Care & sizing

Two things decide whether a piece bought online is a good purchase: whether it fits, and whether you know how to look after it. Neither is complicated, and both are easier to get right before the money moves than after.

Chain lengths, and where they actually sit

Chain length is measured end to end including the clasp. Where a given length lands depends on your neck and your build, but on most adults:

• 16 in — sits at the base of the throat, on or just above the collarbone. Reads as a choker on a larger frame.
• 18 in — the most common length. Lands at the collarbone or an inch below. Works over a crew neck.
• 20 in — just below the collarbone, at the top of the sternum. Good length for a pendant you want visible over a shirt.
• 22–24 in — mid-chest. A heavy chain wears well here because the weight hangs rather than presses.
• 30 in and over — below the sternum, over clothing.

Measure it in thirty seconds. Take a piece of string, lay it round your neck where you want the chain to sit, pinch it, then lay the string flat against a tape measure. That number is the length to buy — not a guess, and not the length of a chain you already own that you have never actually measured.

Two things surprise people. A thicker chain of the same nominal length sits slightly higher, because the links take up depth. And a pendant adds its own drop below the chain — a 3 cm pendant on an 18 in chain lands where a 20 in chain would.

Chain width and weight — what the grams mean

Width tells you how a chain looks; gram weight tells you how it feels and what it is worth. A 3.7 mm Franco at 41 grams and a 3.7 mm rope at 22 grams look similar at arm's length and are completely different objects in the hand.

Weight is also the honest test of a solid chain. Hollow chains exist, they are legitimately sold, and they weigh a fraction of what a solid chain of the same dimensions weighs. Every gram weight on this site is one we measured. If a chain elsewhere is dramatically cheaper at the same width and length, the weight is where the difference is hiding.

Finding your ring size at home

The reliable method costs nothing. Take a strip of paper about 6 mm wide, wrap it round the base of the finger, mark where it overlaps, lay it flat and measure the length in millimetres. That is your circumference — a US size 7 is about 54.4 mm, size 8 about 57 mm, and each full size is roughly 2.5 mm.

Do it at the end of the day rather than first thing; fingers are measurably smaller in the morning and smaller again in cold weather. Check that the paper will pass over your knuckle, because the knuckle, not the base, decides whether a ring goes on. And measure the actual finger you mean — most people's dominant hand runs about half a size larger.

A wide band needs about a half size up on the same finger. A 8 mm band at your measured size will feel tight in a way a 2 mm band at the same size does not.

Before you buy, ask whether the piece can be resized. Many can. An eternity band set with stones all the way round cannot be, and neither can most bands with channel-set stones near the shank. We will tell you which one you are looking at.

Cleaning gold and diamonds safely

For solid gold with natural diamonds, warm water, a drop of plain washing-up liquid and a soft toothbrush is genuinely all it takes. Soak for a few minutes, brush gently behind the stones where the film that dulls a diamond actually collects, rinse, and dry on a soft cloth. Do it over a bowl rather than an open drain.

What to keep away from it:

• Chlorine. Pools, hot tubs and bleach attack the alloys in gold and can cause a mounting to fail. This is the most common way a stone is genuinely lost.
• Ultrasonic cleaners on treated or fragile stones. Fine on a plain gold chain or a solid untreated diamond. Not fine on emeralds, opals, pearls, or on glass-filled or fracture-filled stones, where an ultrasonic can drive the filler out and permanently change the appearance. If a listing discloses a treatment, hand-clean only.
• Toothpaste and baking soda. Both are abrasive. They will haze a polished gold surface over time.
• Perfume, hairspray and lotion. Put jewelry on last, after all of it. The residue is what makes a chain look tired after a year.

Storing it without scratching it

Gold scratches gold — 10k is harder than 18k, and a diamond will scratch anything you own. Pieces stored loose together in one box abrade each other, and that is where most of the wear on second-hand jewelry actually comes from.

Keep each piece separate: individual soft pouches, or a lined box with dividers. Hang or lay chains flat rather than coiling them loosely, which is how knots start. Fasten the clasp before you put a chain away — a fastened chain cannot thread itself through its own links.

White gold is rhodium-plated over a naturally pale yellow alloy, and that plating wears with contact. A ring worn daily will typically want re-plating every one to three years; a pendant may never need it. This is normal wear rather than a fault, and any competent jeweller can re-plate for a modest cost.

When to take a piece off

The gym, the pool, the shower, gardening and sleep. Not because gold is delicate — it is not — but because impact bends prongs and knocks stones loose, chlorine attacks alloys, soap builds film, and a chain that catches on something while you are asleep breaks at the weakest link.

Once a year, look at the settings under a bright light and push each stone gently with a fingernail. If anything moves, stop wearing it and have it tightened. A prong caught early is a ten-minute job; a lost stone is not recoverable.

What we can tell you about a specific piece

Every listing here carries metal, karat, gram weight, stone weight and measurements. If the number you need is not on it — the inside diameter of a bangle, the drop of a pendant with its bail, whether a clasp is a lobster or a box — ask through the contact form and we will measure it and tell you. We would rather answer that than have a piece come back.

More on buying and wearing gold in the journal.