There's a question I get asked more often than I expected: "Why is platinum so much more expensive than gold?" And underneath that question is usually another one: "Is it actually worth it?"

The short answer is yes, at least for prongs. I'll tell you why.

Prongs are those little metal claws that hold your center stone in place. They're doing the most important job in the ring — literally keeping your diamond from falling into the sink — and they're also the part of the ring that takes the most abuse. Every time your ring brushes a doorframe, a steering wheel, a keyboard, or the inside of your pocket, the prongs are absorbing that contact.

Gold prongs wear down. Platinum prongs move.

That's the difference, and it's bigger than it sounds.

How gold prongs fail

When you rub gold against something hard over and over, gold loses material. Think of it like erosion. Tiny flecks of metal shed off, and the prong gets thinner. You usually don't notice until one day you look at your ring under a magnifier and realize the prong is a sliver of its former self. At that point, the stone is one solid bump away from coming loose.

I've had clients bring in rings after ten years of daily wear where the original 14k prongs looked like toothpicks. I re-tipped them — that's the repair name — but it's not a permanent fix. You can keep re-tipping forever, but you're adding metal to a structure that's still going to wear the same way.

How platinum holds up

Platinum is denser and more malleable than gold. When it hits something, it compresses and shifts rather than shedding material. So a platinum prong might bend before it ever wears thin. And a bent prong can be straightened. A thinned-out prong has to be rebuilt.

Over the lifetime of a ring, I'd estimate a platinum prong holds up about three to four times longer than a gold one. I'm not selling you on platinum — I'm telling you what I see on the bench.

What I actually recommend

Here's the surprising part. I don't think the whole ring needs to be platinum for this benefit. You can have a 14k or 18k gold band with platinum prongs. It's called a two-tone setting, and it's been done forever. Most people don't even notice the prongs are a different metal because platinum and white gold read similar at a glance. The prongs are small.

This is the setup I recommend to clients who love the warmth of yellow gold but are worried about losing a stone. You get the color you want where it matters — the band on your finger — and you get platinum where it matters most — at the points holding the diamond.

A full platinum ring costs noticeably more than a gold one. Platinum is priced per troy ounce and it's denser, so you're using more metal by weight. But the upcharge for platinum prongs only? Modest. Usually under a couple hundred dollars extra, depending on the setting.

When I wouldn't bother

If you're building something with a bezel or a half-bezel, this conversation matters less. The stone is wrapped, not held by prongs, and the whole edge is doing the work. Bezels fail differently — they're almost more durable than prongs by design.

And if you're doing a piece that won't be worn every day, like a cocktail ring, the math shifts. Gold is fine if the piece isn't going through constant wear.

But for a daily-wear engagement ring with prongs? I'd always put platinum where the stone sits. The extra cost is small compared to the cost of losing a center stone you can't replace.

If you've already got a ring and you're not sure what your prongs are made of, bring it in. I'll look at it. If they're gold and they're wearing down, we can talk about replacing just the tips with platinum — no need to remake the ring.

Related: Why Does My White Gold Look Yellow?

Want me to take a look at your setting or talk through what would work for a new piece? Here's how to reach me. Santa Monica, by appointment.