Guides
A diamond is the hardest thing you own and the ring it sits in is not. Almost every ring that comes back to a bench comes back because of what happened to the metal, not the stone. Here is what actually goes wrong, and what prevents it.
Last updated 2026-09-20
Warm water, a drop of ordinary washing-up liquid, and a soft toothbrush. Soak the ring for ten minutes, brush gently behind the stone where the grease collects — that is where the dullness lives — rinse, and dry with a lint-free cloth. Do this every couple of weeks and the ring never gets dirty enough to look it.
The dullness people notice is not the diamond. A diamond cannot go dull. It is a film of skin oil, hand cream and soap on the underside of the stone, blocking the light that should be coming back out of it. Clean that and the sparkle is simply there again.
Bleach or anything with chlorine — it attacks the alloys in gold and can, over time, make claws brittle. Toothpaste or anything abrasive, which scratches the metal. Ultrasonic cleaners on a ring with a loose claw, a fracture-filled stone, or an emerald; a diamond in sound claws is fine in one.
A diamond will not scratch, but it can chip — on a corner or a point, from a sharp blow against something hard. Princess corners, pear and marquise points are the vulnerable places, which is why they are always claw-covered. A hard knock that catches a claw can also bend it, and a bent claw is a stone waiting to fall out.
Swimming pools and hot tubs. Chlorine reacts with the copper and other metals alloyed into gold, and prolonged exposure weakens the setting. Take the ring off to swim; a chlorinated pool is worse for it than the sea.
Weights at the gym, garden tools, the handlebars of a bike. Anything gripped hard against metal wears the band thin at the palm side and can push a stone against the claws. Rings do not belong in a gym.
A wedding band and an engagement ring in different metals grind against each other thousands of times a day. Over years the harder one wears a flat into the softer. See the wedding band guide.
Swimming, the gym, gardening, heavy cleaning, anything involving chlorine, and — this is the one people skip — applying hand cream, because it is what builds the film behind the stone. Sleeping in it is fine for a solitaire with a low profile; a high setting can catch bedding and, over years, loosen. Showering in it is fine but hastens the film.
Take it off to the same place every time. A dish by the sink is how rings go down drains; a small dish on a shelf that is not the sink is how they do not.
Once a year — every six months for a ring that is worn hard — have a jeweller look at the claws under magnification. A claw that has worn thin or lifted is invisible to the eye and obvious under a loupe, and re-tipping a claw costs a fraction of replacing a stone. Every ring from this bench can come back for that check at no charge.
Between checks, a quick test: hold the ring to your ear and tap it. A stone that rattles, however faintly, is loose. Stop wearing it and have it seen.
It has not gone wrong. White gold is yellow gold alloyed with white metals and then plated with rhodium for its bright finish, and the plating wears — faster on the palm side, faster on a hand that is used hard. What you are seeing is the warmer colour of the alloy underneath. Re-plating takes a day, costs little, and returns the ring to new. Expect to do it every few years for the life of the ring; it is maintenance, like re-soling a good shoe.
Platinum does not do this, which is one of the reasons to choose it. It scratches into a soft grey patina instead, which can be polished back if you prefer the mirror.
On a diamond in sound claws, yes. Not if a claw is loose, not on a fracture-filled or heavily included stone, and not on an emerald. When in doubt, warm soapy water and a soft brush does the same job more slowly.
The rhodium plating has worn through to the alloy underneath. It is normal, it is not damage, and re-plating restores it in a day. Expect to re-plate every few years.
Once a year, under magnification, by a jeweller. More often if the ring is worn to work with the hands. Rings from this bench can come back for the check free.
Every ring we make can be returned for a claw check, a clean and one resize at no charge. Send it insured, we look at it under the loupe, and it comes back the way it left.