The Zenith

Day one I thought I'd ordered something too plain. By the end of the week I had worked out that the plainness is the point and the steps do all the work.

First evening I thought the stepped edges were fussy and I'd have been better with a plain band. A week later the steps were the only reason I was still looking at it. Each one is cut with a broken edge rather than left square.

Wore it to a wedding in Northumberland in September. It runs about 11 grams, light enough that I forgot it through a long day, and the stepped edges caught the low evening sun as two separate bright lines rather than one.

Mine is an 11, close at the base and over the knuckle fine. The thing I keep noticing is that it steps twice per side rather than once, which is why the edges look like a bright line rather than a band. Only gripe, those steps collect a bit of soap.

A year of daily wear before setting it next to the band it replaced. The old one had a single flat face; this steps down twice from the centre to each edge, and those steps are polished where the centre is brushed. On a hand it reads narrower than it measures.

I was unsure until I turned it under a lamp. Each step throws its own line of light, so the ring has three bright edges rather than one. Kept it.

Each step is cut to the same depth the whole way round, which you can check by turning it against a lamp and watching the bright line stay the same width. It came boxed with a sizing gauge and a cloth.

My wife had already taken it out of the box, so the first thing was the weight in my palm at around 11 grams, lighter than I had assumed for something that looks stepped and substantial. The steps are polished against a brushed centre, which is where the impression of weight comes from.

The Blue Nile band I wore before was a single flat face and it always looked thinner than its measurement, whereas this reads wider than its 6mm because of the steps. Size 11, worn daily for eighteen months, and the fit has not moved.

Ordered a 10 and it fit. At a work dinner two weeks later my manager asked whether it was two rings stacked, which is the stepped profile doing that, and I have had that question twice since. Good order, no fuss.

I emailed before ordering to ask whether stepped edges catch on jumpers, and they said the steps are broken with a small radius rather than left square. Running a nail across confirms it: you feel each step but nothing bites. I have worn it through two winters of knitwear.

I shut it in a car door in month four, which I expected to flatten a step. It marked one edge and buffed out. Size 11, worn daily for two years since, and the fit has not changed.