Outer Cape Blue Sapphire Ring

I was in South Africa 33 years ago. I was with a group of a dozen American jewelers visiting platinum, gold, and diamond mines to deepen our gemological education. Toward the end of our visit, we had dinner in Cape Town, South Africa. Before dinner, I walked past a waterfront jewelry store and saw essentially this ring in the window. Its aesthetics and its logic of design struck me instantly. It was a low-profile, finger-hugging ring. The gem was securely set in a full halo of gold. All surfaces were smooth. It would make a long-wearing super comfortable ring.

We had nothing like it in our store at home. No one in America made a ring like this. I loved its logic. When I returned home, I asked our jeweler to make one. He did, and the popularity of this piece quickly became part of Cross’ history. This Cape Town ring, and its sister rings, instantly became something American women had wanted for years which made this one of the bestselling rings in the history of our store.

Women love both the beauty and the practicality of the design. It’s a simple ring that looks great on the hand and can be worn under the widest range of conditions.

During the 1980s

In the 80s we had groups of nurses who walked down from Maine Medical Center asking essentially the same question. They wanted rings that were low-profile, with a smooth surface, and no prongs to catch because they put gloves on and took them off a hundred times a day. The same was true for both doctors and surgeons. In the 1980s, we had no good answers.

Then, we developed a series of practical New England designs that were perfect for active women, especially in challenging jobs. And, as they say, the rest is history. We originally named the ring Cape Town for South Africa and later, renamed it Outer Cape for our own Cape Cod. Either name, it’s the same ring and makes an awesome active lifestyle design.