01The Designer
Creates a 3D CAD design of the ring, and ensures through every step of the way that your piece is exactly what you envisioned.
Checks for: that it matches what you pictured
Question 01
Is your jewellery made in house or contracted out?
It takes three people to make a piece of jewellery: a designer, a goldsmith and a diamond setter. Most stores contract that work out. Our team of 10 does all three in our own workshop. The one step we send out is casting: a specialist casting house turns the approved model into metal, as it does for most jewellers.
02The Goldsmith
Fabricates the metal and puts the item together, ensuring there is adequate thickness, width and structural integrity.
Checks for: that it will not bend or snap
03The Diamond Setter
Sets the stones into the ring, ensuring the claws have adequate thickness, space and size to hold a stone securely.
Checks for: that the stones stay put
The difference it makes
Three people, or three businesses?
Outsourced
Designers contract out their work to goldsmiths and diamond setters. The piece is needlessly shipped back and forth between the three parties.
- Three businesses, three schedules
- Nobody owns the finished result
- Resizes measured in weeks
In house at Anny's
Our own designers, goldsmiths and diamond setters work side by side, so quality is held at every stage rather than checked at the end.
- One roof, one team
- Quality owned end to end
- Resizing at our Frankston workshop
This is why your jewellery lasts a lifetime, not just 2 years. Read the full comparison
Question 02
How long will it take to resize my ring?
Once you’ve proposed to your new fiancé, they’ll want to show it off to all your friends and family, so it’s extremely important to have a ring that fits, right?
As we’ve been in the industry for so long, we’ve heard many horror stories of rings taking 3 weeks to be resized. Those 3 weeks are torture for a newly engaged couple.
By having our goldsmiths and diamond setters in house we are able to resize your ring, ensure the stones have been retightened, and get it straight back to you. No need to ship it off and send it away.
1–2
days
Typical engagement-ring resize. We confirm the timing after inspecting your ring; complex work may take longer.
Question 03
Do you have a laser welder?
Laser welders are a must in today’s world of jewellery. They allow for pin-point accuracy when working around expensive stones to fuse metal together.
Platinum is a notoriously difficult metal to work with without a laser welder. It’s not an option without it.
You want to be confident in your jeweller’s craftsmanship. You need them not only to have the appropriate tools, but the skills and knowledge of how to use them.
An Italian made laser costs $30,000. Jewellers with a smaller operation tend not to have such expensive equipment. At Anny's, we do.
Question 04
How much does my ring weigh?
If the ring doesn’t have enough metal for structural integrity it will bend, snap and start to lose stones. There is a big emphasis on “you get what you pay for” with jewellery. It’s hard to compare two rings without having them side by side, but the weight of gold can be a sign to watch for.
This will depend on how big the finger size is, how big the centre stone is, how wide the band is. As an approximation, if an 18kt ring weighs less than 3 grams or a platinum ring weighs less than 4.5 grams, I would start to worry about the wearability of the piece.
The rule of thumb
Minimums worth asking any jeweller to meet
- Band width
- 2mm
- The lowest I would prefer to go on a ring.
- Band thickness
- 1.6–1.9mm
- 1.6mm base thickness into 1.9mm side wall thickness.
- Claw thickness
- 1.3mm
- For a 1ct stone. 1.5mm for a 2ct stone.
- Shoulder diamonds
- 0.3mm
- Metal on either side of the shoulder diamonds.
- 18kt gold ring
- 3g
- Below this, worry about wearability.
- Platinum ring
- 4.5g
- Below this, worry about wearability.
Other jewellers may try to make your ring as light as possible to save a couple of hundred dollars per ring. We prefer that the ring we make you is of the highest quality, and that it stays with you forever.
Question 05
Can you show me the difference?
Here is an example of a customer who bought her ring from another jeweller. They had many issues with the stone becoming loose after multiple attempts at tightening it. The customer wanted to get a refund but wasn’t able to.
She came to us for help after hearing many good things about Anny’s. Her original ring was made too thin and light: the band was only 1.5mm wide with very thin claws. The best option was to start again from scratch, with structural integrity at the forefront of the design.
Her original ring
2.5g
1.5mm band, very thin claws, recurring loose stone
The ring we made
5g
Built to the minimums above, designed to last 50 years
It doesn't sound like a big difference, but it's significant. These are the details we value, and it is what makes us the best at what we do.
Common questions
Ask who makes the ring. If the designer, goldsmith and diamond setter are three separate businesses, no one person is accountable for the finished piece and the ring travels between them at every stage.
As an approximation, under 3 grams for an 18kt ring or under 4.5 grams for platinum is where we would start to worry about wearability. It also depends on finger size, centre stone size and band width.
It allows pin-point accuracy when working around expensive stones. Platinum in particular is very difficult to work without one, and repairs near set stones carry more risk without it.
Sometimes it can be reinforced, but if the band and claws were made too light from the start, remaking the piece is usually the better outcome. The example on this page went from 2.5 grams to 5 grams.
We resize rings in our Frankston workshop and confirm the turnaround after inspecting the ring. Engagement-ring resizes usually take 1–2 days; complex work may take longer.
Bring your questions to us
Ask us every question on this page. Our designers, goldsmiths and diamond setters are all in the one workshop, so you can have the answers in person.
Keep reading