New Wedding Rings

In celebration of our third first (June 14 2008) and second second (July 5 2009) wedding anniversaries, as well as our first civil union (June 1 2011), C and I have decided to purchase new wedding rings. We exchanged matching brushed titanium rings at our first wedding three years ago, but while the brushing has stayed in near-mint condition on mine, the brushing on C's has worn completely off. C's ring now looks something like a scratched washer (we like to joke that this has some symbolic indication of who is more invested in the relationship/who cares more about the marriage/etc, but we have seriously been discussing replacement rings for two years).

Today we made our choice and ordered two new rings. Brace yourselves, these are simultaneously the coolest and enginerdiest rings you've probably ever seen :-)



And yes, the gears are fully functional. All the pinion gears turn, counterrotating the perimeter rack gears. Check out this supercool video of the ring in motion :-)

C will be beginning a tenure-track position as a mechanical engineering professor this fall; I'm eager to see the response his wedding ring receives from his students.

Aside: An unexpected benefit of being a gay male couple is how relatively inexpensive men's wedding rings are compared to women's engagement and wedding rings (Our original rings cost about $100 each; these are slightly more expensive, at $170 each. Compare that to the multi-thousand dollar diamond ring one of my brothers bought for his wife). Now I've got nothing against women or wives or opposite-sex marriage, but I think it might be cool if gay marriage winds up dealing an unexpected blow* to the bloated wedding-industrial complex/blood diamond trade...

*I guess most of any impact will depend on whether lesbians buy each other traditional diamond rings for their engagement/weddings. Hmm. I actually don't personally know many lesbian couples, much less any married lesbian couples. Do any of you? If so, do they wear diamond rings?