A Guide To Getting Your Jewellery Resized: Everything You Need To Know
When it comes to finding comfortable and perfect-fitting jewellery, resizing your pieces is often essential. From family heirlooms to charity shop discoveries, resizing loose rings, tight bracelets, or chains that don’t sit comfortably can make all the difference.
This guide will help you understand the importance and process of resizing your jewellery, whether it’s rings, your watch, chains or bracelets.
Understanding Jewellery Resizing
Sizing men’s jewellery is a painstaking process involving altering a piece to sit comfortably on the body.
Skilled jewellers consider various techniques to resize rings, bracelets, chains, or other accessories without losing structure or design. However, not all jewellery is fit for resizing. Materials with robust compositions or elaborate designs often present challenges when resizing.
For example, titanium or tungsten rings prove the most difficult to resize because of their strength. At the same time, rings featuring highly intricate engravings or pavé settings require more delicate handling to maintain their aesthetics.
Why Resize Jewellery?
Whether it be an heirloom ring that didn’t fit, to begin with, or a change in size that has occurred over the years due to weight gain or loss, pregnancy, or just old age, the reasons for resizing jewellery are as unique as the owner.
Whatever the reason, resizing is about ensuring that your piece is comfortable and fits perfectly, limiting the risk of being lost or damaged.
The Resizing Methodology
The resizing process may vary depending on the jewellery’s nature and desired alteration. For rings, resizing may mean adding or reducing the material content of the band. Given such requirements, if a ring has to be downsized, the jeweller cuts off a segment and solders the ends together, polishing the seam to make it unnoticeable.
On the other hand, should your ring size need to be increased, the jeweller will stretch the band slightly or insert a new piece of metal to give the ring a larger circumference.
Adding or removing links is the norm for men’s bracelets and chains. Although this method is sometimes more straightforward, it’s still advisable to work with a highly skilled jeweller to ensure the final piece looks, balances and feels the same as it did before.
Factors That Can Affect Resizing
Multiple factors can affect the resizing process. These include the type of material used, the design of the particular jewellery item, and the magnitude of overall resizing. As pointed out earlier, some metals are less malleable than others and are much more difficult to resize.
For instance, platinum is dense and requires special tools and expertise, while gold and silver are much more malleable and easier to work with. A design’s intricacy, in turn, determines the extent to which a jeweller can resize a piece of jewellery. Highly intricate designs, engravings, or settings with multiple gemstones require extra care.
It’s worth mentioning that specific designs will not allow for resizing up or down drastically since this may threaten the structural integrity and durability of the piece.
Choosing the Right Jeweller
It’s crucial to find a trustworthy jeweller when resizing your jewellery. Look for someone knowledgeable, reputed, and with experience working with pieces similar to those you own. Questions concerning methodology and tools will better inform whether they have the expertise to work on your jewellery.
Most skilled jewellers offer consultations, and you shouldn’t hesitate to bring your piece in to discuss your needs before committing. It’s advisable to choose a jeweller who can preserve the integrity of your piece. For example, if your ring has gemstones, you should ask how the jeweller will prevent them from being damaged during resizing.
Costs & Timeframes
The costs of resizing jewellery may vary significantly depending on the complexity of the job, the type of materials used, and the jeweller’s expertise. Resizing a simple gold band is often cheaper than resizing a ring embellished with gemstones or complex designs. It is wise to get a quote to know how much to pay before proceeding.
Resizing generally takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The time frame will depend on the jeweller’s workload and the extent of the resizing work that needs to be done. If this is for a special occasion, plan it as soon as possible.
Final Thoughts
Resizing jewellery is a practical process. Understanding the procedure and choosing a qualified jeweller will make your jewellery the perfect fit without sacrificing quality or style.
Consider this: investing in resizing your jewellery may breathe life back into old pieces or allow you to add something new to your collection, be it a treasured heirloom or a rediscovered favourite. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to curating your jewellery collection, investing in a high-quality men’s bracelet is always a great place to start.
