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We now offer a full range of jewellery maintenance services such as repairs, remodelling or reconditioning. Our qualified craftsmen will attend to most of your jewellery related issues. Just bring your item/s to our Sandton factory so that we can assess, price and discuss the problem. Most repairs take 3 to 4 working days to complete. For more details please click one of the links below.



Ring Sizing

This is when the shank of a ring is either shortened or lengthened to improve the fit of the ring. The size required is determined by a set of ring gauges which use the letters of the alphabet to indicate the size required. ("A" being the smallest). The ring should fit tightly on the knuckle but still be able to pass over it. To decrease or size down - a piece of the shank is cut away (approx. 1mm per size decrease). To increase or size up the shank is cut and a gap made to accommodate the additional metal (1mm per size increase). It is sometimes necessary to replace the shank of a ring when there has been excessive wear or damage to either the back of the band or less often the complete area of the shank including the shoulders. For more information on ring sizes please visit ‘Your Ring Size’ page.

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Stone Setting/Re-clawing

Through general wear and tear the claws of a ring are worn down and this can lead to the loss of stones from a setting. A point to note we are often asked to supply one claw only, it is very rare that one or two claws need replacing only . When one claw falls off it is likely that the others are weak. It is more likely that all claws would need replacing, it is recommended that the item is sent in so that, the whole setting can be checked and an estimate will be provided for the work needed. Re-clawing involves the removal of the stone from a setting, if it hasn't already fallen out, the old claws are then cut away to the base, new claws soldered on and then any stones are reset. We can also remount most styles of rings. Remounting involves changing the head and sometimes the shank of a ring but still using the original stones. Stones are secured into their settings by first cutting a seat in which the stone rests and then covering the stone from above with some additional metal. This traps the stone so that it cannot move down or up. The setter (the person who sets stones) has several options on how to secure a stone into a mounting. The most common settings are Claw Setting or Grain Set other styles are Tube, Pave, Channel, Illusion, Star Setting, Invisible Setting, Suspension Setting and Countersunk. We can source many different styles of settings and usually are a good match to the original. These are available in all types of metals including different carats of gold, white gold and platinum. If a particular style is not available we can hand make to match best possible. This takes a little longer to do and is often more expensive but enables us to re-create any type of ring or setting. We can also make most types of rings/settings from specific drawings.

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General Repairs/Soldering

Repairing a jewellery item may involve the process of soldering. The solder used is an alloy (which is a mixture) of a metal the same quality as the item, and other metals,which melt at a lower temperature than the item. The solder is melted to hold components in position, without damaging the surrounds, as this cools it hardens and forms a strong bond. A point to note- if the item has broken through wear and tear there may well be other weak areas.Laser soldering requires less heat to repair jewellery. This is beneficial in cases where a jewellery items contains more fragile gemstones, previously these stones would have to be removed. Silver jewellery can be repaired much more easily with this process. Completion of all repairs usually involves re-polishing and in some instances rhodium plating.

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Rhodium Plating

Rhodium plating is a process that coats a metal usually with a bright coloured plating changing the original appearance to a mirror like finish. All white gold contains a trace element of yellow gold and to compensate for this manufacturers’ plate the metal with rhodium (which is part of the platinum family of metals)which gives it a very strong white colour. This colour is more in keeping with the public perception that white gold is actually white rather than an alloy of yellow gold. Pieces of jewellery are put into chemical baths that have the various plating solutions in. An electronic current is passed through the plating solution which causes the plating to bond onto the metal. If the item has two different colours then we first have to mask off the metal that we do not wish to be plated leaving exposed the area that needs plating. 

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Engraving

Hand engraving can be used on most surfaces with the exception of steel, glass and stone. Text can be engraved in any font. Machine engraving is the most common form of engraving but it has its limitations as it is restricted to certain fonts, normally script and block, single or two line, this is adequate for most standard jewellery. Computer engraving can be used on a variety of jewellery surfaces and items, including inside of rings.

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Designing

We can create any piece of jewellery from an image or using your design. We also recreate any worn or damaged jewellery. We can re-make stock items with adjustments to suit your requirements. We can match a lost earring or cufflink from the remaining one. In addition to hand crafted work, we can design the whole item offering designs and wax models from specialized CAD programs, 3D printers and completed by precision casting equipment.


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