Solitaires Rings

The solitaire, a ring full of promise

The solitaire remains a jewel of commitment to love, in fact the engagement ring par excellence. But really no longer only, and the diamond is no longer the only stone used to make it. Many of the great jewelers indeed decline the solitaire in various styles and sizes. So what characterizes a solitaire? Answer, a stone raised above the ring and held by a claw setting, more rarely by a cathedral setting. The solitaire ring is almost systematically made of 18-karat gold, yellow, white or pink, when the cut stone can be more or less large. We are actually talking about precious or semi-precious stones, because the white diamond has lost its exclusivity on solitaires, women may prefer sapphire, emerald, ruby, or even a colored diamond. Last precision, when the ring is itself set with stones, the exact term is not actually solitaire but "accompanied solitaire". Nevertheless, the Jewelry Houses generally classify the solitaire in the "Engagement and Wedding" category of their catalog, and compete with creativity while maintaining the codes of this commitment ring. For this reason, the white diamond set in white gold has been a timeless classic since... the 15th century! It is indeed at this time that the solitaire came to supplant the ring, symbol of the endless love, in the requests in "marriage" of these gentlemen to their bride. The accompanied solitaire appeared during the Renaissance.

How to choose a solitaire, the style but not only...

Today, the solitaire is a style of ring that we also like to give ourselves without a specific occasion, for its design, for the pleasure of wearing a stone and a robust ring, intended to last over time. Remains that engagement or not, the solitaire has another particularity: it is worn on the left ring finger. It was long believed that in this finger passes a vein connected directly to the heart. The scientific truth is not established but the story is beautiful and the tradition endures. Another certainty is therefore the quality of a solitaire, at least as it is offered by the jewelry houses, from the Place Vendôme or elsewhere. When purchasing a solitaire, the size and purity of the diamond or stone is therefore one of the first criteria of choice. The latter is classified according to the (international) 4C method, which designates its color (color), purity (clarity), cut (cut) and weight (carat weight). The metal of the ring is also important, as jewelers sometimes like to bypass gold in favor of platinum. This time, carat does not refer to weight but to the pure gold content of the alloy used: 75% for 18-carat gold, which is the most commonly used by the major jewelry houses - 24-carat gold (99.99% gold) being both too soft and more prone to scratching.