Early eternity rings, set with matching stones in precious metal rings appeared in the 18th century, typically featuring paste and topaz. These eternity rings were a symbol of eternal love and were typically gifted by a husband to his wife for a special occasion, such as an anniversary.
Eternity Rings Today
Today's diamond eternity rings are a product of a great marketing campaign by De Beers in 1960s. At the time, it was believed De Beers had an agreement with Soviet Union to purchase 90-95% of all uncut diamonds produced by Russia. As Russia's diamonds were often smaller in size De Beers embarked on a campaign targeting married women to bring a new product to the market, a ring set with smaller matching diamonds - the eternity ring.
One of the more famous campaign slogans was aimed at the husbands, with a humorous statement - "She married you for richer or poorer. Let her know how it's going".
And that's the eternity rings we see and love today, beautifully calibrated small diamonds set in a gold or platinum ring.
Gemstone Eternity Rings
Eternity rings can be made with diamonds or gemstones, or a mix of both. Gemstone eternity rings are rising in popularity, especially featuring sapphires, rubies and emeralds.
Sapphires make a very popular choice for eternity rings due to their hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale and sapphires come in a rainbow range of colours, pinks, yellows, blues, teal and more.
Emerald and Blue Sapphire Eternity Rings by Valentina Fine Jewellery
Adding a playful colour to your look by mixing a gemstone eternity ring into your current stack or wearing a beautiful colourful band solo is gaining popularity. At Valentina Fine Jewellery, we are seeing more and more colour being added to existing looks!
Fancy Shape Diamond Eternity Rings
Traditionally, round cut diamonds would feature on an eternity band, but today we are seeing all fancy shape diamond bands too - emerald, asscher, oval, pear, baguette, radiant cut and more.
East-West Set Oval Diamond Eternity Ring by Valentina Fine Jewellery
Another 2024 trend we are seeing is mixed cut diamond eternity rings, from fine to statement - these are popular due to their striking unusual multi shape sparkle. The fines rings often get requested as a wedding ring, and the chunkier ones either worn solo or to supersize the sparkle next to an engagement ring.
Mixed Shape Diamond Eternity Ring by Valentina Fine Jewellery
Eternity Ring Styles
There are various eternity ring styles available in the market today, full eternity bands, where the diamonds or gemstones go all the way around the band, half eternity rings, where only the visible portion of the ring features the gems and a half and half eternity ring, which may feature diamonds on one side and gemstone of the other or different cut of the same gem per side.
Half band eternity rings are a great way to save money on the cost of the ring, allowing you to go larger on the matching gems or diamonds. It's also generally safer for the longevity of the eternity ring if you plan wearing it daily.
Diamonds are very tough but they can still chip. We have seen multiple clients over the years asking us to fix their older eternity rings with chipped diamonds.
Engraved Eternity Rings
With a half band, you can add a cute engraving to the plain band side. Our Engraved Diamond Wedding Band below features a solid wide back, allowing for a larger engraving.
Engraved Diamond Wedding Band by Valentina Fine Jewellery
Can Eternity Rings be Resized?
Generally speaking, it is safe to resize a half eternity band a few sized up or down. A skilled bench jeweller should check the prongs or the setting of the diamonds once resized to make sure they have not become loose after going up or down in ring size. Our bench jeweller has over 20 years experience in the industry, and will always ensure this step is not missed!
This is one of the biggest advantages of half eternity bands - is that they can be resized.
With a full eternity band this becomes much harder, and you typically need to have your ring reset. With some styles it can be possible to go up in size by polishing some gold or platinum away on the inside, all setting dependant. If you wish to make your full eternity ring smaller, we can add an inlay to adjust the size slightly.
As resizing full eternity rings can be challenging, at Valentina Fine Jewellery, we always recommend going one size larger when purchasing.
Eternity Ring Setting Styles
There are hundreds of eternity ring variations available today, suitable for every style and look. From the classic four prong eternity ring setting, where each stone is individually held by four prongs, to a channel setting where two rows of metal are holding the stones in place, to more modern styles featuring shared prong placed between two stones giving a minimal metal appearance.
30 Pointer Round Brilliant Diamond Eternity Ring by Valentina Fine Jewellery
Some styles also sit more flush on the finger, which is more comfortable for daily wear, and other eternity rings are more raised, showing off each stone more. And with regards to cleaning, some eternity rings feature a closed back, which can make these delicate rings harder to clean vs an open back setting, where you can clean the diamond or the gemstone thoroughly.
With fancy shape diamonds you can also have the diamond positioned the east-west set way.
Eternity Ring Metal Choices
There is a choice of precious metal colours you can have your eternity ring set in. At Valentina Fine Jewellery, we offer 18k yellow, white or rose gold or platinum.
If you can't decide which metal you should choose and are torn, we can design and create a two tone half and half gold or a gold and platinum eternity ring just for you.
Natural or Lab Grown Diamond?
At Valentina Fine Jewellery we are proud to offer both natural and lab grown diamond eternity rings and let our clients decide. Lab grown diamonds are growing in popularity, making larger eternity rings more affordable.
If you prefer the option of a lab grown diamond, please let us know. We hand select each and every diamond and only pick the best for our jewellery regardless if the diamond was earth mined or laboratory grown.
How to Wear an Eternity Ring?
Traditionally, most eternity rings are stacked with the engagement ring and the wedding band on the same finger. Today however, we see more and more statement eternity rings being worn on a different finger to the left ring finger, or even on the other hand. The pointer finger has become a popular home for a larger statement diamond eternity ring.
When stacking, we get asked which order should the rings sit on the ring finger. Typically you will put on your eternity ring first, followed by your wedding ring and lastly your engagement ring.
Many of our clients at Valentina Fine Jewellery are now creating a whole new stack and look on their right hand, well away from the engagement ring and the wedding band.
We are seeing mixing of gold colours, adding of sapphires and emerald eternity rings and mixing all these with unique and/or chunky solid gold rings. Our round wire wedding ring is a fabulous choice to wear with a larger eternity ring.
Do Eternity Rings Make a Good Pushing Present?
Many of our clients come to us asking for which fine jewellery to choose as a good pushing present, and our answer is - what could bring more joy with a daily wear than a sparkly diamond eternity ring.
These beautiful rings make great pushing gifts for when to celebrate the birth of your baby. The rings can be worn daily, they are comfortable and add a whole lot more sparkle to her look with a sentimental reason for purchasing. Every time she looks down, she will be reminded of your little treasure.
Some of our clients prefer to stick with diamonds to add to the stack, others celebrate the baby's sex with beautiful gemstones - blue sapphire for a boy or a pink sapphire (or a pink diamond) eternity ring for a girl.
And Finally...
If you are confused about which eternity ring will fit well with your current engagement ring and wedding band, drop us a message and we can help advise you on the best look for your growing stack of diamonds and we can create something to fit your other rings perfectly.
