Men's Sapphire and 1/2cttw Diamond Diagonally Nick Set Band with Brushed 14k Yellow Gold Sides

Nine round stones run in a single row straight across the face of this band, set on the diagonal rather than square to it: three blue sapphires in the middle, with three diamonds on each side of them. They are nick set, which means small beads of gold rise between one stone and the next to hold them rather than a continuous wall, so there is metal showing between the stones and light gets in around each one. A polished bevel runs the length of the row, and the wide sides either side of it are brushed to a fine directional grain. Half a carat total weight of diamonds in 5.60 grams of 14k yellow gold.

Setting the row on a diagonal is the reason this band does not look like every other one. A row set square across a band starts and stops at the edges, and your eye stops with it. On the diagonal the row runs off both sides, so it reads as continuing around the finger whether it does or not, and the band looks longer and lower than its actual width. The colour placement is the other decision worth noticing: putting the sapphires in the centre gives the row somewhere to arrive, and the diamonds on either side get brighter by comparison rather than competing. Brushed sides keep out of the argument entirely. It is a lot of thinking for a band this quiet, which is usually the sign somebody knew what they were doing. Where would your eye land first?