‘Angel’ diamonds

A ruby lover goes in search of halo-set diamonds at R & M Woodrow Jewelers in Rye to catch up on a hot trend.

A diamond ring is still the quintessence of an engagement. But if you really want to seal the deal, you might consider a halo-set diamond — a center stone offset by micro pavé diamonds, said Robert S. Woodrow, the “R” in R & M Woodrow Jewelers in Rye. (Brother Michael is the “M.”)

Why is this trending? “It really is because it enhances the stone,” Rob Woodrow said. “When you put micro pavé diamonds around the center stone, it makes it look bigger. A one-carat diamond looks like three carats.” (Think of the tiny diamonds as eyeliner for your rock.)

Woodrow Jewelers works with Christina Designs New York, a private Fifth Avenue atelier that has been crafting fine jewelry since 1983. The center stone is set first, then the diamonds that will outline it.

“We only use platinum for the setting,” Woodrow added. “It’s a really resilient metal.”

On a humid day when the Sound Shore city bustled with traffic for the annual sidewalk sale, Woodrow showed us a tray of halo-set dazzlers, including a 2.27-carat oval diamond surrounded by .86 carats of micro pavé stones, pictured above. This oval diamond is rated D in color, which Woodrow says is the best — “you don’t want to go over a J, which suggests a yellow cast to the diamond” — and VVS for “very, very slight” inclusions, or naturally occurring flaws. We saw another diamond, a 1.70-carat round one in a square halo of .67 micro pavé stones that is also rated D in color but with an SI for slight inclusions.

Then Woodrow introduced us to an eternity wedding band, inset above, a circle of 4.61-carat Asscher-cut diamonds. (An Asscher cut — created in 1902 by the Asscher Brothers of Holland’s Asscher Diamond Co., now the Royal Asscher Diamond Co. — is similar to an emerald cut but square instead of rectangular.)

We put on the eternity band and the oval cut diamond on top of it and thought, “It might almost be worth getting married to own such sparklers.”

Almost.

For more, visit woodrowjewelers.com and christinadesigns.nyc.

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