Ring Sizing Guide

Method one — measure a ring they already wear

This is the method to use when you are buying a gift and the wearer cannot be present.

1. Take a ring they wear on the finger you are buying for. The finger matters. The same finger on the other hand usually differs by a quarter to half a size.
2. Lay the ring flat on a ruler marked in millimeters.
3. Measure straight across the inside of the band, inside edge to inside edge, at the widest point. That figure is the inside diameter.
4. Read the inside diameter against the table below.

About 0.8 mm of inside diameter separates one US size from the next, and about 0.4 mm separates one half size from the next. Read to the nearest tenth of a millimeter. A careless half millimeter is more than a half size wrong.

Method two — measure the finger

Use this when you are buying for yourself, or when the wearer is with you.

1. Cut a strip of paper about 4 mm wide, or take a length of string that does not stretch.
2. Wrap it around the base of the finger. Snug against the skin, not tight. It has to pass back over the knuckle.
3. Mark where the strip overlaps itself.
4. Lay the strip flat against a ruler and read the millimeters to the mark. That figure is the inside circumference.
5. Read the inside circumference against the table below.

US ring size conversion

Inside circumference follows the US standard, where the circumference in millimeters equals 36.537 plus 2.5535 for each size. Inside diameter is that circumference divided by pi. Both are rounded to a tenth of a millimeter, and the inch column is the millimeter diameter divided by 25.4. Every figure in the table can be reproduced from those three sentences. If your measurement falls between two rows, take the larger size.

What changes the fit

• Fingers are at their largest late in the day and in a warm room. Measure then. A cold morning measurement can read half a size small.
• The dominant hand is usually a quarter to half a size larger than the other.
• If the knuckle is wider than the base of the finger, size for the knuckle. A local jeweler can fit sizing beads inside the band so it does not spin.
• A band 6 mm wide or wider sits tighter than a narrow one on the same finger. Go up a half size. Band width is published on the product page wherever we have the figure.
• Between two sizes, take the larger. A slightly loose ring can be sized down by a jeweler. A ring that will not pass the knuckle cannot be worn at all.

Why there is no printable sizer on this page

A printable paper sizer only works if your printer reproduces the page at exactly 100 percent. Most printers do not do that by default, and a page printed at 97 percent produces a sizer that is wrong by most of a size without ever looking wrong. We would rather you spend two minutes with a real ruler and a ring you already own. If you have already used a printed sizer somewhere else, check the result against the table above before you order.

Buying as a surprise

• Borrow the ring. Take one they already wear on that finger, measure it with method one, and put it back. This is the only accurate method that works without them present.
• Do not trace the ring on paper. The pencil line sits outside the metal, and the reading comes out large every time.
• Ask someone who would know. A sister, a mother or a close friend has usually been told at some point.
• Choose a piece that needs no size. Pendants, medals, earrings and most bracelets fit anyone, and they remove the decision entirely.
• If you truly cannot measure, 6 for women and 10 for men are the sizes most often bought in the United States. That is a starting point, not a measurement. Order it only if you are content to exchange it.

Measure a chain they already wear

1. Unclasp the chain and lay it flat along a ruler or tape measure.
2. Measure from one end to the other, clasp included. That figure is the length.
3. Read it against the table below.

Adult lengths

Children and teenagers

A necklace is not a safe object for an infant to wear unsupervised. Baptism and christening pieces are very often kept until the child is older.

Two figures people forget

• The pendant hangs below the chain. Add the height of the pendant to picture where the piece actually sits. Pendant height is published on the product page in millimeters and inches.
• The bail decides which chains fit. The bail is the loop at the top of a pendant. Its inner opening sets the maximum chain gauge that will pass through it. Where the figure was given to us we publish it as bail inner diameter, and we publish chain gauge on the chains.

Measure the wrist

1. Wrap a strip of paper or a tape measure around the wrist just below the wrist bone, snug against the skin.
2. Mark where it overlaps and read the measurement flat against a ruler.
3. Add the allowance for the fit you want, from the table below.

Bangles

A bangle has no clasp, so it has to pass over the hand. Press your thumb into your palm as though you were putting one on, measure around the widest part of the hand, and use that figure rather than the wrist measurement.