What is a pave engagement ring?

The setter drills evenly spaced seats along the band under a microscope, drops in matched melee diamonds and raises tiny beads of metal from the surrounding surface to hook over each crown. The beads are pulled up with a graver, then rounded over with a beading tool so they read as bright dots rather than rough metal. A single 1.8mm pave band can hold 30 to 50 stones and takes a skilled bench setter several hours to complete. Newer studios use a laser welder for the holding beads, which keeps the metal cooler and reduces stone damage during setting.

Standard pave uses melee around 1.2 to 1.8mm with small beads at the corners of each stone. Micro-pave uses stones below 1.2mm, sometimes as small as 0.7mm, set in a honeycomb pattern so the band reads as a continuous line of light. French pave cuts a V-shaped channel under each stone so more light enters from below, and shows a fishtail pattern on the side profile. U-cut pave carves scallops between stones for the same reason. Shared-prong is a separate setting but is often grouped with pave because it uses similar small melee.