With a top face that is beautifully circular, a round-cut cubic zirconia solitaire engagement ring is simple, graceful, delicate and instantly recognisable as a classic ring to present when you are ready to pop the question. Many people actually think that a round-cut gemstone is flatish in shape and simply rounded much like a disc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whereas the top part of a round-cut CZ stone does resemble the top half of a disc, the bottom part actually extends downwards considerably at a much sharper angle into what is known as the ‘Pavilion’ part of the stone. You may wonder why this is and the reason is because of a man named Marcel Tolkowsky. Almost 100 years ago, this Belgian gentleman figured out that a diamond shaped like this would allow light to enter the gem and internally reflect within it to maximise its brilliance. To this day, gems that are cut to the optimal proportions that he described in his paper are known as round brilliant-cuts. Since CZ is a diamond simulant, cubic zirconia solitaire engagement rings that feature a round-cut stone are also fashioned to these proportions.

This superb item for example features a 1.25 carat colorless CZ solitaire secured via prongs onto a stunning 14 karat white gold band. As the name suggests, white gold has a whitish/ grey hue to it and it is a common alloy of gold made for jewelry purposes in standard purities such as 9kt, 14kt and 18kt.

Diamonds and therefore round-cut cubic zirconia engagement rings that are designed as simulants for them, are some times improperly called Tolkowsky cuts when their proportions only approximately meet that of the exact proportions determined by Tolkowsky. These proportions are:

  • 34.5° Crown Angle
  • 40.75° Pavilion Angles
  • 59.3% Total Depth (excluding girdle thickness) with 16.2% of the depth being comprised of the crown (top half of the diamond) and 43.1% representing the pavilion lower half of the diamond
  • 53% Table based on diamond’s overall diameter

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Cubic Zirconia Engagement Rings