Article Two of two. Twenty-five more answers from working bench jewelers: why white gold turns yellow, which stones an ultrasonic will destroy, what treated stones mean for repair, how custom CAD design works, and why your appraisal is higher than resale.
Written by the bench jewelers at Jewelry Repair of Atlanta. Last updated July 23, 2026.
This is Article Two of our guide, covering questions 26 through 50 — everyday repairs, cleaning and plating, gemstone care, custom design, manufacturing, watches, and appraisals. Article One covers ring resizing, prongs and loose stones, chains and clasps, and soldering.
Question not answered here? Ask it in the comments. A jeweler from our bench will answer it.
Part 5: Cleaning, Plating, and Everyday Repairs
26. Can broken earring posts be fixed?
Yes, routinely. Posts snap because they're thin and take a lot of stress. Replacement is a straightforward laser or solder job.
If posts keep breaking on the same pair, the problem is usually that the post is too thin for the weight of the earring. A heavier-gauge post, or adding an earring back with a larger disc, solves it permanently.
27. Why does my jewelry look dull even though it isn't damaged?
Because light isn't getting in. Lotion, soap film, sunscreen, and skin oil accumulate underneath stones and inside settings — exactly where a cloth can't reach. A diamond gets its brilliance from light entering the top, bouncing off the pavilion facets, and returning to your eye. Coat the underside in film and that return path is blocked.
This is why professional cleaning produces such a dramatic result on a piece that isn't scratched or worn. Nothing was wrong with it. It was just dirty in a place you couldn't see.
28. Is an at-home ultrasonic cleaner safe?
For some pieces, yes. For others it will cost you a stone.
Ultrasonic cleaning works by cavitation — microscopic bubbles collapsing violently against the surface. That energy is excellent at removing film and genuinely dangerous to anything already loose or fragile.
Never put these in an ultrasonic: pearls, opals, emeralds, turquoise, coral, amber, tanzanite, and any fracture-filled, dyed, or coated stone. Also avoid it on antique pieces, anything with cracked or included stones, and any setting you haven't had inspected recently.
A loose stone in an ultrasonic doesn't get cleaner. It gets shaken out.
29. How should I clean jewelry at home?
Warm water, a drop of dish soap, and a soft toothbrush handles the vast majority of pieces safely. Brush gently, paying attention to the underside of the setting, rinse thoroughly, and dry with a lint-free cloth.
Do it over a bowl rather than an open drain. We are not joking about this.
Skip toothpaste, baking soda, and anything abrasive — they scratch soft metals and polished finishes. Skip bleach and chlorine entirely, which attack the alloys in gold and can cause structural failure over time. Take rings off before swimming in chlorinated pools and before cleaning with household chemicals.
Pearls get wiped with a slightly damp soft cloth after each wearing and never soaked.
30. My white gold ring is turning yellow. Is it fake?
No, and this is one of the most common worries we hear.
White gold isn't naturally white. It's yellow gold alloyed with white metals, then plated with rhodium — a bright, hard, reflective platinum-group metal. That rhodium layer is measured in microns and wears off through ordinary contact.
What you're seeing underneath is your actual gold. Nothing is wrong or counterfeit. Rhodium replating restores it, and depending on wear it's typically needed every one to three years. Rings wear fastest because hands take the most abuse; earrings and pendants can go many years.
31. Can polishing damage my jewelry?
Yes, if it's overdone, and this is worth knowing before you ask for it.
Polishing removes a microscopic layer of metal. Done occasionally, it restores shine. Done aggressively or repeatedly, it rounds crisp edges, softens engraving and milgrain detail, thins prongs, and can eventually wear away hallmarks.
On antique pieces, over-polishing destroys value. Collectors want original surface and patina, not a piece buffed to look new. A good jeweler asks what you want before polishing an antique rather than assuming shinier is better.
Part 6: Gemstones and Stone Care
32. Which gemstones are most fragile?
Hardness and toughness are different properties, and people conflate them constantly.
Hardness resists scratching. Toughness resists chipping and breaking. Diamond is the hardest natural material and will still cleave if struck at the wrong angle.
The stones needing the most caution: pearls and opals (soft and sensitive to heat, chemicals, and dryness), emeralds (almost always fracture-filled and heat-sensitive), tanzanite (soft with perfect cleavage), turquoise and coral (porous and easily stained), and amber (very soft and organic).
Sapphires and rubies are excellent daily-wear stones. Diamonds are excellent with the caveat about impact.
33. What does 'treated' mean and does it matter for repair?
It matters enormously, and most people don't know their stone is treated.
Common treatments include heat (routine in sapphire and ruby, generally stable), fracture filling with glass or resin (nearly universal in emerald, and damaged by heat and ultrasonic), irradiation and diffusion (used in blue topaz and some sapphires), dyeing (common in jade, turquoise, and pearls), and clarity enhancement in diamonds using glass filling.
Fracture-filled and clarity-enhanced stones can be permanently damaged by torch heat, ultrasonic cleaning, and even steam. Tell your jeweler everything you know about the stone's origin and any paperwork you have. If we suspect treatment, we test before applying heat.
34. Can a chipped or cracked stone be repaired?
Not repaired — recut, replaced, or hidden.
Recutting removes material to eliminate the damage, which means a smaller stone that may no longer fit the setting. For a large or valuable stone this is often worth it. For a small one it rarely is.
Sometimes a chip sits under a prong and can be concealed by rotating the stone or adjusting the setting. That's the cheapest fix when it works.
A cracked stone is different from a chipped one. Internal fractures compromise structural integrity, and heat or pressure during any subsequent work can turn a crack into two pieces. We disclose this risk before touching it.
35. Are lab-grown diamonds treated differently in repair?
Physically, no. A lab-grown diamond is chemically and structurally identical to a mined one, so setting, sizing, and cleaning are the same.
Documentation is where it matters. Most lab-grown stones carry a laser inscription with a report number and origin disclosure. Bring the report if you have it. If a stone must be replaced, matching lab-grown to lab-grown and mined to mined is essential — both for value and for honest representation of the piece.
36. Can you tell if my jewelry is real gold?
Yes. Hallmarks are the first check — 10K, 14K, 18K, 585, 750, PLAT, 925 — though marks can be worn or forged. Beyond that we use acid testing on an inconspicuous area, electronic conductivity testing, and specific gravity for unmarked pieces.
The most common surprise we deliver is heavy gold plating over base metal on a piece someone inherited believing it was solid. We'd rather tell you before you pay for a repair that costs more than the piece is worth.
Note that we do not accept brass or copper base-metal pieces for repair, plated or otherwise.
Part 7: Custom Design and CAD
37. How does custom jewelry design actually work?
It runs in five stages. First, a conversation about what you want, any stones you're bringing, metal, budget, and timeline. Second, a designer builds your piece in 3D CAD software and produces photorealistic renderings. Third, you request revisions — band width, stone size, proportions — and the model is updated until it's right. Fourth, you approve. Fifth, production: casting, setting, finishing.
The renderings exist so you're never surprised. Nothing goes into metal until you've seen it from every angle and said yes.
38. Can I use stones from an inherited piece?
Yes, and it's among the most meaningful work we do. Stones from a grandmother's ring set into something you'd actually wear beats the same stones sitting in a drawer for another thirty years.
We examine the stones first. Older stones sometimes have chips at the girdle, wear on facet junctions, or cutting styles that don't match modern proportions. Old European and old mine cuts in particular were cut for candlelight, not LEDs, and they behave differently. None of that prevents reuse — it just needs to inform the design.
Original metal can often be melted and reused too, though we'll be honest about when refining and starting fresh produces a better result.
39. How long does custom jewelry take?
Most projects run several weeks from first conversation to finished piece. The variables are how many design revisions you want, whether stones need sourcing, complexity of setting work, and current workload.
Design revision is the stage that expands most, and it should — that's the point. Rushing approval to save a week is the wrong trade when the piece is meant to last decades.
If you have a hard deadline, tell us at the first meeting. Rush production is available at additional cost.
40. What if I don't like the design?
Then we revise it. That's precisely why the approval stage exists.
What we can't do is undo production. Once a piece is cast and set, it's made to your approved specification and can't be resold to anyone else. Custom and manufacturing orders are non-refundable once work has started. Take the rendering stage seriously and ask for every change you're unsure about.
Part 8: Manufacturing and Production
41. What's the difference between cast and hand-fabricated jewelry?
Casting starts with a model — carved wax or 3D printed from CAD — which is invested in plaster, burned out, and replaced with molten metal. It's efficient, reproducible, and how most fine jewelry is made.
Hand fabrication builds a piece from sheet and wire, formed, soldered, and shaped at the bench. It produces denser metal with fewer porosity risks and allows detail casting can't capture.
Neither is inherently superior. Most quality pieces combine both — a cast shank with a fabricated head, for instance.
42. What is porosity and why does it matter?
Porosity means microscopic voids trapped in metal during casting, caused by gas or by metal cooling unevenly.
Surface porosity looks like tiny pits and can often be polished out. Deep porosity is a structural weakness that shows up later as a crack in a shank or a prong that snaps unexpectedly.
It's also why a repair on a cast piece occasionally reveals more problems than expected — heat can open voids that were sealed under the surface. Good casting practice minimizes it, which is one real advantage of manufacturing in-house rather than outsourcing.
43. Can you manufacture for my brand or store?
Yes. We work with designers, retailers, and brands who design but don't produce. Send a concept, a sketch, or a finished CAD file, and we handle modeling through finished piece — casting, setting, hand finishing, plating, and engraving.
Because design, casting, setting, and finishing all happen in the same building, there's no vendor chain to coordinate and no ambiguity about who owns the outcome when something needs correcting.
We handle single prototypes through repeat production runs. Tell us about your project specifically.
44. Can you reproduce a piece from a photograph?
Often, yes. It depends on the photo — multiple angles with something for scale is ideal, and a single low-resolution image is difficult but not always impossible.
We build a CAD model from what's visible, show you renderings, and refine until it matches your memory of the piece. Perfect reproduction of an item we've never physically seen is rarely achievable, and we'll say so up front rather than let you expect it.
One caution: reproducing a currently protected design from another maker isn't something we'll do. Recreating a lost family heirloom is a different matter entirely.
Part 9: Watch Repair
45. Why does my watch need a new gasket with a battery change?
Because water resistance depends on the seals, not the case. Opening a watch breaks the seal. Gaskets are rubber and they harden, compress, and crack with age and heat.
A battery replacement without gasket inspection and proper resealing is how water gets into a watch that was previously water resistant. The damage often shows up weeks later as fogging under the crystal, by which point corrosion has already started on the movement.
Any shop swapping a battery in two minutes without a pressure test isn't restoring water resistance.
46. How often does a mechanical watch need servicing?
Roughly every five years for a watch worn regularly, though it varies by movement and manufacturer.
A full service means disassembling the movement, cleaning every component, replacing worn parts and gaskets, relubricating, reassembling, and regulating for accuracy. Lubricants degrade over time regardless of whether the watch is worn, and running a movement on degraded oil causes metal-on-metal wear that is far more expensive to fix than the service would have been.
Sudden changes in accuracy, a shorter power reserve, or a stiff crown are all signs it's overdue.
47. My automatic watch runs fast or slow. Is that normal?
Some deviation is entirely normal. Mechanical watches are machines with hundreds of moving parts, affected by position, temperature, magnetism, and how much they've been worn.
Regulation is a routine adjustment. But a sudden change often means something else — magnetization is a common and easily corrected culprit, and proximity to speakers, laptops, and magnetic clasps causes it constantly.
If accuracy drifts noticeably and suddenly, have it checked rather than assuming it needs a full service.
Part 10: Appraisals, Insurance, and Value
48. What kind of appraisal do I actually need?
It depends entirely on the purpose, and asking for the wrong type is the most common mistake.
Insurance replacement value estimates what it would cost to replace the piece at retail today. It's the highest number and the one insurers require.
Fair market value estimates what it would sell for between a willing buyer and seller. It's typically much lower and is used for estate, donation, and tax purposes.
Liquidation value is lower still — what it would bring in a forced or rapid sale.
Tell whoever performs your appraisal what it's for. The same piece legitimately carries three very different numbers.
49. Why is my appraisal so much higher than what I could sell it for?
Because they measure different things, and this surprises people badly when they try to sell.
An insurance appraisal reflects retail replacement cost — including a retailer's margin, overhead, and the cost of sourcing a comparable piece on short notice. Resale reflects what a buyer will actually pay, generally a fraction of retail.
Neither figure is dishonest. They answer different questions. If someone tells you an appraisal proves what your ring is worth on the open market, they're either confused or selling you something.
50. How often should appraisals be updated?
Every three to five years. Metal and stone prices move, and an appraisal written a decade ago likely understates replacement cost badly — meaning you may be insured for substantially less than what replacing your piece would actually cost.
Update sooner after any significant repair or modification, or after a notable move in gold and diamond markets. Check with your insurer as well; many require periodic updates to keep a scheduled item covered at stated value.
Ask Your Own Question
That's fifty questions across both articles. It is not everything, and it never will be — every week someone brings us something we haven't seen before.
Ask your question in the comments below and a jeweler from our bench will answer it. Not a chatbot, not a script. Good questions get added to this guide.
Or bring the piece in and let us look at it under magnification with you. That's free, and it's the fastest way to a real answer.
Jewelry Repair of Atlanta LLC · 75 John Portman Blvd NW, Suite 8W356A, Atlanta, GA 30303 · (404) 566-7596 · Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–6:00 PM. Appointment required.