Your Athena or Avalon Puzzle Ring Style and Weave

Your Athena or Avalon Puzzle Ring Style and Weave

As mentioned on some of our other pages, the four band, medium weight puzzle ring shown most frequently on our site holds a diamond or gemstone of up to 0.72CT. The very same puzzle ring in a slightly heavier weight holds a larger stone. This four band puzzle ring that you see most frequently on our site is the same, whether it is called a Guinevere, Marquise, Avalon, Athena, or Avon. These rings vary by the setting that holds the stone, and each ring style is named for that setting. Please note that other jewelers will refer to the entire ring as the setting. We refer to the puzzle ring as the ring and to the head that holds the stone as the setting. This page will introduce you to the Athena and Avalon puzzle ring styles. 

For both the Athena and the Avalon puzzle rings, you may choose from a tight or an open weave. We don’t tend to offer a standard weave in these rings, as it doesn’t lend itself well to these styles.

Athena Puzzle Ring

The Athena puzzle ring is characterized by a round stone held in a six-prong, crown setting. We like six prongs rather than four, because six prongs holds a stone much more securely than a four prong setting does. Most local jewelers will tell you, “Stop by twice a year for us to check your stone setting,” and they will tighten it up, if it is loose. We can’t do that. You may live anywhere in the world, so you can’t just stop by. Therefore, we must use stronger and more secure settings that will hold your stone securely. So far, we have not had a single customer report a lost stone or a bent prong on an Athena puzzle ring.

Athena Puzzle Ring with Tight Weave

I don’t think we’ve ever made an Athena with anything other than a tight weave, so I can only show images of the tight weave. But if you wish to get an idea of what this ring might look like with an open weave, please refer to the open weave Avalon images below on this page. If you look at the overall shape of the puzzle rings with open weaves below, you’ll get a good idea of what an open weave Athena would look like. 

Four band puzzle ring with round diamond and four
colors of 14K gold

You can see how high off the ring the setting holds the center stone.

The height of the stone, including the bands of the puzzle ring may vary from approximately 8.2mm to 9.2mm, depending upon the carat weight of the stone and the weight of the puzzle ring. 

You can see how high off the ring the setting holds the center stone. The height of the stone, including the bands of the puzzle ring may vary from approximately 8.2mm to 9.2mm, depending upon the carat weight of the stone and the weight of the puzzle ring. 

With a half-carat stone on a medium weight puzzle ring, the total height will be approximately 8.4mm.

 

Four band puzzle ring in four colors 14k gold features
a round brilliant one half carat diamond and side sapphires.

Avalon Puzzle Ring with Tight Weave
The Avalon puzzle ring is a four prong setting that is nonetheless very, very secure. This is because the prongs are very substantial and therefore very strong. Our customers have so far never had a lost stone or a bent prong on an Avalon ring. 

The Avalon here is shown with a tight weave. The diamond size, for reference, is 6/10ths carat, or 0.60CT. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avalon Puzzle Ring with Open Weave
The Avalon looks especially pretty to me with a round stone, as you get this sort of lotus flower look when you look straight down on it, as pictured here. Granted you don’t often look straight down on it! But it’s nice to know it’s there. This diamond, for reference, is a one-half carat.

The open weave gives much more width to the ring at top center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice below that the setting is always 14K white gold, even when the ring is four colors of 14K gold, as shown here. This is because we don’t want the color of the setting to affect the color of the diamond or gemstone. Palladium rings have palladium settings; platinum rings have platinum settings. You can request a quote for a platinum setting on any ring.

We can create the Avalon with any round or princess-cut stone you wish: diamond, moissanite (lab-created diamond), or a genuine or lab-created colored gemstone. 

Note this stone is set in the kite orientation, where the corners of the princess-cut stone are oriented to the N-S-E-W directions.

Four band puzzle ring with princess lab created emerald
and four colors of 14k gold.

Avalon Four Band Puzzle Ring with Square Orientation
No matter what stone you wish to have, when you choose a princess-cut or square stone, we can orient it in the kite orientation shown above or in the square, parallel-perpendicular orientation shown below. Shown is a blue diamond in a 1/2CT weight.

A side view shows that the Avalon setting is a medium-high.
The height of the ring plus stone setting on this one-half carat,
blue diamond ring is 5.4mm. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5mm Princess Cut Avalon Puzzle Ring with Kite Orientation
Here we show a 5mm, princess-cut, Swiss blue topaz on a just-over-medium-weight puzzle ring with an open weave. This stone is about 0.80CT, so it has to be held on a slightly heavier puzzle ring.