There has been a trend for some time for thin wedding and engagement rings. I’m personally a huge fan of delicate jewellery, here are a few tips for ordering your slim wedding ring.
Sometimes customers are determined to have the thinnest possible ring, at other times people are worried about the longevity of quite wide pieces, there is a balance to be found between these.
Personally, I tend to think of anything 2mm and under as being a slim ring, a ring doesn’t need to be 1mm to have a delicate look. At 2.5mm you are looking at something which will generally be wider than it is thick, and have a more traditional wedding ring look.
Your ring size will affect how something looks proportionally, and for slightly larger fingers a bigger diameter ring will give the same look as a smaller one on tiny fingers. A 1.5mm round or square band will look delicate unless your fingers are really tiny but be much stronger if you are concerned about longevity.
Silver bands in, from left to right, 2mm, 1.5mm and 1.2mm
The difference between small measurements like 1.2mm and 1.5mm is quite visible. Squinting at a ruler can be misleading, Try not to avoid defaulting to the slimmest option that could end up being very thin.
Wear over time
Gold and silver are known to wear down over time, but this is an extremely slow process. Rings don’t generally lose a visible amount of material with normal daily wear. You don’t need to buy a wide ring for it to last a lifetime.
Lots of resizing or repolishing will affect this, so it is worth bearing in mind if you have a very small amount of material to start with rings will be less flexible in the long run.
1.5mm smooth halo band in 18ct yellow gold
The main potential issue with skinny rings is that gold and silver can become brittle if bent out of shape repeatedly, and rings can snap. I have sold hundreds of skinny rings and had less than a dozen back to repair for this reason, but it is worth bearing in mind that a delicate ring will need to be treated a bit gently and not bent out of shape. Something very thin can last for decades with a bit of care.
To help with this I would advise making sure the ring size isn’t too small, as pulling a ring on and off if it is tight will potentially pull it out of shape.
Hammered wishbones in 1.2mm, 1.5mm and 2mm widths
Profiles
When it comes to profiles, under 2mm rings are generally a similar thickness to the width, there will probably still be rounder or squarer options available but they won’t be proportionally the same as a wider ring. A D shaped ring at 4mm would probably be about 2mm at the thickest point, but a D shaped ring with the same dimensions at 1.5mm would be too thin to hold it’s shape, so a fully round band gives a similar look.
Sterling Silver
Sterling silver is the softest of the precious metals normally used for jewellery, it’s sometimes not advised for wedding jewellery but lots of people do wear silver wedding rings. A bit more metal is probably a good idea for a bit more strength.
A selection of slim bands
Do you have questions about thin wedding rings? Send me an email to nikki@nikkistarkjewellery.co.uk