Platinum
Platinum is the most precious of the jewellery metals. A platinum piece is typically 95% pure platinum with 5% alloy such as iridium, which is why it wears, and ages, like nothing else.
What sets platinum apart
It is naturally pure white and will not tarnish or change colour. It is the rarest jewellery metal in the world, more valuable than gold. And above all it is durable: where gold slowly loses a little metal with every scratch, platinum merely displaces, so a platinum ring can be worn for decades without eroding.
Platinum is also strong, roughly 60% heavier than 18ct gold and about twice as tough, which is exactly what you want in the claws holding a diamond. Its white lustre flatters both diamond brilliance and gemstone colour.
Buyer’s tip
Platinum is the ideal metal for engagement and wedding rings that will be worn every day for a lifetime and then passed on. It costs more than white gold up front; it repays that in how it holds stones and how it lasts. If the budget says white gold, you lose little in looks, if it stretches to platinum, you gain decades.