What is a compression setting??

A compression setting is also known as a tension setting. Tension settings use the entire band as the setting. Because the band has no obvious setting, any ring that uses this setting is sometimes known as a "floating diamond ring".

The way a tension/compression setting works is as follows: The diamond is set in between the two edges of the ring and creates lateral pressure - some 12,000 pounds of it - on both sides of the diamond which keeps it in place.

Typically, only precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, diamonds and artificially created stones such as moisannite as well as cubic zirconia are mounted with tension settings because they are the only stones that can withstand the massive amounts of pressure placed on the stone. Any other gemstone, whether precious or otherwise, will break from the pressure.

One thing to keep in mind is that compression and tension settings are difficult to resize because of the massive amounts of pressure on the ring and the fact that any resizing will weaken the setting. Consequently, it is smart to have an accurate ring size before using this setting.

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