When choosing engagement jewellery, the dilemmas may be the type of stone, the colour of gold or the selection of patterns. However, sometimes the biggest problem comes when you need to determine the size. How do you take a measurement without revealing your intentions?
This may require ingenuity that seems it came straight from a spy movie. The most precise measurement is guaranteed by the use of a calliper. If you have such a tool, you just need to secretly borrow a ring from your partner's jewellery box that you know fits her perfectly. But what if the person we want to get engaged to doesn't wear jewellery?
How to measure a finger
An assignment is waiting for us. Each special agent must know the facts before a mission. The first is to determine which finger you will put the engagement ring on. Well, it is the ring finger of the right hand. Since we do not have a ring with which the inside diameter can be measured, it will be necessary to measure the circumference of the finger.
A ribbon or a paper measure, which can be found on the Internet and printed out, can be used for this. Under what circumstances should you take the measurement? Each agent has its own methods and in this case, you need to be inventive and precise. A mistake of 1 mm in reading the ribbon results in a different size.
In order to avoid such mistakes and not unnecessarily risk the mission to failure, we can decide to use a field agent. Our method can be introduced to a friend of the chosen one, who, under the guise of walking around the shops, will arrange a visit to the jeweller. If we choose such an agent properly, they will help us obtain the key information without increased risk.
A disinformation ambush
A spy can sometimes fall victim to disinformation. He managed to take a ring or wedding ring unnoticed and have it measured at a local jeweller. It is regrettable to say that such a measurement often turns out to be wrong! How is it possible for a jeweller to mis-measure the size of a ring or wedding band? I decided to initiate an investigation after a series of clients who gave me ready-made measurements taken locally at the goldsmith's. Below is a summary of the basic errors.
Sin one: Omitting the most accurate method of measuring the inside diameter with a calliper and checking the size in the table. Many goldsmiths instead resort to a seemingly faster method - a measure bolt.
Sin two: poorly made measuring tools. Jewellers often use cheap measuring cups or plastic measuring bolts. What's the result? I once ordered a precision-turned aluminium bolt from a company, but nevertheless, in some places it gave the wrong measurement. Only the set from the title photo, ordered in Italy, for the appropriate amount of money gave correct measurements.
Sin three: bad judgment of measurement. I found out that the jeweller incorrectly reads the dimensions from the measuring bolt. The picutre below shows the problem. When the wedding ring is wedged on the bar to determine the diameter, the reading is taken from the edge of the gold disc. However, the wrong measurement consists in the fact that, according to some "specialists", the size is not read from the edge, but from the centre of the ring. This logical method leads to misreadings which always turn out to be too big a measurement.
Is the Minesweeper only wrong once?
But what if after all your efforts it turns out that the size is wrong? Sometimes you have to take into account this possibilty and in such a situation it is better to make a ring a bit too small than too big. This is because of another fact that concerns the way the ring is adjusted. To increase the size, the wedding ring can be mechanically stretched. Then the product remains intact and the correction takes just a few minutes. In the case of reducing the ring, you need to cut out the excess material and then solder it together again. The process is longer, requires caution - especially with delicate stones, and affects an element that was previously made of a solid piece of gold. Fortunately, I am able to correct all the rings in my studio in one way or the other without any major obstacles. However, it is best to analyse all options well and decide on the one that will allow you to make a precise measurement without the need for subsequent correction.