Repairs

Bent or Broken Prongs

Bent prongs can occur for a number of reasons, whether its because you’ve accidentaly dropped a heavy object on your ring, the prongs have been caught by cloth, you closed the door on your ring, it was slammed against an object, or you've simply reached into your purse a multitude of times. In these situations, you run the risk of one prong or several prongs being misshapen, pulled off of the diamond, or broken off entirely. Once a problem is noticed, the ring should be brought to your jeweler for a professional assessment. Many times prongs get bent or break without us knowing that we've even done it.  If you ever feel your prong suddenly catching on everything or hear your stone clicking when you shake it, it's a good sign you need to get into the store and get it checked.  Bent or broken prongs are the most common maintenance issue with rings. The prongs take the most abuse from daily wear.  

If you purchased your ring from us and notice bent prongs, we may be able to straighten them quickly, while you wait, and at no charge to you.  This is not always the case, but if we are able to, we will.  

Missing Side Stones

If any of your side gemstones are missing, it is critical to bring your jewelry in to any reputable jeweler to assess why it happened and the cost to replace it.  If one stone fell out, the reason that it happened could put other stones at risk in the piece, as well.  

Bent Bottom Shank

Picking up heavy weights (with most of the weight resting on the bottom of the ring,) hitting something too hard, or any strenuous work could ultimately result in bending the bottom half of your ring. In the event of this happening, take it to a reliable jeweler to assess the problem. In some cases we can re-round your ring in a matter of minutes, but if you let it get too bent, it can crack and the repair will be more complicated and expensive. Of course, if you have one of our rings with our patented counterbalanced shank, the chances of bending your shank are nearly impossible.  

Rhodium Plating

Sometimes people want to change the color of their ring by taking a yellow gold ring and applying the electroplating process of rhodium plating to make it bright white.  Rhodium is also sometimes used over white gold to brighten up the piece to a brighter white color.  Because this is simply an electoplating over the original metal, it does wear off over time.  How much time depends on the person and how hard they are on their jewelry, as well as how particular they are with the original color showing through.  We don't recommend rhodium plating any more often than every 6 months.  Every time we plate the piece, we have to polish it first to remove the old layer.  This also takes away some of that original metal, slowly thinning your piece down.  The longer you can wait between rhodium plating visits, the better it is for your ring. 

Ring Stuck On Your Finger

In many cases, when customers come to us thinking they have to cut the ring off of their finger, we find that with Windex, we can get it off.  Windex is amazing at making your finger slipery, and it's a great trick for getting your rings on and off just when your hands are a bit swollen, too.  It doesn't goop up your stones like soap or lotion do.  

In the event that your ring simply will not come off, it is best to seek a reputable jeweler to cut off the ring for you; they typically insert a ring cutter that fits between the bottom of the ring and your finger to carefully cut a very small section off. Once this is complete, you can slowly pull the ring apart and bring it over your knuckle. After this process, it is still possible to repair precious metal rings; ask the jeweler about the cost associated with fixing the ring to the new size that you need.

We have a ring cutter on hand at the store and can cut through any of the precious metals. .  Sometimes multiple cuts are required to remove a ring safely, 

For any of the alternative metals or if your finger or hand is swollen to the point of being painful, we recommend going to the emergency room to have your ring removed.

Loose Side Stones

If you find that any of your side stones are loose, have a reputable jeweler tighten the prongs or metal surrounding or holding the stone.  Small, loose side stones are difficult to notice on your own.  It's important to get your jewelry checked on a regular basis to catch these loose stones before they fall out.  We recommend coming into the store at least every 6 months to have your rings checked and cleaned.  If you purchased your ring from us, then checking, cleaning, and tightening loose stones, is all complimentary. We'd rather tighten those loose stones while they are wiggling, then have you lose any.  

If you've been on vacation or in the pool or ocean a lot, it's good to come in and have them checked.  The movement of the water in and around your stones in your rings can loosen the stones up quickly.

In-Store Jewelry Maintenance

Rings take an incredible amount of abuse since they are on our hands, and most of us don't just sit still all day.  That's why jewelry maintenance is so important for the life of your jewelry.  In an effort to fix any problems that may occur with time and wear, it is important to bring your jewelry in every six months for inspection. Not only will this warn you of repairs to come as we will warn you as we see things wearing down, but it will also catch any gemstones that may be loose before they have fallen out.  Of course, we can never prevent accidental damage, loss, or theft from happening, so on top of regular maintenance, don't forget to get your valuable pieces insured, as well. 

Ring Sizing

Most of us, throughout our lives, will need our rings sized.  Most rings can be sized a size or two without a problem, but some rings have special considerations that can make sizing them either problematic or impossible.  In order to give you an accurate price on sizing your ring, we need to see it and fit you for the proper size.  We cannot give an accurate price for sizing a ring over the phone due to all of the considerations.  Please stop by for estimates.