Tennis necklaces

A tennis necklace is a continuous line of diamonds, each stone in its own setting, linked so the row lies flat against the neck. The choices that actually matter are three.Length. Between 40 and 45 cm the difference is larger than the numbers suggest: 40 cm sits high on the throat, 45 cm drops below the collarbone and moves when you do. 42 to 43 cm settles into the hollow just above the collarbone and stays there.Whether it is set all the way round. Many necklaces at this length carry diamonds only where they show, with plain links behind the neck. It saves real weight and real money and nobody sees it. Others are set the full circumference. Both are honest constructions; we say which is which on every page.Colour consistency. In a line of a hundred stones each diamond is judged against its neighbours, and one warmer stone reads as a dull spot. Matching a full run inside a narrow colour range is the part of the work that never appears on a specification sheet.