Moissanite 101
“We’ll Upgrade the Stone Later”
A common plan, entirely workable — and it depends on a decision made now, not later.
Written by the Mapple Gems workshop, Surat · Updated 15 October 2026
Short answer
It works, because the head is a separate component and swapping a centre stone is ordinary bench work. What makes or breaks it is the ring underneath: a 1.8 mm shank and a well-made head will accept a different stone in twenty years; a thin one will not, whatever is set in it. Two honest caveats: the original stone is worth very little on resale, and most people who plan this never do it — which is fine, provided the ring was built to be worn as it is.
“Start with moissanite, upgrade when we can” is one of the most common plans people describe to us. It is a good plan. It just has one requirement that is easy to miss and impossible to fix afterwards.
A stone can be changed for the whole life of a ring; the ring itself cannot — so “upgrade later” is a decision about the SETTING, made today. The head that holds the centre stone is a separate piece of metal soldered onto the shank. Removing it, fitting a new one and cutting fresh seats to a different stone is routine work any competent bench can do decades from now. What cannot be redone is anything cast as one continuous body: profile height, gallery architecture, shank taper, total width. And most decisively, the shank thickness at the base. A ring built with a thin shank to save money on the assumption that the stone is the temporary part has it exactly backwards — by the time you want the better stone, the ring will have flexed for years and be due a reshank, and you will be paying for both. So the money-saving version of this plan is not a cheap ring with a cheap stone. It is a properly built ring with a modest stone: 1.8 mm at the base, a well-made head, prongs over every corner, an open gallery. That ring is worth upgrading. The other one is worth replacing, which is a different and more expensive sentence.
What can and cannot change later
| Later, you can change | You cannot change |
|---|---|
| The centre stone | Profile height |
| The head (prong count, style, metal) | Gallery architecture |
| The finish | Shank taper |
| The shank, via a reshank | Total width across the setting |
| Add a halo or side stones | Prong placement as cast |
One useful consequence of the left column: if you are undecided about a halo, start without one. A halo can be added to a solitaire later; removing one leaves a frame that has to be rebuilt.
Sizing the plan so it actually works
The practical trap is size. Seats are cut to a specific girdle, not to a carat figure — so a new stone that differs much in millimetres needs a new head, and one that is meaningfully larger may not suit the ring’s proportions at all.
Two ways to keep the door open. Choose the eventual size now and build the ring for it, setting a moissanite of those dimensions today — the swap then becomes stone-for-stone with the same head. Or accept that a new head will be part of the upgrade, which is normal and not expensive, and simply make sure the shank and gallery are worth keeping.
Either way, get the written specification at purchase — stone millimetres and depth, shank width and thickness, total width across the setting. That document is what makes the upgrade a quote rather than an investigation, and it works at any bench, not only ours.
The part sellers do not usually mention
Your original stone will be worth very little when you come to swap it. Moissanite has no established resale market, and lab grown diamond prices have been falling, so a stone bought at one price may value lower years later. Neither fact is a scandal — but the upgrade should be budgeted as buying a new stone, not as part-exchanging one.
Which raises the honest question worth asking yourselves now: would you be happy with this ring if the upgrade never happened? Most upgrades never do — life intervenes, and after a decade the ring has become the ring rather than a stage. That is a good outcome, not a failure, and it is only a problem if the piece was built as a placeholder.
Our own view, for what it is worth: spend the money on the structure and the fit, and buy the stone you can afford in the dimensions you actually want. A well-made ring with a modest stone is a keepsake. A weak ring with a large stone is a repair bill on a timer.
If the plan is a bigger stone rather than a different material
Worth separating, because they are different upgrades. Going larger in the same material is usually the cheaper and more visible change — and remember that apparent size is millimetres, not carats. A 1 ct round is about 6.5 mm; going to 7 mm reads noticeably larger without a full step in weight.
Going from moissanite to diamond changes the character rather than the size: moissanite disperses light more than twice as strongly, so a diamond of the same dimensions reads calmer and whiter, not bigger. If it is the fire you have grown tired of rather than the size, that is the swap that addresses it — and a warmer metal or a step cut achieves some of the same effect for far less.
Keep reading
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a moissanite with a diamond later?
Yes — the head is a separate component, so swapping a centre stone is ordinary bench work. What decides whether it is worth doing is the ring underneath: a 1.8 mm shank and a well-made head will accept a new stone decades later.
Will I get money back for the original stone?
Very little. Moissanite has no established resale market, and lab grown diamond prices have been falling, so a stone may value lower than it cost. Budget an upgrade as buying a new stone rather than part-exchanging one.
Should I buy a cheaper setting if the stone is temporary?
The opposite. The stone is the changeable part and the setting is not, so a thin shank means that by upgrade time you are paying for a reshank as well. Spend on structure now and buy the stone you can afford.
Does a diamond look bigger than a moissanite of the same size?
No — it reads calmer and whiter, not bigger, since moissanite disperses light more than twice as strongly. If the fire is what you have tired of, a warmer metal or a step cut achieves some of the same effect for far less.
Tell us the plan and we will build for it.
If a swap is coming one day, the shank, the head and the eventual stone size should be decided now — while all three are still free to choose.
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