Rings are one of those jewelry pieces that don’t leave much room for error in sizing—a half size too small and it won’t fit over your knuckles, a half size too big and it may slip around. Variables that affect a ring size are many, and in this guide we'll explain why getting your hands sized by a professional is an important first step to buying a ring.
Width
The wider the ring, the smaller it will fit and the less give it will have when sliding over the knuckle.
Solitary or stacked?
If a ring is part of a stack of rings, we recommend keeping the sizes within a half size of each other.
Temperature
During the winter months, our skin constricts and our rings may fit a bit larger than in the summer months. This is normal for any ring wearer, but is especially important if you're someone who lives in a mostly cold or mostly warm climate to plan accordingly. For example, if we were sizing a customer at Sailor on a cold winter day who lives year-round in Florida, we would expect that the size we record would be slightly smaller than the size they would most enjoy wearing at home in a warmer climate.
Other factors
Did you enjoy a sushi dinner last night? How about a bag of potato chips or a glass of wine? Were you on a plane recently? Any factor in our life and diet that can make us feel bloated will affect water retention and therefore size. Since ring sizing is a matter of millimeters, this small change in size will have a large impact on the fit of your ring.
Before scheduling a ring sizing, select a time when you're confident your hands are at their most normal.