Buying Guide: Bezel set solitaire engagement rings
“You probably hear this a lot, but I’m shopping for a diamond engagement ring. My girlfriend is a nurse in a doctor’s office and has to wear surgical gloves frequently, she’s indicated that she prefers a bezel set solitaire because it will be easier to slip gloves on and off over the ring, and it is less likely to tear the gloves as prong set rings might be likely to do. When I asked my local jeweler about bezel settings, he kind of scoffed at the idea and suggested that my girlfriend simply pin her ring to her scrubs, which is apparently what his nurse clients do. What do you think? Do you have any ring recommendations? And what about some recommendations for a one carat round, I want it to face-up white, be 100% eye clean, and sparkle like crazy!”
Full Bezel set solitaire by Brian Gavin:
My guess is that your local jeweler just doesn’t like to mess with setting a diamond in a bezel setting, it can be a bit tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. The trick is that the bezel needs to be made specifically for the center stone that is going to be set into it, so that it fits the setting perfectly, and this requires that each ring be custom made to fit the center stone selected for it. That’s not a problem for Brian Gavin, because we custom make each ring at the time of order, but most jewelers are working off of settings catalogs of rings made to fit diamonds of different ranges of carat weight, and that can lead to sloppy looking work which people aren’t happy with.
Everybody seems to love this full bezel setting by Brian Gavin, which is available with an 18k yellow gold ring shank (pictured above) or in 18k rose gold, or all platinum. The ring is popular with all types of people, including a lot of nurses for the reasons stated. However, many of them do pin their rings to their scrubs when assisting with surgery, or slide their rings on to a sturdy necklace for safe keeping. The latter of which is a better option, since we had one client have to dig through all the dirty scrubs in the hospital laundry room after tossing her dirty scrubs and her ring down the laundry shoot one day!
Half Bezel solitaire by Brian Gavin:
Another option that is extremely popular with our clients is this half bezel solitaire by Brian Gavin, which covers only half of the edge of the diamond and in doing so, creates a completely different design which is also quite nice, and equally as functional in terms of being able to be worn with gloves. The setting is pictured here in 18k rose gold, which is also known as pink gold, but is also available in 18k yellow gold, 18k white gold, or platinum. I’ll be happy to help you select a suitable diamond, but need to know the price range that you’re working within order to be truly effective for you.
