Every piece we make is meant to be worn, not just kept — which means it meets skin, water, soap, sweat, and the occasional knock against a doorframe. None of that has to shorten its life. This is a working guide to daily care, what real servicing involves, when a repair genuinely can't wait, and how to look after the specific materials in your own collection.
Most jewellery damage isn't dramatic — it's accumulated. A decade of hairspray, chlorine, and hot showers does more damage than any single accident. A few consistent habits prevent nearly all of it.
"Clean it gently" means something different for gold than it does for a foil-backed Polki setting. Match the care to what you're actually wearing.
Wipe with a soft cloth after wear to remove skin oils. Warm water with a drop of mild soap and a soft brush handles most buildup — rinse and dry fully. Avoid chlorine and prolonged sun exposure, both of which can affect the alloy over time.
Genuinely durable — the hardest natural material — but a diamond can still chip from a sharp direct knock along its grain. Clean with warm soapy water and a soft brush; have prongs checked periodically, since a loose setting is the most common way a diamond is actually lost.
Treatment matters more than hardness here. Emerald and many others are oiled or fracture-filled — never use an ultrasonic or steam cleaner on them, since it can strip the treatment and expose fractures. When in doubt about a stone's treatment, plain lukewarm water and a soft cloth is always safe.
The softest material in common jewellery use. Wipe after every wear, put pearls on last and take them off first, and never let them contact perfume, hairspray, or chlorine. Store flat and separate — a strand kept knotted between pearls resists a snapped thread from becoming a lost necklace.
Tarnishes on contact with air and sulfur compounds — this is normal chemistry, not damage. Polish with a proper silver cloth, store in an airtight pouch with an anti-tarnish strip, and keep it dry, particularly during humid months.
Extremely durable and naturally hypoallergenic, but it develops a soft surface "patina" from years of micro-scratches — many owners prefer this look; a jeweller can re-polish it to a mirror finish if you don't. Otherwise, care is the same as gold.
Foil-backed, lac-set stones — water is the real enemy here, since moisture behind the foil causes it to discolour or lift permanently. Never wash, soak, or wear Kundan or Polki in the shower or rain. Wipe only with a completely dry, soft cloth.
Enamel is essentially coloured glass fused to metal — it can chip on hard impact and dulls under harsh chemicals. Clean with a dry cloth only; avoid ultrasonic cleaners entirely, and store separately so harder stones don't scratch the enamel surface.
The oxidised or antique finish is a deliberate surface treatment, not tarnish to be polished away — a standard silver polish will strip it. Dry-wipe only, and bring antique pieces to a specialist for any repair, since the finish needs to be recreated afterward, not just avoided.
A once-a-year service catches what home care can't — loose settings, thinning clasps, and metal fatigue, long before they become a lost stone or a broken chain.
Every prong, clasp, and joint checked under magnification for wear or movement.
Ultrasonic or steam cleaning where the piece's stones and treatments allow it safely.
Loose stones re-set, weakened prongs re-tipped before a stone is actually at risk.
Surface scratches worked out and, for white gold, rhodium plating refreshed.
A final check against your certificate or hallmark before the piece is returned.
Our own artisans handle repairs and adjustments directly — nothing is sent out to a third party you can't ask questions of.
Sized up or down while keeping the setting and any engraving intact.
Worn prongs built back up before a stone works its way loose.
Broken clasps replaced and weakened links rejoined invisibly.
Pearl and bead strands reknotted individually so one break can't cost the whole piece.
Settings checked and tightened before a stone can rattle loose entirely.
White gold refreshed to full brightness once its plating has worn thin.
Older pieces repaired in a way that preserves original craftsmanship and finish.
Consistency matters more than any single technique. Clean gently with a soft brush and mild soap in lukewarm water, avoid harsh chemicals and abrasives, and always remove jewellery before swimming, showering, or using household cleaners — the chemicals in all three attack metal and stone alike. Take pieces off before exercise too; sweat is mildly acidic and speeds up tarnish.
Home cleaning is cosmetic — it removes surface oil and grime. Servicing is structural: a jeweller checks under magnification for loosening prongs, thinning clasps, and stress fractures that are invisible to the eye but are exactly how stones actually get lost and chains actually break.
Store pieces in a dry, airtight pouch or box, separated from one another to prevent scratching and tangling. Anti-tarnish strips or silica gel packets absorb the ambient moisture that causes oxidation, and are worth using for silver especially.
At least once a year for pieces worn regularly — rings and daily-wear pieces benefit from it most, since they take the most physical contact. A yearly service is also a natural time to update an insurance valuation if you have one.
The moment you notice a loose stone, a bent prong, a stiff clasp, or a chain that looks thinner in one spot. None of these get better on their own, and every one of them is far cheaper to fix before the piece actually fails than after.
We'd recommend against it. A clasp or link repaired without the right tools often fails again at the same point, sometimes taking the piece with it. Our artisans handle resizing, restringing, and re-tipping in-house so the repair actually holds.
It depends entirely on what's needed — a clean and polish is quick, while a full restoration or antique repair takes longer to do properly. We'll always give you a realistic estimate before starting.
Yes — this is a different skill from routine repair. Antique finishes, hand-set stones, and older construction methods need to be matched, not replaced with a modern equivalent, so we treat heirloom restoration as its own specialism.
Yes — our bespoke service can rework heirloom gold and stones into something you'll actually wear, or build a new design from scratch around stones you already own. It starts as a conversation with one of our jewellery experts about what you have and what you want from it.
Our jewellers are always available for a straightforward look at any piece — a five-minute check now is what keeps a repair from ever becoming a loss. Visit any indiajewellers store to get started.