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22 of the best engagement rings from Vera Wang, Tiffany and more

by www.hellomagazine.com Leave a Comment

Megan Bull Diamond engagement rings: discover some of the best designs from Tiffany & Co, Vera Wang, Beaverbrooks, Taylor & Hart and more

They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, which is why you can’t go wrong with a sparkling engagement ring when you’re planning to pop the question. Whether it’s a halo ring, trilogy ring or a classic solitaire, it’s important to get to know the four c’s – carat, clarity, colour and cut – before you splash the cash. Get to know more about how to buy the perfect engagement ring here, right after you’ve swooned over our pick of the most beautiful diamond engagement rings from high street jewellers like Beaverbrooks through to Tiffany & Co. How could she ever say no?!

RELATED: 17 royal engagement rings that will blow you away: Meghan Markle, Princess Eugenie, Princess Diana and more

How much money do you spend on engagement rings?

Past traditions dictate that three month’s salary should be spent on an engagement ring, however, these days there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone has a different idea of budget and with so many designer and high-street jewellers offering a wide range of stunning styles, price doesn’t have to be a major cause for concern.

How many carats is appropriate for an engagement ring?

According to Diamond Heaven , in the UK the average carat size for a diamond engagement ring is between 0.5-1 carats, although some suggest it’s 0.6 carats. Of course, there’s no pressure to abide by a certain carat size as other factors such as budget and style can impact your final choice.

The best engagement rings:

1. Beaverbrooks

A timeless token of love, this Platinum Diamond Halo Ring is seriously stunning. It’s hard not to fall in love with the beautiful round cut diamond which sits at its centre.

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Platinum Diamond Halo Ring , £3,250, Beaverbrooks

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2. Pandora

An affordable alternative which won’t break the bank, this sterling silver band is adorned with scores of cubic zirconia and polished off with a striking blue crystal that’s been faceted to reflect the light.

pandora-ring

Blue Square Sparkle Halo Ring, £60, Pandora

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3. Goldsmiths

For vintage-inspired elegance, it doesn’t get much better than this oval-cut double halo ring created by one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite designers, Jenny Packham, and available at Goldsmiths.

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Jenny Packham oval-cut double halo diamond engagement ring, £3,250, Goldsmiths

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4. Dower & Hall

Dower & Hall’s Stargazer ring is out of this world! Hand-crafted with luxurious gems, including a cushion cut Morganite surrounded by seven tiny diamonds, this contemporary ring has been designed to evoke stars surrounding an astral nebula – so romantic. A sustainable alternative, it’s even been made with 18ct recycled gold.

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Morganite & Diamond Stargazer Ring, £1,295, Dower & Hall

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5. Tiffany & Co.

Hailed as the inventor of the modern engagement ring, that little blue Tiffany & Co. box alone will be enough to ensure she says yes. The Tiffany Soleste Pear-shaped engagement ring gathers and mirrors light, resulting in an unrivalled display of brilliance. According to the jeweller, the pear shape was made popular in the 18th century and is said to represent tears of joy, fitting as it will surely make her emotional.

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Tiffany Soleste pear-shaped halo engagement ring , POA, Tiffany & Co.

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6. Swarovski

With a square-cut stone, polished rose gold band and a price of £75, what’s not to love about this gorgeous Swarovski ring?

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Rose-gold ring, from £75, Swarovski

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7. Louise Sinclair

Looking for something less traditional? This striking statement piece is truly one-of-a-kind. Louise Sinclair’s eye-catching design combines an octagon emerald with green pavé set diamonds and a black rhodium finish.

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White Gold Octagon Emerald Ring, £13,000, Louise Sinclair

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8. Thomas Sabo

This vintage-inspired ring nods to the 1970s with its iridescent opal colour effect.

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Opal ring, £119, Thomas Sabo

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9. Goldsmiths

With its dazzling 1 carat trio of diamonds on a platinum band, she’ll treasure this timeless ring forever. The ring features a state-of-the-art setting technique to make the diamonds really stand out and appear even bigger than they already are. Stunning.

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Platinum 1ct total weight diamond engagement ring, £3,900, Goldsmiths

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GALLERY: The most beautiful engagement ring inspiration from Instagram

10. Vera Wang Love

The go-to wedding dress designer for everyone from Rochelle Humes to Hailey Bieber, you can also snap up Vera Wang ‘s designs from her Vera Wang LOVE jewellery collection at Ernest Jones. The white gold diamond halo ring features a 0.70ct diamond with Vera’s signature sapphire underneath.

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Vera Wang 18ct White Gold 0.70ct Diamond Halo Ring, £2,999, Ernest Jones

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GALLERY: 10 celebrity brides who wore Vera Wang wedding dresses

11. Beaverbrooks

The royal family’s engagement rings have long sparked trends, and the Duchess of Cambridge’s stunning sapphire ring – which previously belonged to the late Princess Diana – is no exception. Featuring a princess cut sapphire in between two round brilliant diamonds, this white gold engagement ring is striking, timeless, and reminiscent of Kate’s.

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18ct White Gold Diamond and Sapphire 3 stone ring, £3,750, Beaverbrooks

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MORE: Kate Middleton wasn’t supposed to have Princess Diana’s engagement ring

12. Taylor & Hart

Celebrities including Amal Clooney, Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez all love their emerald cut diamond engagement rings, so she’ll be in good company with this sparkler from Taylor & Hart, which also features two tapered baguettes set in platinum.

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Utopia emerald diamond centre platinum engagement ring, £1,950, Taylor & Hart

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13. Goldsmiths

This shimmering design takes its name from the English Amelia rose – the greatest symbol of beauty and love. At the centre sits a gleaming 0.30ct diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller gems.  A truly timeless and expertly crafted piece, your new fiancé will be able to pair her new favourite accessory with a number of daytime and evening ensembles.

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Amelia Platinum 0.50CTW Diamond Engagement Ring, POA, Goldsmiths

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14. Purely Diamonds

Break away from tradition and surprise them with this unique style. It’s certainly eye-catching thanks to its 0.70ct brilliant cut diamond which is encircled by 92 smaller stones. An eco-friendly option, the brand’s diamonds are all naturally mined and ethically sourced as well, which makes for a nice bonus.

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18CT Yellow & White Gold Diamond Ring, from £2,848, Purely Diamonds

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15. Annie Haak

Simple and understated, the Lover’s Knot ring symbolises being together forever. The ultimate romantic gesture, it’s handcrafted in 925 Sterling Silver and looks far more expensive than it’s £42 price tag.

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Lover’s Knot Ring, £42, Annie Haak

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16. Neil Lane

A go-to designer worn by everyone from Miley Cyrus to Jennifer Lawrence, you don’t need a Hollywood budget to treat that special someone to a Neil Lane engagement ring. A highlight from his Ernest Jones collection is the marquise shaped cluster ring.

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Neil Lane Silver 1/10ct Diamond Marquise Shaped Cluster Ring , £250, Ernest Jones

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17. The Diamond Store

Looking for something extra special? This diamond halo engagement ring, featuring a unique mix of pink and white diamonds set on a white gold band is a real one-of-a-kind. Currently available for £1,196 on The Diamond Store, RRP: £2,069.

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Pink diamond square halo engagement ring, £1,389, The Diamond Store

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18. De Beers

Symbolising the past, present and future, its little wonder trilogy rings have long been a favourite for engagement rings. This DB Classic Trio Ring features one central diamond that is more prominent than the round brilliant diamonds sat on either side on a platinum band.

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DB Classic Trio Ring, from £6,650, De Beers

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19. Louise Sinclair

Wow her with this limited edition design from Louise Sinclair’s Guilty Pleasures collection. Exuding sophistication and charm, the 2.50ct pear shape diamond is beautifully bordered by a claw setting in black rhodium finish.

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Yellow and White Gold Pear Shape Diamond Ring, £46,000, Louise Sinclair

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20. H. Samuel

This luxurious platinum ring hosts a solitaire forever diamond within a subtle twisting frame. Finished with ‘FOREVER’ engraved upon the inside of the shank, there’s also a secret diamond in the O, for a final sentimental secret touch.

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Platinum 3/4ct Forever Diamond, £3,999, H. Samuel

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21. Taylor & Hart

Taylor & Hart’s ‘Ethereal’ ring is just that. Drawing the eyes to its ornate marquise diamond, the elongated shape of this classic cut can make the finger of its wearer appear longer and slimmer.

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Ethereal Engagement Ring, from £1,830, Taylor & Hart

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22. Annoushka

Truly unique, this floral engagement ring is inspired by the quintessential British countryside in Summer. According to the brand, the ‘Marguerite’ reflects Annoushka’s love of untamed meadows and distinctive rural hedgerows, bursting with flora and fauna – a fitting choice if you’re planning a summer proposal.

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Marguerite 18ct Diamond Triple Ring, £3,500, Annoushka

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Biden’s chip dreams face reality check of supply chain complexity

by auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

SAN FRANCISCO: To understand President Joe Biden ‘s challenge in taming a semiconductor shortage bedeviling automakers and other industries, consider a chip supplied by a U.S. firm for Hyundai Motor Co’s new electric vehicle, the IONIQ 5.

Production of the chip, a camera image sensor designed by On Semiconductor, begins at a factory in Italy, where raw silicon wafers are imprinted with complex circuitry.

The wafers are then sent first to Taiwan for packaging and testing, then to Singapore for storage, then on to China for assembly into a camera unit, and finally to a Hyundai component supplier in Korea before reaching Hyundai’s auto factories.

A shortage of that image sensor has led to the idling of Hyundai Motor’s plant in South Korea, making it the latest automaker to suffer from global supply woes that crippled production at most automakers including General Motors Co and Ford Motors Co and Volkswagen .

And the winding journey of the image sensor shows just how complicated it will be for the chip industry to both ramp up capacity to address the current shortage and re-invigorate U.S. chip manufacturing. For a graphic, click https://tmsnrt.rs/3dW8nbN

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday convened semiconductor industry executives in Washington to discuss solutions to the chip crisis, the latest move in a broader effort to bolster the domestic chip industry. He’s also proposed $50 billion to support chip manufacturing and research as part of his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which he said would help the United States win the global competition with China.

Much of that money will likely go towards the construction of multi-billion-dollar advanced chip plants by Intel , Samsung and TSMC. But industry executives say addressing the broader supply chain is crucial, and the Biden administration faces complicated choices on which elements of it to subsidize.

“Trying to reconstruct an entire supply chain from upstream to downstream in a single given location just isn’t a possibility,” David Somo, senior vice president at ON Semiconductor, told Reuters. “It would be prohibitively expensive.”

The United States now only accounts for about 12% of worldwide semiconductor manufacturing capacity, down from 37% in 1990. More than 80% of global chip production now happens in Asia, according to industry data.

1,000 STEPS, 70 BORDERS

Producing a single computer chip can involve more than 1,000 steps, 70 separate border crossings and a host of specialized companies, most of them in Asia and largely unknown to the public.

The process starts with plate-size discs of raw silicon. At chip factories known as ‘fabs,’ circuits are etched into the silicon and built up on its surface through a series of complicated chemical processes.

The next step – packaging – offers a good illustration of the supply chain challenges.

Wafers emerge from fabs with hundreds or even thousands of fingernail-sized chips on each disc. They must be cut up into individual chips and put into a package.

Traditionally that meant placing each chip onto a “lead frame” and soldering it to a circuit board. The entire assembly would then be packaged in a resin case to protect it.

That process is very labor intensive, leading chip companies to outsource it decades ago to countries including Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and China.

The packaging step itself has its own supply chain: South Korea’s Haesung DS, for example, makes packaging components for automotive chips, exporting them to Malaysia or Thailand for customers including Infineon and NXP. These companies, or in some cases a sub-contractor, then assemble and package chips for automotive suppliers like Bosch and Continental, which in turn supply final products to automakers.

“If they (the Biden administration) are going to be successful with this, they are going to have to help rebuild the package industry here in the United States,” said Dick Otte, CEO of Promex, a California-based chip packaging firm.

“Otherwise it is a waste of time. It is like building a car and not having a body to put on it.”

But newer chip packaging processes are far less labor intensive, leading some U.S. chipmakers to believe they can be brought back from abroad.

In October, Minnesota-based chip foundry, SkyWater Technology took over a facility in Florida where it plans to build out advanced packaging lines.

“There’s kind of an industry-wide agreement that all this needs to happen here,” Thomas Sonderman, chief executive, SkyWater Technology, said.

FASTER TURNAROUND

Rebuilding the U.S. packaging industry would not only insulate chip companies and their customers from political risk, it could also help them break free of the long cycles involved in creating new chips, said Tony Levi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Southern California.

By doing more work locally, U.S. chip firms could create smaller manufacturing runs of chips more frequently, speeding innovation and potentially creating the capability to more quickly adjust to demand.

Levi said that Arizona, Texas and New York – where Intel, TSMC, Samsung and GlobalFoundries all have existing or planned facilities – would be suited to cluster supply chain elements like packaging.

“What the U.S. is very good at is close collaboration between system design, product design and the manufacturing itself,” Levi said.

Still, it remains to be seen how the Biden Administration will balance the demands of the many sub-sectors of the chip industry.

Numerous firms, many of them overseas, provide critical foundry materials including wafers and gases. The sophisticated tools used for advanced chip production are mostly made in the United States, but that’s not the case for factory components such as the robotic systems that whisk chips among the various process steps.

On top of that, some in the industry argue that the U.S. needs to support not only new cutting-edge fabs, but older technology too. It’s the more mature chips that are in severe shortage, noted Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Austin-based silicon design firm, Silicon Labs.

“We have a mismatch of capital in the semiconductor industry,” he said, with too much of the money going to the most advanced technologies.

E. Jan Vardaman, President at TechSearch International Inc, said the chip packaging industry has been under severe price pressure, leading to smaller margins than chip factories and chip design firms. “From a financial and economics point of view, it does not make sense for them to make a big investment.”

“Simply throwing money at this does not solve the problem. It is a more complex problem.”