When my partner of 28 years and I decided to take advantage of the New Marriage Equality Law in our state, the search for wedding bands began as quickly as we set the date.

Knowing a little bit about jewelry, not much but enough to evaluate quality and fair price, I spent hours on line, hours visiting jewelry stores - and I pounded the pavement of New York's Diamond District. My conclusion was that even with the entry level of lower end diamonds a VS 1 Clarity rating and an H-G color certification at about 1/2 - 1 Carats set into 14K  (18K is to soft) white gold all fell into a price range ranging from $1800- $2500 per ring and up, add another $1,000 for Platinum.

While searching around I didn't exclude Amazon, after all we buy virtually everything else here, and found some remarkable deals.
However rings from Metal Masters kept popping up in my searches. My first reactions were to roll my eyes - how could any ring priced this low look good, unless it was dark out and you were looking at it from 500 feet away. But the designs kept drawing me back.

We had long discussions about using the money (4 grand and up) for a pair of rings or putting it into our 60 year old house which we're remodeling and repairing at a snails pace. he calls it our home sweet home and I affectionately refer to it as a "blood sucking money pit".  I finally wrote a note to Metal Masters regarding sizing and the quality of the CZ and they replied quickly with a detailed response.

*Note to other potential buyers - remember when ordering a "comfort fit" that you want a half size down for a proper fit. So if you wear say a 9 order a 8.5 and so on.

Well, expecting to be disappointed, after all how could a ring priced this low even appear to be of reasonable quality? I ordered two of this style and two of the eternity rings - another great reason to buy these is that we could afford to do just that. Without out having to put 2 grand per ring down as a deposit. For lack of better words all I can tell you is that we were absolutely knocked out. Especially with the Eternity ring. The Titanium is gorgeous, seamless and perfectly cast.

The matte finish with it's high polished edge is stunning and that would be without the stones. With the stones? They're incredible. Channel setting must be done by hand, shoddy work means uneven settings and loss of stones which I assure you is not the case here. The setting of each and every Brilliant cut CZ is perfectly spaced and perfectly set. The rings easily compared to ones we saw costing over $2,000 apiece.

The Cubic Zirconia crystals are top quality as promised and flawless. CZ isn't new - it was discovered in the mid 1800's but wasn't introduced as an alternative to diamonds until 1976. CZ still remains the number one alternative to actual diamonds today. CZ  is cut just like diamonds, as they're very hard, measuring an 8 on the Mohs scale which is harder than most gem stones - Diamonds measure a 10, only two points above CZ. Depending upon the cut both will refract (pull in light and bounce it around inside the stone) and reflect (beam the light out) which causes the "sparkle" so no or dim light = no sparkle regardless if it's a diamond or CZ.

As far as the look of authenticity - only an experienced jeweler or gemologist would be able to tell the difference and that's with the help of Loupe or other magnification. This is Because even the finest diamonds in the world have inclusions inside that can't be seen with the naked eye. Quality CZ on the other hand has no inclusions whatsoever so ironically it's their perfection that gives them away.

With all this said, these rings are an incredible value and a wonderful alternative to diamonds. What is more, anyone who understands the horrors of diamond trafficking will have the peace of mind in knowing they played no part in supporting it.

The rings arrive exceptionally well packaged, each in a Metal Masters presentation box, sized perfectly and delivered with lightening speed. Add to the mix a company that's responsive and stands behind their product 100% and you just can't go wrong. As far as durability these rings get knocked around plenty and after months still not a single scratch or loose stone. Simply a sensational piece of jewelry with a timeless design that you'll be proud to own and even prouder to wear.

**UPDATE 5/27 2014**

There have been a few comments asking about how these rings have held up. The review was written over two years ago and I'm pleased to report they look as good now as they did when the first arrived. Titanium rates a # 6 on the Mohs scale for metals making it one of the hardest metals there are - Steel rates a 4.5 so I expected the the Titanium to wear well and has. We never take the rings off and they're still scratch free.

As for the CZ crystals they're as brilliant as ever. These are top quality CZ crystals and have proven themselves as they're scratch and chip  free and every single crystal is still firmly in place. Just a quick update folks on durability which I rate a solid 10.