I think a 1ct centre is a really nice and substantial size for a tennis necklace! In general, I think tennis necklaces look really nice when the graduation in the front (where the focus is) is small. I would actually think of it in terms of mm size, not necessarily ct weight.
A 1ct centre will be ~6.5mm, and a difference of around 0.2mm is when most people start being able to distinguish a change in size, especially in comparison. If budget permits, I would do a 1ct centre with perhaps 0.92ct on either side (should be approx 6.2-6.25mm I believe), then grade it down to 0.82ct on either side (should be approx 5.95-6mm). That would give you a very subtle graduation that draws a lot of attention to the substantial diamond coverage near the hollow between your collarbones. Again, if budget permits, I would do a subtle graduation, going down 0.2-0.3mm with every step, until you reach enough length to cover the front part of your neck (from the part where your neck meets your shoulder on either ends). After that, you can step up the graduation to complete the necklace (take bigger jumps in size) or just put polished metal (gold or platinum, whatever you use) because, unless you have short hair or wear your hair up in an updo, those stones will not really be visible. This way, you will have concentrated most of your budget in that part of the necklace that is visible.
I also would prefer to go with bigger and fewer stones than smaller and more stones, and would play with the setting style that allows me to cover most ground with the fewest number of stones. For example, a four prong setting, which imparts a "squarish" appearance to a stone, also allows stones to sit closer together, which means you need more stones to achieve the same length. A three prong setting, which makes an individual stone appear more triangular/round, usually sits more spaced out. I think a 1ct stone ought to be safe in a 3 prong setting especially if worn at the neck, but if your jeweler thinks its concerning, I think a 6 prong setting ought to achieve the same spacing out and roundness effect while also protecting the stone better. Another option is to get a necklace that has metal links in between stones, spacing them out slightly. Have attached a pic from the internet of the same to show you what I mean. This is a bezel setting, which I am not personally a fan of, but I think it could work even with prong set stones.
Enjoy your project! I hope this helps!
I think a 1ct centre is a really nice and substantial size for a tennis necklace! In general, I think tennis necklaces look really nice when the graduation in the front (where the focus is) is small. I would actually think of it in terms of mm size, not necessarily ct weight.
A 1ct centre will be ~6.5mm, and a difference of around 0.2mm is when most people start being able to distinguish a change in size, especially in comparison. If budget permits, I would do a 1ct centre with perhaps 0.92ct on either side (should be approx 6.2-6.25mm I believe), then grade it down to 0.82ct on either side (should be approx 5.95-6mm). That would give you a very subtle graduation that draws a lot of attention to the substantial diamond coverage near the hollow between your collarbones. Again, if budget permits, I would do a subtle graduation, going down 0.2-0.3mm with every step, until you reach enough length to cover the front part of your neck (from the part where your neck meets your shoulder on either ends). After that, you can step up the graduation to complete the necklace (take bigger jumps in size) or just put polished metal (gold or platinum, whatever you use) because, unless you have short hair or wear your hair up in an updo, those stones will not really be visible. This way, you will have concentrated most of your budget in that part of the necklace that is visible.
I also would prefer to go with bigger and fewer stones than smaller and more stones, and would play with the setting style that allows me to cover most ground with the fewest number of stones. For example, a four prong setting, which imparts a "squarish" appearance to a stone, also allows stones to sit closer together, which means you need more stones to achieve the same length. A three prong setting, which makes an individual stone appear more triangular/round, usually sits more spaced out. I think a 1ct stone ought to be safe in a 3 prong setting especially if worn at the neck, but if your jeweler thinks its concerning, I think a 6 prong setting ought to achieve the same spacing out and roundness effect while also protecting the stone better. Another option is to get a necklace that has metal links in between stones, spacing them out slightly. Have attached a pic from the internet of the same to show you what I mean. This is a bezel setting, which I am not personally a fan of, but I think it could work even with prong set stones.
Enjoy your project! I hope this helps!
I actually mocked it up using PPT. I think I may have put too many stones in and I also did this by eye, but it looked about right to me. I took a 6.5 centre, put 6.2 on either side, went down to 5.9, and when I hit 5.6mm (about 0.7ct) I repeated a stone and then added a 5.5mm to help with the transition. In practice though, given the sizes we are talking about, I think you may be able to go straight to 5.3mm (which is around 0.58ct) and repeat that a few times. In essence, I decided to grade from 6.5mm (about 1ct) to 4.5mm (about 0.36ct) for the stones that are visible from the front. I then rapidly went from 4.5mm to about 3mm (0.10ct) to cover what I estimate would be the side of my neck, and for the back portion I went even smaller at 2.5mm (0.06ct) all the way to the end. This looks good to my eye, hope it helps you with your design! I ended up putting 88 stones in this necklace but I have no idea if thats too long or short. It's ~12.8-13" in diamond length, but with the settings that would definitely be much longer, might even be good enough to wear, or you may need a bit more length which you can adjust the number of smaller stones and achieve.
Ofc you are so welcome! I am excited for your project as well, haha. I think F VS would look really impressive. I’d keep myself open to both VS1 and VS2 for ease of collecting stones, and perhaps also one colour grade (so either EF or FG. Personally, I would lean FG because for the smaller stones it’s hard to distinguish colour face up in a necklace anyway). So you could for eg go F VS for the front (if you’re really particular) and then at the ~0.2ct size ask the jeweler for FG VS/SI stones.
GIA certifying all those stones will be amazing! You’ll have a booklet of certificates, haha. I would probably make 0.5ct my cut off because of the cost but I don’t know if GIA does batch grading.
I think if you’re based in Dubai you will find setting pricing more palatable than in the West, so you can afford to be picky/discerning with your sizing and get it exactly to your taste.
Please do keep updating us with your progress (with pics only if you’re comfortable, but if not, text updates would be lovely)
@AllAboardTheBlingTrain and others who are following this thread.
Here is drawings I received from my jeweler. This is a recommendation/ design created by them. Any feedback is highly appreciated
I like the 3 prongs settings, so the diamond looks round and not square ish. What do you think?
www.1stdibs.com
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