Is a pave band more expensive?

Commercial to fine-grade melee runs roughly AU$500 to AU$1,500 per carat in 2026, so the stones on a typical pave band cost a couple of hundred dollars in total. The premium over a plain band sits in the labour: several hours at the bench setting 30 to 50 stones under a microscope, plus a separate finishing pass, accounts for most of the price gap. That makes pave roughly a few hundred to about a thousand dollars more than a comparable plain platinum or 18k band, with the exact figure tracking stone count, melee grade and band width.

For the same visual coverage of light, two side stones large enough to read across the room (0.20ct each and up) cost several thousand dollars on top of a plain band, because diamond pricing climbs steeply with size. A pave band delivers a similar continuous line of sparkle for a fraction of the stone cost, because hundreds of tiny diamonds are cheaper than a few small ones. The trade-off is presence: pave reads as a line of light on the band, side stones read as distinct accent gems flanking the centre.