Notes from the workshop: how a ring is made

People often ask how long a custom ring takes, and the answer is usually somewhere between seven and fourteen working days. What follows is what happens during that time.

1. Design

After consultation, we draft the piece in two ways: as a hand sketch, which captures proportion and feeling, and as a CAD render, which captures everything else. The CAD lets us rotate the ring on screen, check millimetre dimensions, and adjust prong heights, gallery shapes, and band profiles before any metal is cast. Most clients see two or three rounds of CAD before signing off.

2. Wax and casting

The approved CAD is printed in resin, which becomes the model for a wax. The wax is invested in a fine plaster, then heated until it burns away — leaving a precise hollow into which molten gold or platinum is cast. The result is a raw ring: rough, oversized, with sprues still attached.

3. Hand finishing

This is where most of the time goes. The casting is cut from its sprues, filed back to its design dimensions, and worked by hand. Edges are softened or sharpened. Surfaces are given their finish — high polish, satin, hammered, or sand-blasted — depending on the piece.

4. Stone setting

The diamond and any side stones are set by a master setter, almost always under a microscope. Prongs are bent over the stone with controlled pressure; pavé settings are beaded with a graver. A good setter is rare, and a quiet one rarer still — most of the work is feel.

5. Final inspection and polish

Every finished piece goes back to the master jeweller for a final review. Prong security is checked, every facet of the stone is examined for setting marks, the final polish is applied, and the piece is hallmarked. Only then does it leave the workshop.

It arrives with you in our packaging, with the diamond certificate, a written warranty and a care guide. We hope it lives a long life on your hand.