Facts About Jewelry Repair
Considering the degree of craftsmanship that goes into a fine piece of jewelry, it is not surprising that items need to be repaired occasionally. If your jewelry needs repair, consider yourself lucky—many people in New Jersey lose a precious stone worth thousands of dollars before they realized that the setting was compromised, or lose an entire bracelet or necklace due to a broken clasp. If you are lucky enough to have a piece of jewelry that broke before you lost it, there are a few things to consider first when getting the item repaired.
- Loose gemstone settings.
- One of the most important types of jewelry repairs involves the prongs that hold a precious gem in place. When those prongs start to loosen because of the weight of the gemstone, the amount of wear and tear, age, or poor craftsmanship, a jewelry repairs service can help restore and improve upon the original setting to reinforce the stone. The cost of reinforcement and jewelry repair is considerably less than the price of the stone itself.
- Watch repairs.
- Watch repairs include repairs to the watch mechanism in antique timepieces, repairs to the quartz, or repairs to the band. In some cases, bands may just need to be resized or adjusted as when passing down a family heirloom to the next generation.
- Restringing pearls or other beads.
- What seems like a simple proposition is actually quite complex, as the material used to restring semiprecious gems like pearls can be costly and difficult to manage.
- Clasps.
- Clasps can be tricky. Because there are so many types of clasps, a jewelry repair service should be able to ask you if you want to replace the entire clasp or solder the existing one, if possible.
- Chips.
- The most difficult jewelry repairs involve chipped gemstones. Usually chips cannot be actually repaired but simply cosmetically enhanced, such as by rotating the stone so that the chip is less noticeable.
