My fiancée is the proud (I hope) ring-bearer of a tension setting engagement ring. Tension mounted rings are not easy to find because of their non-standard construction, which also makes them difficult to get your hands on. After a several month search and many jewelers consulted, I finally found one that said, “We don’t have that, BUT we are having a special event where a freelance jeweler comes to the store and does custom work right on site. He will be able to get the tension setting done for you.” The time comes, I go, we meet, diamond found and setting agreed upon, history written.

At the time, my nerves and newly empty wallet clouded my vision. I did not notice a critical feature of the ring that was not supposed to be present. A typical tension mount works by having the stone more or less float in between the two sides of the ring. To visualize, imagine shrinking a horseshoe down to ring size and putting a diamond in between the two sides. This is essentially what happens with a tension setting. Under normal circumstances, the ring is superheated and put under pressure to hold the diamond in place as there are no prongs to keep it stable. The diamond literally appears to float, hanging in the balance between the two sides of the ring. This ring had a solid platinum bar at the bottom of the diamond, acting as a rest. This severely detracts from the floating appearance of the diamond and also led to other problems.

The phantom bar at the bottom of the diamond turns out to be a dirt collector. The tiny spaces and flat surface are conducive to dust and dirt particles collecting on the metal. In addition, the diamond became loose after eight weeks. I have a hard time accepting that we will need to get the diamond tightened every eight weeks for the rest of our lives. I expressed this to the store where I purchased the ring, and not surprisingly, they tried to blame it on the wear and tear my fiancée was putting on the ring coupled with the nature of the tension mount. This is the point where I lost composure.

To summarize, the conversation wound up somewhere with me saying, “Look, I don’t care if she punches someone in the face; that diamond is supposed to stay in there, and it would if you had competent people working here to set the diamond properly.” Needless to say, the customer-blaming stopped and I was promptly given two options (1) try to get a local jeweler to remove the extraneous bar and set the diamond correctly or (2) get refunded for the amount of the setting and get them to re-set the diamond in a new ring at the next event. At least I got some sort of piece of mind.

If you are in the market for a tension setting ring, make sure that you only purchase from a manufacturer who deals specifically with tension settings. This is not an easy goal, you may have to purchase the ring online. However, it is worth the headache because finding out later that someone who told you they can perform the tension setting really cannot is a lot more stressful.

In conclusion: I hate jewelry.

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