We do so very much with our hands and our rings go along for the ride so there is wear & tear over time. Metal wears away and if the metal wears away too much around the diamonds or gemstones in your ring, then they will fall out. And you don’t want to lose your beautiful diamonds and gemstones that holds so many memories for you! All setting types wears but claw set stones are especially affected by wear. Fortunately they are repairable and jewellers call the repair of claws re-tipping.
What happens in a re-tipping?
When repairing the claws, all the claws are examined and where they are not secure, we dress them back, add wire and solider. On more difficult re-tips we use laser technology.
What to look out for?
A sign of wear is that the claws start catching on things, they are rough to touch and don’t look the same as the other claws. Depending on the design some claw will wear more than others because they are more exposed. The wearing of claws is a part of loving your jewellery, and hence wearing our jewellery, but rest assured that the claws can easily be repaired by a master jeweller.
What to do if you are concerned?
If you are concerned that the claws on your ring are wearing, please stop wearing it to avoid the the expensive and heart ache of loosing a gemstone or diamond. Bring your ring or jewellery into us and we’ll inspect your jewellery for free and provide a no obligation quote on what repair work is needed & when. Yes sometimes it doesn’t need to be done straight away.
My 1980s Ceylon sapphire ring was valued today and said claws need replacing. Took it to recommended manufacturing jeweller in Brisbane who said these claws can’t been fixed because of my ceylon sapphire which cannot be heated can you please explain
For this repair the sapphire would have to be removed & then reset because the heat of the repair would otherwise damage the sapphire. Bring it in to any of our stores & we will see what can be done. Thank you for thinking of us.
For this repair the sapphire would have to be removed & then reset because the heat of the repair would otherwise damage the sapphire. Bring it in to any of our stores & we will see what can be done. Thank you for thinking of us Megan.