Happy New Year 2025 - A remake of a remake
2nd January 2025 - Customer location: Cairns
A ring remake done by another jeweller that has not been worn. Phone photo sorry.
Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and start to 2025. I am not really starting work until next week but I thought we would begin the year with a post about a remake I did in late 2024.
This ring above was originally remade quite a few years ago by another jeweller at quite some expense….but the customer has never worn it. The ring contains gems that are very sentimental to the owner. She has two main things the she dislikes about the ring remake:
The setting it too high, she wanted a lower profile ring.
She prefers a yellow gold band with a white gold setting.
How did this happen?
On the left, the new lower setting overlaid on the old.
I have no idea how communications between a jeweller and a client can break down so badly that a ring the customer would never wear was the result of a remake.
Our first task with “remaking the remake” was to come up with a design that had the diamonds sitting much lower on the finger. It was decided to go for a classic double rail setting as shown in the photos above to the left. The top view of the 3 main stones would remain the same.
Getting the band right
The new band would be yellow gold.
With the setting so much lower it was no longer viable to have that gap in the shoulders of the band. The depth of the largest diamonds in the band would be very close to equal the thickness of the band .
A few miscalculations by the other jeweller
The original remake already had an issue where the bottom diamond of the band shoulders (circled in red) came through onto the finger. This can cause discomfort but most of all it hinders the proper sizing/maintenance of the ring if required later down the track.
When the ring was slid onto a sizing mandrel the culet of the diamond would scratch the mandrel. This could damage the diamond during resizing or result in it being loosened or push it out all together.
Phone photo sorry, the band is not wide enough for the diamond.
The jeweller who remade the ring previously also did not allow enough metal width to the sides of the gem. The edges of the diamond were almost breaking through the metal at the side edge.
The customer approved the new solid look for the side for the band and I was now ready to make the ring.
One final issue with the previous remake
Hallmarks a plate of solder….why was there none on a ring just remade?
When the ring was initially remade it was never hallmarked. A hallmark would identify if the old ring was white gold, what caratage….. or if it was a platinum alloy. Given that the customer thought the ring was white gold I assumed it would not be a platinum alloy. Never assume David!
I decided to melt it down after unsetting and then acid test it to determine what carat white gold it was. When I was unsetting the ring I thought to myself “what a beautiful soft alloy to work with, probably a bit too soft an alloy for a ring?”. As soon as I started melting it however I realised it was platinum.
All done, a ring she can wear at last!
The diamonds are not of great or even consistent quality and also a mix of old and new cuts. That said the ring holds great sentimental value to the customer and she is thrilled that she can now wear it.
Issues with the original remake were all resolved and improvements were made to ensure not only that the customer loves the ring but also that it will last a long time. Happy New Year everyone.