Diamond Wedding Rings For Men
Diamond wedding rings are no longer just for women. Many grooms
today choose to purchase a man's diamond wedding ring to match
the bride's. Still others enjoy the social status that comes
with wearing a diamond wedding band. Purchasing a diamond
wedding ring means that the groom must consider not only the
material and design of the ring, but also the quality of the
diamonds.
Although often not considered to be as important as the diamonds
in the bride's engagement and wedding rings, the groom's
diamonds should also be purchased with care. The man should take
the same "4 Cs" into consideration: carat weight, clarity,
color, and cut.
A carat is exactly 200 milligrams, but very few men's bands will
sport a diamond of this size. Most bands will instead have
several smaller diamonds that may of may not equal one full
carat. A full carat is also equal to 100 points, so a jeweler
may refer to a ring as having several 10 point diamonds (each of
which would be equal to one tenth of a carat).
While the clarity of a diamond is often considered the least
important of the 4 Cs, it is still a key consideration in your
diamond purchase. The clarity of a diamond measures the number
and extent of the flaws in the diamond. For the most part, a
more valuable diamond will have fewer flaws. It is extremely
rare that you will find a completely flawless diamond; only a
couple hundred "FL" diamonds are produced a year. Although there
are several grading systems used to determine a diamond's
clarity, the Gemological Institute of America's (GIA) score is
by far the most popular. It ranks diamonds as Flawless (FL),
Internally Flawless (IF), Very Very Slightly Included (VVS),
Very Slightly Included (VS), Slightly Included (SI), and
Included (I). (Note: