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Diamond Promise Ring Carat Guide

What Is a Promise Ring?

Promise rings signify a promise between a couple to remain devoted, loyal, and exclusive to each other. While once an en vogue tradition to signal a pre-engagement status for young couples especially during the collegiate years, promise rings are making a comeback for couples who are not yet ready to become engaged yet still wish to showcase their commitment to each other and their exclusivity as a couple.

Today’s promise rings are far removed from the archaic notion that a ring worn on the left hand signals a future engagement. With many millennials moving away from traditional customs, a promise ring is the new way to display that a couple is a unified pair. For some couples, a promise ring may never lead to an engagement ring or marriage. A promised bond might be the only relationship marker a couple needs or wants.

Designing a Promise Ring

For older generations who regarded the promise ring as a pre-engagement ring, the design of a promise ring often included a delicate, simple band with extremely diminutive stones. If a center stone existed, it often weighed less than a quarter-carat.

Designing a promise ring today—like designing or choosing any commitment ring—is a deeply personal experience. The promise rings of the new generation are unlimited in appearance and completely non-traditional in scope. Center stones can be as large or as small as a couple desires. Or the stones can fluidly blend together, with all gemstones bearing similar carat weights.

The ring is really what the couple wishes it to become and what they wish it to symbolize. Creativity is encouraged when personalizing a promise ring to represent the promised bond of a couple. Diamonds can be set to create a floral motif. Colored gemstones can be added to showcase the birthstones of the couple.

Diamond Carat Size

Stone size is important in the design of any ring—including a promise ring—but the size of the stone isn’t important for the superficial reasons that most would assume. When choosing the size of a diamond take into account the size of the hand that will be displaying the promise ring. A smaller diamond set on a delicate band will look larger on small hands, while a large carat diamond might simply overwhelm a daintier hand. Of course, large hands will make small diamonds look even smaller.

When designing a promise ring where a signature stone takes center stage, review the diamond size charts for each type of diamond cut (e.g. round brilliant, marquise, pear, etc.) to help decide which cut and size stone delivers the best “wow” effect for the design. Understand that diamond size does not double or triple as a carat weight is increased. Although a quarter-carat diamond might weigh half as much as a half-carat stone, it is not necessarily half as large as its heavier weighted competition. Diamonds can be cut differently to give the illusion of a larger stone.

Carat Weight vs. Cost

While carat weight does not necessarily translate to a much wider or longer stone, carat weight will affect the cost of a diamond. Selecting a promise ring design that features several flawless small carat diamonds would cost far less than a single flawless one-carat diamond. A diamond weighing just under a full carat also would still be much cheaper than the full-carat competition—as long as the other Cs of the diamond (cut, color and clarity) are equal.

Of course, ring design, size and stone weight mean very little compared to the promise that the ring signifies to the wearer and the giver. The meaning behind the promise ring reaches beyond what any carat can truly measure.