot be cut off in the case of an emergency. Since I vaguely recalled a thread about that in the past, I didn't know if what he was saying was true, so we just nodded and went off on our merry way.

Cut to an hour and a half later, we are waiting for a table at Bubba Gump in Monterey, CA (about 45 minutes past Aptos) and happen upon a jewelry store that sold a brand called Spectore which made titanium rings. Intrigued, and since neither of us had actually seen titanium in person, we spoke to the jeweler in the store for about 45 minutes. She was very nice and pretty knowledgeable! She gave us a brochure on Spectore's titanium and we found that you can indeed cut off commercially grade titanium with either a cutters tools OR go to a firehouse or similar and have them lop it off.

We checked out Spectore's designs, they have some beautiful pieces! I want to get my fiance a ring with a diamond (or more) in it, esp since he loves my diamonds and my rings and I want for him to have his own conversation piece. So we viewed some of their tension rings, which he really liked (I'm normally not a fan of tension but a few were nice) and pricing was very reaonably as well since Titanium is cheaper than Plat at this point. I like the duller look of Titanium as we like brushed metal anyhow rather than shiny, esp for a man's ring. Plus the rings look a little 'industrial' and then you add the diamond and it is almost this blend of industrial with something very refined and precious...somewhat like my guy who plays a highly-paid product manager during the day and then on the weekends is a complete gear-head, rebuilding old cars etc. He wears suits to work during the day and on the weekends you would hardly recognize him. So to me the titanium rings with the diamond is the perfect fit for him!

Found a vendor online who carries Spectore, having a huge sale on their rings, around $300 cheaper than in the B&M stores. Nice! So anyway figured I'd post on our experience and we were not surprised to find that our jeweler is not as experienced as he may think he is with the latest and greatest in the jewelry industry. We knew he was a little 'old-school'...but was surprised to find him so wrong?

Or was he? Hopefully some experts can weigh in...is titanium safe if it's commercial grade? What are drawbacks (hard pressed to find any while researching online!).

Just another option to consider while checking into men's bands for your SO's!

Here's the pix!

Enjoy!

 

[Mara]

This is the one I loved the best, he liked it too but had another as his first choice. He wears gold alot and I like the look of both metals on his skin...plus the diamond is very cool. The one in the store had an oval set north-south instead of a round which gave it a different but intriguing look. Worked very well with the setting. The stone is a .16c but you can get it with a .25 if you want. I asked if we can supply our own stone (ACA anyone?!) and the jeweler we worked with is checking into it. That would be ideal..and probably no more $$ than they'd charge us for that stone in the ring itself!

Oh and this price retail for the entire ring (including stone) was around $1000 for the .16c stone they supply...and aronud $1200 for a .25c stone they supply. Online we found it for $700 with the .16c stone!

This picture is a shiny titanium (polished) but the one in the store we liked was brushed/flat as the picture below is. You have the option of either or!

 

[Mara]

This is the one he liked the best...because of the split band..this one is tension set as well...but I didn't think the all white metal looked as good with his skin tone. Too bad this one does not come in dual metals. The pricing for this one was similar to the one I just posted: .16c stone or .25 stone...you can do ovals or rounds as with the other one. This one in the store had an oval set into it east-west which means laying on it's side...it looked really cool...very different, hard to tell at first glance it was an oval since the stones are small!

This picture is a .25c round..and isn't the greatest quality but it's all I could find online.

Spectore's website appears to make you register to view their products-and the registration form I filled out almost looks professional--so Im not sure if they even let consumers see their products..had to find pictures on other sites elsehwere.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hi Mara-

I like the look of the 1st tension band you posted.

To boot what is the base price of this ring without the stone?

I know the .25 aca's your looking at in the d range go from 500-700 depending on clarity.

I think it would be a perfect choice for the beautiful tension set style you guys are going for.....

-Josh

 

[Mara]

Not too sure what the price is without the stone or even if they sell them that way, the jeweler is looking into it for us..and will let us know. Also she didnt know color/clarity of the stones they use as typical, so we want to find that out as well.

I figure we'd go for something like a G VS2 or similar for the ACA if we were to go that route (if we were allowed to supply our own stone). I would even say SI1 but I think that they have particular requirements for what sorts of clarity are allowed in the tension settings?

Of course the fiance wants the .25c stones as he wants the biggest one he can get (sound familiar? ha ha...we are a match made in heaven). So we'll see what the jeweler comes back to us with in terms of info from Spectore, then figure it out.

The fiance really liked the look of your ring as well Josh so when I get a few minutes I'll sit down and PM you about the costs and all of that to see if that is an option for us to go custom with the same designer who did your piece. Amazing!

 

[Boulder]

I'm only in the e-ring shopping mode now, but in the future I may be interested in titanium for myself. If you find out anymore interesting info, Mara, I'd be curious about hearing about it.

 

[Mara]

Okay so here is an update. The amazing woman we spoke with on Sat night has already called back and let me know that:

a) Spectore does not feel comfortable with us sending them a stone, but if we want to do it, they take no responsibility for the stone becoming damaged while in their care...but they WILL do it
b) The jewelry store does not feel comfortable taking responsibility for the stone either esp from a 3rd party, so if we decide to go that route, they will sell us just the setting AND take 20% off the price because of the inconvenience.

Very nice! So the price for just the setting (gold and titanium one) is something like $420 but with the 20% off its around $350.

So now I am trying to find out who can set tension for us, if a co we buy a stone from (like WF or similar) can set the stone for us..or do we have to go through another co and how that works etc. I have NO IDEA how tension works but I thought I vaguely recalled someone posting that only a few co's do tension at all. So maybe this is more hassle than it's worth...but we will see.

BTW if anyone in Monterey is looking for a jeweler, Steinbeck Jewelers (831.649.0993) is who is helping us with this and so far are very highly recommended. I really appreciate that this woman (Janese Nordin) has bent over backwards in the span of one work day to get us this information and a discount for our 'inconvenience'...

and she was extremely friendly and helpful on Saturday night. Hopefully things will work out.

 

[Mara]

Oh and anyone interested in titanium rings can check out Spectore's line at www.titanium-rings-and-wedding-bands.com which is an authorized retailer of their stuff. They are the ones having the sale on titanium bands right now.

About wear and tear and polishing titanium, we found out that while it does surface scratch slightly like platinum does, titanium is more easily buffed out and polished without losing any of the metal while with platinum you lose metal each time the polishing happens. Somewhat interesting. We also found out that it is not 'soft' and will not dent easily--is rather durable. So I have no idea what our original jeweler was talking about. Figure if you really couldn't cut it off then how would it dent?! eh!

Lastly, Spectore's bands are made out of commercial grade titanium, easily able to be cut off with a regular jeweler's cutting tool, takes about 2ce the time as cutting through 14k gold but is doable (they did a study). We were also told that if we could not get to a jewelry store, a fire department would have the necessary tools. Apparently for jewelry like this you want to shy away from getting 'aircraft grade' titanium which is the really hard stuff. They ran tests on that type of titanium too and found they were not easily able to cut through that with any jeweler's cutting tools without severely damaging the cutting tool and after something like 10 minutes they were only about 1/3 of the way through the ring.

So stick with a commercial grade titanium if you are looking.

Interesting!

 

[mike04456]

Mara, some high-end titanium alloys can't be cut through even with bolt-cutters.

So, yeah, I'd stay away from anything not designed specifically for jewelry.

One thing to think about if indeed your FH is a gearhead: if a 14k gold ring gets snagged on a piece of machinery, it's more likely to break than tear his finger off. Not so with steel or titanium rings. If you get him a titanium ring, make sure he gets into the habit of taking it off when he's working with any power tools.

 

[Boulder]

Thanks, Mara!

----------------
Apparently for jewelry like this you want to shy away from getting 'aircraft grade' titanium which is the really hard stuff. They ran tests on that type of titanium too and found they were not easily able to cut through that with any jeweler's cutting tools without severely damaging the cutting tool and after something like 10 minutes they were only about 1/3 of the way through the ring.
----------------

That's scary!

 

[Mara]

Yes very scary!

I'll advise him to remove the ring if we go that route, LG.

 

[jswhigham]

FWIW, Here is an interesting website for a company which makes and sells titanium rings. http://www.titaniumcommitment.com/

The prices seem reasonable.
Can anyone here comment on them?

Scott

 

[LesleyH]

Hi Mara:

Unfortunately we cannot set diamonds in tension settings. It has to be done by the manufacturer of the ring and is a very specialized process. The 2 most common companies are Kretchmer or Gelin & Abaci, but I'm not sure if they work in titanium.
BTW - those rings are gorgeous!

LesleyH
www.whiteflash.com

 

[Mara]

How disappointing! Maybe we are stuck with the diamond as supplied by the manufacturer after all if we decide to go this route. Hmm. Will have to do more research.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hey Mara:

Have you tried contacting Greg @ Ringdesigner.com. He has experience doing tension setting and after discussion might be able to come up with something for you guys if not fabricate you guys a very very similiar setting and tension set it.

Just an idea though.

I have read in the past on a couple tension settings that he has done and this might be another alternative to G&A or Kretchmer and might save you price wise too, and then you could get an ACA too..heehee

-Josh

 

[Mara]

Hmmm thanks for the idea Scorp...Ideally if I could find someone who can set tension and would use an ACA and another designer's setting....that would be the best situation...because we really like these settings. But if not, we may have something made.

 

[rodentman]

I have 2 rings from http://www.titaniumcommitment.com

and I am very pleased with them. I had both of them engraved RodentMan on the inside so if I lose them, all the finder needs to do is toss them in a mailbox and they'll come to me.

I am pleased with their service and workmanship.

 

[fuffi]

Another great source for men's titanium rings is www.titaniumstyle.com. All of their styles are available in a various widths. You can also choose the grade of titanium you want and your finish.

 

[jswhigham]

----------------
On 8/3/2003 2

6

0 PM Mara wrote:
This is the one I loved the best, he liked it too but had another as his first choice. He wears gold alot and I like the look of both metals on his skin...plus the diamond is very cool. The one in the store had an oval set north-south instead of a round which gave it a different but intriguing look. Worked very well with the setting. The stone is a .16c but you can get it with a .25 if you want. I asked if we can supply our own stone (ACA anyone?!) and the jeweler we worked with is checking into it. That would be ideal..and probably no more $$ than they'd charge us for that stone in the ring itself!

Oh and this price retail for the entire ring (including stone) was around $1000 for the .16c stone they supply...and aronud $1200 for a .25c stone they supply. Online we found it for $700 with the .16c stone!

This picture is a shiny titanium (polished) but the one in the store we liked was brushed/flat as the picture below is. You have the option of either or!----------------

Mara,
Here is a link to a company which will allow you to supply your own stone for a titanium tension ring.
http://boonerings.com/stone.htm

I hope this helps.
Scott Whigham