Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
June 23, 2010
I was told that the way your ring size is measured depends on where exactly you are in the world – is this true?
June 28, 2010
Mostly, countries use a conventional scale of "whole sizes", "half sizes" and "quarter sizes" and the measurement is done along the diameter of the ring being measured. There is no relation to the sizes mentioned above to a certain scale on any known ruler. In the United States and Canada a full size, or a "whole size", denotes around 0.032 inches (that's 0.81 in centimeters). However, in Japan for example, ring measurement is specified with only whole sizes, using their own numerical scale. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland ring measurements are done with a special alphabetical scale of half sized gaps between each size.
June 25, 2010
Yes, it is true! Although the ISO (International Standardization Organization) defines that a ring size should actually be measured in terms of the inner circumference of the ring in a scale of millimeters, only a few countries around the world really follow their standards. In fact, I can only think of Germany as a country that pursues this method of ring size measurement. What makes this matter even more confusing is the fact that there are SO many methods of ring measurements around the world, that it's hard to maintain an agreed-upon norm for measuring one's ring size.
