I'm working on mine now.
I'm of the belief that it is made of two separate rings, one sitting inside the other. If you zoom in really close you can see the thread holding the belt ends to the outer ring, which also equally positions the inner ring. The inner ring is then held in position with more thread. I'm going for a rustic twine to attach the ring to the belt ends.
Point to note, it doesn't look like the 12oclock position of the ring is attached to anything. I believe the thread is there to act as a spacer.