Specializing In
Wedding & Engagement Rings On Long Island
At Argyle Jewelers, we offer a wide range of stunning bridal jewelry, including:
Our collection features Platinum Bands, Tungsten Carbide Bands, 14k Yellow Gold Bands, and 14k White Gold Bands. We also provide GIA Certified Engagement Rings and Wedding Bands, ensuring the highest quality and authenticity.
As Long Island Wedding & Engagement Ring Specialists, we can help you design your own custom engagement ring and wedding bands. We also offer Bridal Party Gifts and Wedding Favors to make your special day even more memorable.
Choosing bridal jewelry can be overwhelming, but our expert team is here to help. We will guide you through the process and help you understand the 4 Cs: Cut, Clarity, Color, & Carat.
Read our guide below to familiarize yourself with key terms, and visit our store for personal service in a comfortable, no-pressure environment. We will help you understand everything you need to know about purchasing wedding rings or engagement rings and ensure your satisfaction for years to come.
Diamond Information For Your
Engagement Rings & Wedding Rings On Long Island
The way your diamond sparkles depends largely on how it is cut. Cut is arguably the most crucial of the 4Cs (Cut, Clarity, Color, Carat) for determining a diamond’s fire, sparkle, and brilliance. It includes the diamond’s proportions, symmetry, and polish, and it also relates to the diamond’s shape.
Popular Diamond Cuts
Diamonds are typically cut in three basic styles:
- Brilliant-Cut: Includes round, oval, pear, heart, and marquise diamonds.
- Step-Cut: Features rows of facets positioned like steps. Common shapes include emerald and baguette.
- Mixed-Cut: Combines brilliant and step-cut qualities, with the princess (or radiant) cut being the most popular.
Understanding Diamond Components
When shopping for engagement rings or wedding rings, it’s essential to understand the five basic components of a diamond:
- Table: The flat surface on the top of the diamond.
- Crown: The section of facets between the table and the midsection.
- Girdle: The horizontal midsection and widest part of the diamond.
- Pavilion: The section of facets between the girdle and the bottom tip.
- Culet: The bottom tip of the diamond.
A traditional round brilliant diamond has 58 facets—33 in the crown and 25 in the pavilion. In a well-cut and symmetrical diamond, light enters through the crown and exits through the same path to the eye, creating maximum sparkle. Conversely, a poorly cut diamond allows light to escape through the sides and bottom, making it look dull despite its good color and clarity.
Choosing the Right Shape for Your Engagement Ring
- Round Brilliant-Cut: Ideal for those who are traditional. This cut showcases a diamond’s fire, sparkle, and brilliance better than any other shape.
- Princess-Cut: Perfect for a contemporary style, rapidly gaining popularity.
- Marquise-Cut: Flattering for women with slender fingers.
- Heart-Shaped: A romantic and unique choice.
- Emerald-Cut: Great for a classic and sophisticated look.
- Pear-Shaped (Teardrop): A unique way to express individuality.
- Oval-Shaped: Offers original beauty and is perfect for women who want something different from the traditional round cut.
Long Island Engagement Ring Specialists
At Argyle Jewelers, we are the Long Island Engagement Ring Specialists, offering a wide selection of custom engagement rings and wedding bands. Visit us to find the perfect ring that showcases your diamond’s brilliance and matches your personal style.
The Clarity of Diamonds
Clarity measures a diamond’s flawlessness. When light passes through a diamond uninterrupted, it creates a beautiful sparkle.
Nearly all diamonds have tiny imperfections known as “blemishes” (external) or “inclusions” (internal).
Given the diamond’s journey over billions of years, forming in the Earth’s mantle, it’s not surprising that trace elements became trapped inside, lending each diamond a unique personality.
Even diamonds with inclusions and blemishes can be stunning, especially those with good color and cut.
Many inclusions are difficult to see with the naked eye and can be minimized by the setting you choose.
Diamond clarity is measured by experts using special equipment. A classic jeweler’s tool is the loupe, a small 10-power (10x) magnifying glass. This is the standard magnification when determining diamond clarity. Jewelers also use gemological microscopes to show the characteristics of your diamond.
Five factors are used to assign clarity to a diamond, which is very important when selecting engagement rings and wedding rings:
- Size of inclusions.
- Number of inclusions.
- Position: An inclusion located in the center of a diamond affects its value more than one located in a side facet.
- Nature: Inclusions that could impair the diamond’s durability result in a lower grade.
- Visibility: The more noticeable an inclusion, the bigger the impact on the diamond’s value.
When shopping for Long Island engagement rings and wedding rings, understanding diamond clarity is crucial. At Argyle Jewelers, we help you navigate these details to find the perfect diamond for your special moment.
The Color
The body color of a diamond can range from colorless to yellow. The scale for determining a diamond’s color was developed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Color is largely a matter of preference.
Their breathtaking purity and radiance make colorless diamonds a must for some people. Others have a preference for slightly yellow diamonds and a warmer look.
A diamond’s color is determined by its chemistry. While a diamond is made up of pure carbon, other natural elements may have been incorporated into the carbon during the diamond’s development.
This causes a chemical reaction that changes the color of the diamond. For example, small amounts of nitrogen cause yellow diamonds, while blue diamonds are caused by boron.
On the color scale, there is a category of “fancy” color diamonds that fall into the range of Z+. These gems are very unusual and therefore highly prized. Colors include yellow, violet, orange, blue, pink, and red (the most rare). Among the most famous fancy color diamonds is the Hope Diamond, displayed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Although at 45.52 carats, it is not the largest diamond, the Hope Diamond is admired for its dark blue hue.
The Carat
Diamonds are measured in carats. The carat is the weight of the diamond and is evaluated on a point system. 100 points equals one carat; 50 points equals one-half carat, etc. To think of it another way, one carat equals 200 milligrams, and 142 carats equals one ounce.
“Carat” is not the same as “karat,” the unit that measures the purity of gold. The term “carat” comes from the carob seed, a unit of measure for diamond weight that dates back to ancient times.
As technology improved, jewelers started using mechanical balances and electric scales to ensure accurate carat weight measurements. Most diamonds today are weighed using electronic gem scales. if you have any questions in regards to purchasing engagement rings or wedding rings, give us a call today!
As you would imagine, larger diamonds are found in nature less often than smaller diamonds and are therefore more costly. A one-carat diamond costs far more than two half-carat diamonds (provided they are equal in terms of cut, color, and clarity).
You will want to take several factors into account when choosing the right carat weight for you. Diamonds on small hands appear larger. And the setting you choose can make a difference in the diamond’s appearance. We are here for all of your engagement rings and wedding rings needs! Give us a call today. Our team is ready to help.