How your jewelry is made
Rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets, all made at 1200 6th Avenue. From the first pencil drawing to the green box, here is the whole journey, step by step.
Eight steps, one address.
Engagement rings, wedding bands, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and one-off commissions: it is all made here, by the same hands, in the same way. A piece is not ordered, it is made, and every stage happens at 1200 6th Avenue. Here is the whole journey, in order, with nothing skipped.
The first step is not the stone. It is the design.
- Engagement ringsSolitaires, halos, three stone, hidden halo, every shape of center.
- Wedding bandsPlain, pave, eternity, brushed, and matching sets cut to sit flat.
- Necklaces and pendantsBezels, tennis lines, chains drawn and soldered here.
- EarringsStuds, hoops and drops, matched as pairs before they are set.
- Bracelets and banglesTennis lines, links and solid bangles, sized to the wrist.
- One-off commissionsA family stone reset, a copy of something lost, an idea on a napkin.
Follow it through.
Design.
Everything starts here. Before a stone is chosen or a gram of gold is melted, the piece exists as a drawing: the width of a band, the height of a head, the drop of a pendant, the length of a chain.
With a jeweler
Sit down with us, in person or by video. We sketch while you talk, hold real stones against real settings, and you leave with a drawing and a price. Most people start here.
- No charge, no obligation
- Real stones and settings in front of you
- You leave with a drawing and a fixed price
On your own, with our design tool
Prefer to start alone, at midnight, in your own words? Our design tool understands plain requests, not menus. Describe the piece the way you would describe it to a person and it draws it back to you.
- Say it plainly: a thin band with an oval, or a bezel pendant on a fine chain
- See it rendered in seconds, then change one word and see it again
- Send the design to us when it is close and a jeweler takes it from there
What happens either way
- The briefWhat it is for, what they already wear, what they would never wear. Fifteen minutes of this saves a month later.
- The drawingFront, side and top, drawn to the millimeter against the stone you are considering.
- The estimateA fixed price against the drawing, so nothing moves once you approve it.
- Your approvalNothing is ordered or cut until the drawing is what you want.
Selection
Selecting materials and diamonds. The drawing decides what the piece needs; this is where we go and find it. Gold or platinum, one center stone or forty small ones, a chain drawn to the right weight.
- The metalYellow, white or rose gold, or platinum, chosen for the wear the piece will get, not just the color.
- The stonesCenter stones, side stones and melee, picked from the tray rather than ordered from a list.
- Measured, not assumedDiameter, depth and girdle thickness taken by hand, because a seat cut for a 6.4 mm stone will not hold a 6.5.
- Checked in daylightEvery stone goes to the window before it is committed. Fluorescence and milkiness only show there.
- MatchedPairs matched for earrings, lines matched along a tennis bracelet, so nothing jumps out.
- DocumentedCertificate numbers recorded against your order and kept on file.
The model
The drawing becomes a three-dimensional model, then a wax you can hold. This is the last easy moment to change your mind, so it is the moment we ask.
- ModelledThe piece is built in CAD around the exact stone, wall by wall, at true size.
- Printed in waxA resin printer grows the model, detailed down to the prong tips.
- Tried onHold it, or slide a ring onto the finger it is for. Proportion reads differently in the hand than on a screen.
- Changed, freelyA millimeter off the band, a lower head, wider shoulders. Changes at this stage cost nothing.
Casting
The wax is invested in plaster and burned out, leaving a cavity in the exact shape of your ring. Molten metal is poured into that cavity. The method is five thousand years old and nothing has bettered it.
- Your metalYellow, white or rose gold, or platinum. Cast fresh, not cut from stock.
- One flaskYour piece is cast with a handful of others, then cut from the tree and kept separate.
- Quenched and cleanedThe plaster is broken away and the raw mount comes out matte and gray.
- WeighedMetal weight is recorded. It is what you paid for.
The mount
What comes out of the flask is a rough version of the piece. Turning it into something worth wearing is hours of filing, sanding and soldering, and it is where most of the skill lives.
- FiledSprue removed, every line trued, every surface brought to a clean finish by hand.
- SolderedHeads, shanks, bails and clasps joined where the design calls for it, the joint filed until it disappears.
- Sized and fittedRings to your exact finger size, chains and bracelets to length, before any stone goes near it.
- Pre-polishedThe inside of a band and the back of a pendant are finished now, because a graver cannot reach them later.
Setting
The stone is set by hand under a microscope. Seats are cut into the prongs so the girdle drops in and sits level, then each prong is pushed over and rounded. No machine does this part.
- Seats cutA bearing is cut into each prong at the exact height of the girdle.
- Dropped and levelledThe stone goes in face up and is checked from four sides before anything is tightened.
- Prongs closedPushed over, trimmed, then rounded so nothing catches on a sleeve.
- TestedTapped, blown on, checked under ten times magnification. A stone that moves is reset.
Finishing
Polishing is not the last five minutes. It is a sequence of wheels and compounds that takes the metal from clean to the depth of shine you actually notice across a room.
- Polished in stagesCoarse to fine, each wheel removing the marks of the one before.
- Rhodium, if whiteWhite gold is plated for a brighter, cooler white. Yellow and platinum are left as they are.
- EngravedA date, initials or a few words inside a band or behind a pendant, cut by hand. No charge.
- Steam cleanedUltrasonic, then steam, so nothing is left in the gallery or between the links.
Inspection and delivery
Every piece is checked against the drawing and the certificate before it goes in the box, and photographed for your file. Then it is yours, and it comes back to us for its care for as long as you own it.
- Checked against the drawingDimensions, weight, finish and the certificate number, one last time.
- PhotographedFor insurance, for a valuation, and so we know exactly what we made.
- BoxedIn the green box, with the certificate and a care card.
- Booked inCleaning, inspection and resizing stay complimentary, for life.
What we check before it goes in the box.
Questions about how it is made.
Can I really design it myself?
Yes. The design tool takes plain descriptions rather than dropdown menus, so you can write "a low oval, thin band, nothing underneath" and see it. When it is close, send it over and a jeweler checks the proportions, the stone fit and the price before anything is made.
Do you make anything other than rings?
Everything. Necklaces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, bangles and chains go through the same eight steps as an engagement ring, on the same equipment, by the same hands. The only thing that changes is what is being shaped.
When will it be ready?
Tell us the date you need it for and we will tell you honestly, in person, whether it fits. We would rather say no than rush the setting.
Can I change my mind after I have approved it?
Up to the wax, freely and at no cost. After casting, changes mean new metal and a new price, so the wax is where we slow down and make sure.
Can I watch any of it?
Yes. Setting under the microscope is the one most people ask to see, and it is the one worth seeing. Ask when you book and we will time your visit for it.
What if something goes wrong later?
It comes back here. The jeweler who set your stone is the one who tightens the prong five years from now, and that work is complimentary on anything we made.
Come and watch the setting.
It is the part worth seeing. Ask when you book and we will time your visit for it.