The Montare Journal

Diamond Length-to-Width Ratio by Shape: The Ideal Ranges
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 27, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 13 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A diamond's length-to-width ratio is its length divided by its width, both taken from the millimetre measurements on the grading report. It tells you the outline of the stone before you ever see it: 1.00 is perfectly round... Read more...
Engagement Ring Prong Styles: Claw, Round, Tulip & More
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 27, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Prong style is the shape of the metal tip that actually touches your diamond — round, claw, flat tab, V-shaped, doubled or sculpted into a tulip petal. Prong count decides how many points of contact the stone has;... Read more...
Channel Setting Engagement Rings: The Complete Guide
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 22, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 13 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A channel setting holds diamonds in a row between two parallel walls of metal, with no prongs standing above the surface. It is the setting behind most eternity and channel-set wedding bands, and it also appears as an... Read more...
Cheap vs Premium Ring Manufacturing: What Actually Differs
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 8, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 16 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto The difference between a cheap ring and a premium one is almost never the design — it is the order of operations and how much bench work is skipped. Two rings can look identical in a photograph and... Read more...
Oval vs Radiant: Which Diamond Shape Should You Buy?
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Both are elongated brilliant-cut shapes, so the choice comes down to outline and light pattern: an oval is soft, continuous and elongating; a radiant is architectural, cut-cornered and broader. At three carats an oval faces up longer and... Read more...
3 vs 4 vs 5 Carat: What Actually Looks Best on the Hand
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Going from three carats to four adds a third more weight but only about a tenth more length. That single fact explains why carat jumps disappoint people, and why shape choice moves the needle far more than weight... Read more...
Which Hand and Finger Does an Engagement Ring Go On?
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto In Canada, the UK, the US, France and much of the world, the engagement ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. In Germany, Russia, Poland, Norway, India and several other countries it goes on... Read more...
Travelling With and Storing an Engagement Ring
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto The two riskiest moments in an engagement ring's life are taking it off somewhere unfamiliar and putting it down somewhere temporary. Most rings are not lost dramatically — they are left on a hotel bathroom shelf, slipped off... Read more...
A Diamond Fell Out of My Ring: What to Do
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto If a diamond has fallen out of your ring: stop wearing the ring, search carefully before you clean or vacuum anything, and take both the ring and the stone to a jeweller before wearing either again. If it... Read more...
Diamond Certificate vs Appraisal
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A diamond certificate describes what the stone is. An appraisal states what it would cost to replace. They are different documents, produced by different people, for different purposes — and confusing them is why some people insure a... Read more...
Proposing With a Placeholder Ring
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Proposing with a placeholder ring means proposing with an inexpensive stand-in, then designing the real ring together afterwards. It is not a compromise or a sign of an unprepared partner — it is a deliberate choice that a... Read more...
Diamond Girdle Thickness Explained
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto The girdle is the thin band around a diamond's widest point — where the top half meets the bottom half, and where the prongs actually grip. It is graded from Extremely Thin to Extremely Thick, it appears on... Read more...