Mens Wedding Rings
Diamond Wedding Rings and Bands for
Men
These days diamond wedding rings are no longer just for women. Many grooms today
choose to purchase a man's diamond wedding ring to match the bride's.
Still others enjoy the social status that comes with wearing a diamond wedding
band. Purchasing a diamond wedding ring means that the groom must consider not only the material and design of the
ring, but also the quality of the diamonds.
Although often not considered to be as important as the diamonds in the bride's
engagement and wedding rings, the groom's diamonds should also be purchased with care. The man should take the
same "4 Cs" into consideration: carat weight, clarity, color, and cut.
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The groom's wedding ring should be purchased with
care, keeping
in mind the ring's chosen design and its
quality. (Image: Pixabay) |
Mens Wedding Bands
A carat is exactly 200 milligrams, but very few men's bands will sport a diamond
of this size. Most bands will instead have several smaller diamonds that may of may not equal one full carat. A
full carat is also equal to 100 points, so a jeweler may refer to a ring as having several 10 point diamonds (each
of which would be equal to one tenth of a carat).
Diamond Clarity is Important
While the clarity of a diamond is often considered the least
important of the 4 Cs, it is still a key consideration in your diamond purchase. The clarity of a diamond measures
the number and extent of the flaws in the diamond. For the most part, a more valuable diamond will have fewer
flaws. It is extremely rare that you will find a completely flawless diamond; only a couple hundred "FL" diamonds
are produced a year.
Although there are several grading systems used
to determine a diamond's clarity, the Gemological Institute of America's (GIA) score is by far the most popular. It
ranks diamonds as:
- Flawless (FL),
- Internally Flawless (IF),
- Very Very Slightly Included (VVS),
- Very Slightly Included (VS),
- Slightly Included (SI),
- and Included (I).
(Note: “inclusions” are slight specks, cracks, or other flaws in
a diamond). These ranks are not subjective; the scale has extremely specific criteria that are used to
differentiate between the diamond grades.
Diamond Color
The color of the
stone, referring to how yellow the stone is, can also be graded on a GIA scale. An ideal diamond is
completely colorless, being ranked as a D. The alphabetical scale ranks nearly colorless stones as I and J ,
increasingly yellow beginning with M/N, and a Z is a completely yellow stone. The average color for engagement
diamonds in the United States is G to H.
Diamond Cut
The cut of a
diamond is possibly the most confusing of the "4 Cs," since it can refer to the cutting style, the shape
of the stone (round, square, heart-shaped, etc), its proportions, or the workmanship and the diamond-cutting
process. The brilliant round cut is the most common cut for diamond engagement rings and wedding bands.
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