Opinions on this illusion style ring please

[diamondhoarder]

I don't normally like illusion settings, but was passing a jewellery store window and this kind of leapt out at me, so I went and tried it on and now I cant get it out of my mind!



Here is the video which still doesnt quite capture how bright and flashy the diamonds are:

I sometimes find step cuts a little too "quiet" for my tastes, but I love geometric shapes and this seems to have the advantage (to me) of having more facets and sparkle than if it had just 3 emerald cut diamonds.

And its a good price - at least for the "size look" anyway. It would be a right hand ring.

Each of the stones is held in place with a shared prong, rather than being invisble set, so it should in theory be reasonably durable. But I would love to hear from any of the jewellers on here about whether these types of settings have problems. And could this kind of ring be cleaned regularly in an ultrasonic, or is that asking for stones to come loose?

I'm also still not sure how I feel about having an arrangement of smaller diamonds trying to look like 3 larger ones. Does it look classy - or just a bit "try hard"? I'm so tempted to get it, but now I'm second guessing myself.

Please weigh in with opinions/ advice!

 

[RMOO]

I think it is pretty! I personally don't have any issues with illusion settings. I mean, isn't that kind of what some halo settings are trying to do- making a diamond appear larger, or have more presence?

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

Unburdened with good taste, the only illusion sets that appeal to me are the occasional step cut sets, such as you show here. They're not a chip shot, they have to be done with some skill. If it's an attractive price, buy it then sell it to me when you're tired of it.

I like it.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I think it’s pretty! Illusion settings get a bad rep but there is a vast difference between something like the princess cut monstrosities with way too many prongs and something like this. This looks like it’s finished well. If the price is right, I would totally buy it!

 

[nala]

I feel like for that price range, maybe lab stones might be a better buy? And look?

 

[diamondhoarder]

I feel like for that price range, maybe lab stones might be a better buy? And look?

Sorry, I didnt make it clear that the price is a lot lower than I could get a similar sized 3 stone lab diamond ring for. I would say that the price is on a par with slim diamond band / eternity rings I have seen with 0.7 - 1.00 cts total. And this is about 0.8cts total although it looks like a lot more.

 

[diamonds_galore]

I like it! Although I am against illusion setting, in my opinion, illusion settings work well with step cuts. It really makes the stones look like one solid piece! I have a couple of pieces in illusion setting that look like huge emerald stones and when I tell people they are clusters of baguettes they don’t believe me lol.

 

[HGar]

I think it’s pretty - I think I would prefer this then having a lab grown stone. That’s my mind-clean opinion.

 

[nala]

What did you decide?
I think one concern, especially as a rhr, is whether the stones would separate if banged—and then it would be difficult to match it up again.
I was once tempted to buy an invisible cut but that concern stopped me.

 

[Ionysis]

I like the design it’s really pretty. But speaking as someone who had an illusion setting and got rid of it - these rings need to be kept utterly sparkling clean all the time. I found as soon it it got a bit of grease, lotion, finger prints etc on it it looked really crappy. Like bits of diamond stuck together. Not one homogeneous piece. It drove me nuts - but that might have just been because I don’t clean my jewellery often enough!

 

[diamondhoarder]

What did you decide?
I think one concern, especially as a rhr, is whether the stones would separate if banged—and then it would be difficult to match it up again.
I was once tempted to buy an invisible cut but that concern stopped me.

I decided to go for it. I did wonder about the durability issue you mentioned, but the jeweller pointed out that the ring isn't invisible set, its actually a shared prong design, which should be more durable than an invisible set ring. And I have other shared prong rings (band style) that i have never had any issue with, so I just decided to go with it. Lets hope it was good choice!

 

[diamondhoarder]

I like the design it’s really pretty. But speaking as someone who had an illusion setting and got rid of it - these rings need to be kept utterly sparkling clean all the time. I found as soon it it got a bit of grease, lotion, finger prints etc on it it looked really crappy. Like bits of diamond stuck together. Not one homogeneous piece. It drove me nuts - but that might have just been because I don’t clean my jewellery often enough!

Oh no - that doesn't sound good good. What style of illusion ring was it? I did think about cleaning issues with this ring - I figured that it shouldn't be too much different to another band ring I have which has lots of baguettes set side by side, and that one manages to stay bright and lively without an extreme cleaning regime. But I hadn't thought about the issue of whether dirt would effect the overall look of the illusion design. I definitely wont be putting this one in the ultrasonic though - soft tooth brush and cleaning solution is all I would want to risk.

 

[PhilosopherStone]

Nice, I like it. The shared prong design looks nice. Does that mean there is 6 prongs for the middle stone (4 prongs + 2 shared prongs)?

 

[diamondhoarder]

Nice, I like it. The shared prong design looks nice. Does that mean there is 6 prongs for the middle stone (4 prongs + 2 shared prongs)?

No - 4 shared prongs for each stone

 

[diamonds_galore]

I place mine in the heated US plus steamer! And I have a pendant with the matching earrings and I clean them once a week. No issues! I think it also depends on the expertise of the jeweler. But it is a beautiful ring! Wear it in good health