I recently read an article about television drama Law & Order’s Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston) praising his timeless, conservative style. The screen capture above illustrates this point perfectly — here’s McCoy in “Coma,” episode two of season 5, which aired in 1994, wearing a blue dress shirt and a gold signet ring.
“The funny thing is, the conservative dress (most likely from Brooks Brothers) has kept McCoy looking preppy and relevant in his nearly 20 years on the program,” wrote Michael Williams for Antenna magazine in 2009.
The part I’m paying special attention to, of course, is McCoy’s classic gold signet ring. He wears the large, oval-shaped signet ring on his right ring finger. The large ring adds a little extra gravitas to a character known for being tough and ruthless.
If you’d like to get this same look, we offer a wide range of mens signet rings in 14K yellow and white gold. I would suggest style # SRRS127 which measures 18.4×15.2mm and features a solid back. We also offer an open back version in style # SRRS137. Solid back rings are heavier and contain more gold but are also more expensive. (A quick primer on the difference between the two can be found here.)
It may be of interest to note that Williams also places McCoy in the same camp as Mad Men; and as we’ve covered earlier, Roger Sterling is another great example of television style icon who wears a signet ring.