One of our most popular wedding band designs is DCW2319. This ring is popular for a number of reasons; it is curved and can fit flush against a variety of engagement rings and fancy mountings, it is seamless, the pattern is consistent and the diamonds are well integrated with the band's pattern.
The production of the W2319 is accomplished through a series of precise operations. It begins with a die struck and extruded tube of either gold or platinum from which a blank version of the band is cut to the required width. The blank is then annealed, a heat treatment which toughens the metal and reduce brittleness in an oven pictured to the right. Next it is stretched to the initial desired finger size and a second annealing is conducted.
After the raw band is created the “scroll and milgrain” engraving is applied, a detail image is on the left. This pattern was introduced in 1942 and remains unchanged to this present day. It is applied using a manual machine and precise hand-eye coordination, just as it has been done for over 71 years. Other popular styles that use the "scroll and milgrain" pattern are the BL4406 suite and T564 (pictured below).
The next step in production is curving the band. This is done using a foot-press or kick-press, that is decades old. The steel tools used with the foot-press assure that the curvature remains constant for rings of various finger sizes. The exception would be those rings that are size 3.75 and smaller; the curve is hand-applied to these smaller rings by our bench jewelers using special pliers designed for solely for this task.After curving the ring, our bench jeweler drills the holes in which .10CTTW of diamonds will be set. Drilling must be precise and evenly spaced to allow the setter to properly set the diamonds, see the under shot on the left below.
The band is pre-polished and hand stamped on the inside with the appropriate markings for gold karat, hallmark, etc. Then it is delivered to our Setting Department. The setter positions each stone, separately, and hand raises four beads of metal per stone over the diamonds girdles and onto the tables to hold each stone securely.The final step is finishing. The non-engraved areas of the ring are brought to a high sheen using the appropriate compounds. Finishing includes a detergent bath in an ultrasonic tank, hot water bath, steaming and air blowing to dry.It is our standard practice to inspect the ring after each step during production to assure that the final inspection reveals the highest quality piece of jewelry we can deliver.
Note: All Ring Images Pictured in 18KT White Gold also available in 18KT Yellow and Platinum