Sapphire Setting Questions

[rosetyler]

My fiance and I picked a precision cut sapphire online for our engagement. It is Ice Blue 5.6mm .85cts VSI. I absolutely love the sapphire. I discovered pricescope colored gemstone forum during this process. A local jeweler set it for us. They showed us Stuller's magnetic build a ring to help figure out what I like. I asked them for comfort fit. They said "all our rings are comfort fit." Later we clarified in an email what comfort fit means, and they said it was specified on the ticket to be comfort fit and that "Comfort fit rings are cast as comfort fit, and also hand-filed and hand-polished by us for a completed look and feel."

Does this band look like comfort fit? I thought it would be more domed inside the band. This is my first ever ring, so am I misunderstanding what comfort fit is? The jeweler measured me as a "full 5" and I am having difficulty getting it over my knuckle. Once it is over the knuckle it feels fine. I thought comfort fit would be easier to get on and off. The ring has a 15.75 mm inside diameter and 2.5mm diameter thickness of the band. The band inside says "Sitara TM." I tried searching online and it seems like they had a Sitara Diamond collection for Littman/Fred Meyer jewelers years ago. I found some Sitara rings on ebay and the engraving of the name matches, but I can't find much more information.

Does it look like the sapphire fits into the setting okay? Two of the prongs don't seem to be making contact with the crown and has some space around it. Also is the cathedral shoulder supposed to be soldered to the prongs? It is very close to them, but not connected.

I'm so new with jewelry, so I would appreciate any help! I just want my sapphire to be safe and the ring to be comfortable to put on and remove. I've only had it for a few days since we got engaged on Valentine's Day. I do really love the look of it and it really means a lot to me.

Thank you so very much. I would appreciate any input! I'm attaching pictures.

 

[Autumn in New England]

First of all, congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the forum! What a beautiful stone.

I do have to be a downer though, and give you my honest opinions. This ring needs an overhaul or it should be scrapped and remade. The way the sapphire is sitting in the prongs is disastrous, and really makes me question the jeweler's prowess. That ring should have never left the bench like that. Now I'm not sure if just a small tweak and tightening of the prongs might click the girdle into place, or if the basket proportions are simply incorrect. The second issue is the upper shank. Are you saying it is not connected to the prongs/ring head? As in, there is a gap? If so, that's a problem. With regard to the comfort fit aspect, I'd say that's of least worry here. But as far as fit is concerned, my first jeweler always told me that a ring should require a bit of a push to get it over the knuckle. Then it should be comfortable and not constricting on the finger. It sounds like you have a good fit. If you'd like more of a convex comfort band, that should be an easy fix (additional filing).

 

[rosetyler]

Autumn, thank you so much for the congratulations and the really warm welcome! I'm so happy you like the sapphire! I love how it sparkles and changes in the light.

I am so thankful for your honest opinions. I am sorry I am still so new with this ring terminology. It's the upper part of the cathedral where it rises to reach the prongs - there is a gap there. I thought cathedrals were more secure. I'm a pretty clumsy person so I wanted a more secure setting, and that's why I asked for 6 prongs too.

We got it set locally because I had no idea what I wanted or my size. The place that set it had good reviews, so I'm disappointed. My fiance has been very supportive and is willing to get it reset somewhere else. I'm going to look at the recommendations thread for vendors. If you have any recommendations I would appreciate it.

Thank you again.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Autumn, thank you so much for the congratulations and the really warm welcome! I'm so happy you like the sapphire! I love how it sparkles and changes in the light.

I am so thankful for your honest opinions. I am sorry I am still so new with this ring terminology. It's the upper part of the cathedral where it rises to reach the prongs - there is a gap there. I thought cathedrals were more secure. I'm a pretty clumsy person so I wanted a more secure setting, and that's why I asked for 6 prongs too.

We got it set locally because I had no idea what I wanted or my size. The place that set it had good reviews, so I'm disappointed. My fiance has been very supportive and is willing to get it reset somewhere else. I'm going to look at the recommendations thread for vendors. If you have any recommendations I would appreciate it.

Thank you again.

Absolutely, the upper part of the shoulders should be soldered or cast to the ring head. And the girdle of the stone should fit snuggly into the prong crooks. I would say bring it back to the original jeweler to give them an opportunity to fix it for "free." But it may be best to bring it elsewhere at this point. I don't see the charge being exorbitant. The good thing is there are no diamonds on the band to complicate matters. And then you can address the comfort fit issue as well. Best of luck to you and your fiancé... this is a beautiful ring. It just requires some tweaking!

 

[mustangchi]

hate that you are going through this stress with this ring, I would probably just send this to DK and have the setting you want made so you know it's done right.

 

[LilAlex]

The way the sapphire is sitting in the prongs is disastrous, and really makes me question the jeweler's prowess.

The basket's internal taper should "match" the stone's pavilion angle, yes? So the pavilion is snugly cradled from girdle to culet, right? Does that typically require a custom-made head or is it similar enough across most commercial RBC diamonds? For round-cut sapphires, there must be no "off-the-shelf" basket that's perfect, correct?

I see so many stone/head combos that don't match that I am wondering if I have been thinking about this incorrectly.

 

[whitewave]

It doesn’t seem like the prongs are working for the stone. Let me show you the sapphire ring I just got from David Klass. Let me know if you want a close up of the prongs on the sapphire.

Your stone is really pretty. I would think you definitely need to at least bring it back to the jeweler to get that prong fixed.





See how the prongs come up and around the sapphire? This one is custom though and it seems your jeweler found a stock setting, which might not be working for your stone.

 

[Autumn in New England]

The basket's internal taper should "match" the stone's pavilion angle, yes? So the pavilion is snugly cradled from girdle to culet, right? Does that typically require a custom-made head or is it similar enough across most commercial RBC diamonds? For round-cut sapphires, there must be no "off-the-shelf" basket that's perfect, correct?

I see so many stone/head combos that don't match that I am wondering if I have been thinking about this incorrectly.

That's a good catch, because I assumed this was custom made. I just re-read the OP, and it seems the "jeweler" may have used a stock setting (Sitara)? In that case, it explains a lot. I'm sure there are some that can splendidly accommodate calibrated-ish stones or be customized to do so. But, more often than not, as you mentioned, we see a forced fit, which seems to be the case here. I hope OP wasn't charged custom prices. For example, I have the heart diamond and FCD melee with DK right now. And Amy wanted to measure each individual melee diamond prior to CADing and casting. I initially told her the melee were 2mm (as they were sold to me). But she tweaked the design for stones that were 2.01mm or 1.99mm, etc. That's how important even small measurements are to a proper stone setting. Sorry, I've gone off on a tangent again...

 

[JSG2185]

This is a beautiful sapphire, I love it! Unfortunately the setting is definitely not good. The prongs should be flush against the sapphire and all of them should be tightly holding the sapphire (no gaps). Usually I'd say go back to the jeweler to have it fixed, but this really looks like a poor build (sorry!). Their skill is questionable and I'd be very reluctant to go back to this jeweler and have it fixed (I've been in a situation where I didn't go back to the original jeweler and instead picked another setter - it was definitely worth it).

I recently had Victor Canera reset my sapphire because the last setter did a poor job and didn't follow the work order. Victor did an AMAZING job. He doesn't always set outside stones, but it's worth asking. I found his prices to be reasonable given that he does custom, hand-forged work. Another good setter is Maytal Hannah.

I love your sapphire and hope to see photos of it in a setting that does it's beauty justice!

My fiance and I picked a precision cut sapphire online for our engagement. It is Ice Blue 5.6mm .85cts VSI. I absolutely love the sapphire. I discovered pricescope colored gemstone forum during this process. A local jeweler set it for us. They showed us Stuller's magnetic build a ring to help figure out what I like. I asked them for comfort fit. They said "all our rings are comfort fit." Later we clarified in an email what comfort fit means, and they said it was specified on the ticket to be comfort fit and that "Comfort fit rings are cast as comfort fit, and also hand-filed and hand-polished by us for a completed look and feel."

Does this band look like comfort fit? I thought it would be more domed inside the band. This is my first ever ring, so am I misunderstanding what comfort fit is? The jeweler measured me as a "full 5" and I am having difficulty getting it over my knuckle. Once it is over the knuckle it feels fine. I thought comfort fit would be easier to get on and off. The ring has a 15.75 mm inside diameter and 2.5mm diameter thickness of the band. The band inside says "Sitara TM." I tried searching online and it seems like they had a Sitara Diamond collection for Littman/Fred Meyer jewelers years ago. I found some Sitara rings on ebay and the engraving of the name matches, but I can't find much more information.

Does it look like the sapphire fits into the setting okay? Two of the prongs don't seem to be making contact with the crown and has some space around it. Also is the cathedral shoulder supposed to be soldered to the prongs? It is very close to them, but not connected.

I'm so new with jewelry, so I would appreciate any help! I just want my sapphire to be safe and the ring to be comfortable to put on and remove. I've only had it for a few days since we got engaged on Valentine's Day. I do really love the look of it and it really means a lot to me.

Thank you so very much. I would appreciate any input! I'm attaching pictures.

 

[voce]

As others have said, congrats on the engagement, but the setting work has been shoddily done. I think I have set a sapphire myself better just using pliers to push and bend the prongs.

If you don't want a DIY fix, and can't get the local guy to do it for better free, seek another jeweler.

If you definitely can't find another jeweler locally, you can find ones on Etsy, such as this one. Start a Convo, and he should be able to reset it easily if he's not too busy with custom jewelry projects (one-man shop last I heard).
https://www.etsy.com/shop/danielmjewelry

Daniel M has a bit of a reputation of taking longer to finish up custom projects, but I once sent him a setting and a gem to set and got it back within a week for $20. I have had a local jeweler in Toronto set a stone for my mother-in-law in a ring, and that cost $50, to give you an idea of what I think a resetting should cost.

 

[Bron357]

Congrats on your engagement.
Beautiful sapphire.
What a mess of a ring, the jeweller should be ashamed of themselves.
All the prongs are supposed to hold the girdle (edge of the gem) snugly so that the gem can’t be ”wiggled” either up and down or turn in the setting.
The Cathedral sides don’t necessarily have to touch the head (that’s the basket holding the gem) it can be a design style BUT having a tiny gap makes me think it is poor workmanship. Such a narrow gap is just asking for a thread of cotton etc to catch and snag on it.
The head has been soldered onto the band, but it’s a small join, so having the Cathedral sides not being functional, ie helping hold the head on, is a bad idea.
the finish at the botton of the prongs on the head is also very poorly done.
and finally, is the ring actually new or something the jeweller had in his drawer and decided to use for your ring?
My advice, along with the others, never go back to that jeweller ever, we’ll maybe just to complain.
Use one of the recommended jewellers and have a new ring made. Your beautiful sapphire is at risk of falling out of the setting and the entire head of the ring might detach if accidently bumped or snagged.

 

[Autumn in New England]

I think I have set a sapphire myself better just using pliers to push and bend the prongs.

I thought the same exact thing... I'm just some stooge with a prong opener/pusher tool, and I've set gems more efficiently.

I'm really looking forward to OP having these issues fixed and being able to enjoy her new ring. I hope you'll come back and share it with us. Happy times lay ahead!!