Choosing the Proposal Ring

Ring Design - one that you think suits the gal VS one that she will like!

After you get the size, there are many factors of a proposal rings that needs to be taken into consideration. We will be dicussing on diamonds and rings the the next few sections, but ulimately what matter most is to really know what she likes, and what really suits her.

This are the questions that you need to ask when getting a proposal ring:
1. Gems: Include gems? If yes, single or multiple? If multiple, how many and what gems to use?
2. Claws/prongs: What is a suitable claw/prong design? Number or claws/prongs?
3. Band design: Thickness of the band to be uniform? Semi-curve, straight or steep?
4. Ring material: Gold, white gold or platinum? If gold, which alloy kind and percentage?
5. Ring texture: Matted or shiny or mixed?

I shall elaborate with the points below...

Ring design
The "feel" is the most important in a ring design. I would suggest husbands-to-be to look around n see see what kind of design that suits your bribe-to-be(Note that what suits the girl might not be aesthetic to your eyes too, it's good to research on what she likes).

1. Gemstones
A typical proposal ring always comes with at least one piece of gem stone, and most of the time diamond/s is/are something that most people would use. A most commonly used one would be a single diamond round ring(called solitaire) that look something like this(Note that even for solitaire there are more than numerous designs):

There are too, people who choose multiple diamonds on a ring, or different gems like rubies, sapphires, emeralds etc or even a mixture of different gems, like this:

2. Prongs and claws(Settings)
I shall use the below picture as an illustration.

This setting is an example of a 4 prongs ring, with 2 claws(known as double claw) per prong.
Prong is basically the piece that is protruding out from the ring band, whereas claw is basically the metal piece that holds and secure the diamond on the ring. Not only does it act as a securing piece of metal, it's design places a significant "feel" on the ring, especially for a solitaire when it has only 1 set of prongs.  Prongs comes commonly in 3, 4,5 or 6. Less than 3 prongs are not very encouraged(meaning 2 prongs?) as the gem might not be able to secure firmly whereas too many prongs and claws will makes the gem look less define, as the claws will try to steal the limelight from the gem.
Below are examples of a 4 prongs and 6 prongs ring, taken from bluenile(bluenile is one of the populars online stores, will introduce later)

 

Just the setting (prongs and claws) alone, there are many designs.
Below are just some of the designs from jannpaul, a local popular jeweller:

 A majestic yet feminine prongs with curved in claws to have the "queen to be" feel, if you actually know what I'm saying.

 This is majestic too, but slightly more masculine, with thicker "out-protruding" prongs for "gem widening - effect".

 Slightly more exotic looking U-shaped setting for a slightly more unique look.

A special love-shape settings for the cute and princessy.







There are too some settings without prongs and claws. Bezel is one of them:

3. Design
a. Thickness
Thickness usually goes with the proportion of her finger. Generally  thin bands are more suited for long and slender fingers for an elegant feel while thicker bands are for a more majestic look. Below are examples of some different thickness of rings on different fingers.

A band of different thickness at different points can also produce a different effect.
Below are images from bluenile once again.
In this example, the you can have the feel of a a ring that has a thicker band near the setting.

In contrast, the below image shows a thinner band as it approaches the setting.

b. Ring shape

Curvish

Edgish

Flatish

Source: http://sg.bluenile.com
Well, well, there are too many shapes and designs of the bands. Above images are adapted from bluenile website. It's hard for me to explain and list out all the designs. So all I can do is to list out these websites for you to browse through the designs.

1. Bluenile - http://sg.bluenile.com
2. Jameallen - http://www.jamesallen.com
3. whiteflash - http://www.whiteflash.com/


4. Material
In Singapore, shops generally offers only Gold(Yellow/Rose), "White gold" and Platinum, though if you want cheaper alternatives, you can look out for silver, titanium and tungsten, unless you can only afford iron and steel. Well, it's up to you, as long as you're sincere, it dosen't matter what you use. Here I'll only be discussing on the Golds(yellow/rose/white) and Platinum.

a. Gold
Yellow/Rose Gold is the most popular last time, however "white gold" and platinum are catching up nowadays, as their whitish colour is being seen to be more contemporary. Yellow, rose and white golds are actually all alloys of gold. For a ring, as most presume that your hands will come into contacts with objects often, it is more encouraged to use smaller kt gold rather than 24K(nearly pure)as 24K gold is rather soft and gets damaged easily. However, it is still possible if you have a base to support the 24K gold inside.

Gold in percentage:
9K-----37.5% pure gold
10K----41.7% pure gold
12K----50.0% pure gold
14K----58.5% pure gold
18K----75.0% pure gold
24K----more than 99.7% pure gold

Different amount of gold will cause the ring to have a slightly different colour effect.
For yellow gold, below is an illustration:

Also, below is a comparison between yellow gold, white gold and rose gold.

Things to note about alloys of gold are such that some are mixed with some metals such as nickel, where some might be sensitive to. It is always good to find out if your bribe-to-be are sensitive towards certain metals before getting a ring, and to ask the jewellers what are in their composition of golds you're looking for.

These are the usual compositions for different golds. Do note that there might be variations to this. The metal compositions are very much dependent on the jewellers.

Note: Purple gold is seldom used by itself, at least it is not that widely accepted yet. It is often used with other golds as such:

Note: White Gold
I brought out white gold here because unlike other golds, white golds are usually plated with a layer of rhodium to have a very "silvery white" effect, because white gold itself still have a tinge of yellowness in them.
Below is an illustration from pricescope.

1. 18K yellow gold
2. 18K rhodium-plated white gold
3. 18K not plated white gold

*There are some who prefer un-plated white gold as well, it's actually personal preference.

b. Platinum
Platinum is not gold, but is widely used for rings as well. It is more expensive than gold. It has a silvery white effect without plating(making it much more durable than white-gold) and exist in rings normally at high concentrations such as 950 Pt rings, which are 95% platinum. It is harder, and heavier(more dense) than gold. Given the same weight, it is slightly more expensive than gold. However comparing gold and platinum by volume, a platinum ring of the same design will costs about 2 times that of 18Kwhite gold due to it's higher density. That would means given a ring of the same design, a platinum ring would be significantly heavier than a gold ring.
Comparing white gold and platinum, those who like to feel the weight would generally choose platinum whereas those who don't like to have a feel of something on their finger would generally choose white-gold.
Another point to note is that platinum is generally better for those with sensitive skin as most white gold will have nickel contains. Platinum is a safe-proof approach for those with sensitive skin. However due to the price concerns, not many will choose it as some prefer to use that additional budget to "up-size" the diamond if you are getting one. Weigh the pros and cons and consider skillfully.
Note: For high end sellers such as Cartier and Tiifany and co, they only offer platinum instead of white gold if I'm not wrong. If you want to see the difference between both detailedly, you can find them at shops which allow customization of rings as they probably have both.

5. Texture
Matted vs Smooth vs Engraved. Which is nice... it's up to you to decide.