HALO ENGAGEMENT RINGS

Halo Style Engagement Rings are rings where smaller Diamonds encircle around the center stone.

Whether it be a Round Stone, Square Stone, or any shaped stone, the Diamonds go around the outside of the stone to add Beauty, Elegance and Sparkle to the ring.

I LOVE the look of Halo Settings!

They make the center stone look much larger than it really is, and it does give you a ton of brilliance and style!

See for yourself what different Halo Mountings look like and where to buy them from. Places like Kays, Helzberg, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and James Allen. (These Prices were good at the date of this post!)

Halo Engagement Rings

Scott Kay

Plus, one of my favorite Wedding Ring Designers, Scott Kay! See some of his awesome styles below…

What’s really cool about Halo Settings is the fact that the center stone doesn’t need to be very big (to have a big look). Most Halo Settings have center stones that are .50 Carat (Half Carat) or smaller in the center.

This means the PRICE IS LOW(ER)!

You can save THOUSANDS on a Halo Style Ring, when the Total Diamond Count is broken up into many smaller stones, versus one single Solitaire Diamond of the same Carat Weight.

See the ring below, from Kay Jewelers, to compare a Halo Style Ring against a Diamond Solitaire Ring. BIG Difference in Price!

Every Jewelry Store today sells Halo Settings. It keeps the costs down, and these stores can utilize all those small Diamonds they have in stock. It’s a win-win!

What about Quality?

With stones being just a couple of points each, the quality of those Diamonds is really not that important either! This is because the stones are tiny! It’s very difficult to scruitinize and distinquish between average quality (SI-I) and higher end quality (VVS-VS) when you’re talking about stones of this nature. It just doesn’t happen… easily!

Mostly you’ll just see the Sparkle! That’s cool! To see the flaws that are present in the stones you’ll need to use a 10x Jewelers Loupe or a Microscope to see them. So Jewelry Stores can get away with putting lower Clarity Stones in these mountings and they’ll still look good! So not only using small Diamonds helps bring down the price, but using lower Clarity stones will as well!

Halo Setting Downside…

The ONLY real downside that I see to Halo Engagement Rings is this…

There are a LOT of Prongs!

Take a peek at this Blue Diamond Ring from Jareds… It has many, many Prongs (the price is great though)…

Tons of Prongs (or Beads that hold the Diamonds in), can really rack up the Price of Repairs!

Repairs like: Retippings, Tightenings, Fixing Bent Prongs, Snagging Prongs, Prongs that are Bent, Broken, Snapped Off, Worn Down, Lifted…

Prongs Need Repair Often!

And the MORE Prongs you have, the MORE you’ll have to maintain them and keep them repaired. It’s a never-ending job.

I will say this though, these types of Prongs are probably the BEST Prongs to have because of one criteria: They don’t sit up high! Most Halo Style Mountings have Low Prongs, so they won’t get Caught as much, Errode, Rub Down, or Break Off as much as a normal sized Prong would. That’s cool… But you still have to be careful with them.

My Suggestion is this:

If you purchase a Halo Engagement Ring, by all means, buy an E.S.P. (Extended Service Plan) on the ring (if the store offers such a plan), because they WILL cover the cost of Prongs…

A Service Plan covers Retipping, New Prongs, Tightening, Repairing Bent or Broken Prongs, Rebuilding them… virtaully anything and everything that could happen to your Prongs, a Service Plan will pay for it! It’s well worth buying!

Repair Cost Example

Let’s look at a Halo Ring that has 72 Prongs… (Ring Sold by Fred Meyer Jewelers Here!). 72 Prongs would cost you around $850 to fix! (That’s an average about $12 a Prong)

That adds up quick!

All good things to think about…

If the entire ring cost you $1,499, and every 8 years you have to put another $850 into it, that gets very, very pricey! (Not that you’d have to repair ALL the Prongs at once, but it still adds up!)

Halo Settings are wonderful. I really do love them. They are full of dazzle and life and glimmer…

But with Prongs, comes Repairs!

The cost of these repairs may outweight the price of the ring.

Is it worth it?

It’s your choice!

Halo, or Not?