The Art of the Solitaire

A solitaire is the hardest piece of jewelry to make look simple. There is nowhere for a mistake to hide — one setting, one stone, one continuous line of metal. This is how our master jewelers approach it.

It begins with the stone

Before any wax is carved, the diamond is studied for days: its table, its culet, the way it returns light at ten in the morning versus four in the afternoon. The setting is then drawn around that specific stone, never the reverse.

Wax, fire, patience

A model is carved in wax by hand, cast in platinum or gold, then cleaned under magnification. The prongs are opened, closed and opened again until the stone seats with a soft, definitive click.

The final polish

Polishing takes almost as long as the setting. Six grades of compound, three types of wheel, and a final inspection under daylight lamps. Only then does the ring leave the atelier — quietly, perfectly itself.