Product care

What's the best way to care for and clean a diamond ring?

In the care and cleaning of diamond rings, it is important to consider not only the diamonds, but the ring mount and any other stones that are set in the ring.

While diamonds are extremely hard and durable, they can be damaged, so it is important to know what to avoid. Diamonds can be broken by a sharp impact on the surface, so dropping a ring onto a concrete floor could cause the diamond to cleave, especially if it is struck at precisely the wrong place. Admittedly, this is unlikely and diamonds are so durable that you may get away with dropping it onto concrete 1,000 times without damage; however this is an experiment that we do not recommend.

Rings do come in for a large amount of wear and tear. An accidental blow on metal or other hard surface could have a similar or greater effect on being dropped. This sort of damage is more likely to wear or break the ring mount, so it is worth inspecting the ring carefully after any knock to ensure that any claws are still intact and that the stone is tight.

One of the worst things to do is to let diamonds rub or knock against other diamonds. This will cause abrasion and chipping. If a person wears several rings next to each other, it is better if there is a metal to metal contact between them. Although this will still cause wear, it can be repaired fairly easily.

Reasonable care should be taken not to catch diamond settings with filaments of thread, particularly strong synthetic threads that may bend claws and loosen the stones that they are meant to be securing. Wharton Goldsmith recommends that our customers regularly bring their rings into us so that we can check them for wear or damage to the settings, particularly with claw-set rings.

When jewellery is worn next to the skin, it will become covered and clogged in oily debris. The main purpose of cleaning diamond rings is to remove all this greasy debris and allow light to enter and leave the diamonds, restoring their sparkle.

Nothing you would ever use to clean the rings is likely to damage the diamonds without damaging the mount. So, we would prefer to describe on how to clean the metal part of rings.

High carat alloys, such as 18ct and above will not usually become tarnished and will not be harmed by household chemicals. Lower carat gold can be harmed by contact with chlorine-based bleach and cleaning chemicals. Because of this, it is best to avoid cleaning jewellery with bleach or other cleaners containing chlorine, and also to avoid any contact with bleach. Most jewellers will sell tubs of 'jewellery cleaner', however Wharton Goldsmith does not recommend this.

Most gold or platinum jewellery can be cleaned in warm soapy water, which is good as jewellery cleaner purchased within a shop. It can be gently brushed if necessary using an old toothbrush to remove debris behind the stones. Some people swear by gin as alcohol will dissolve grease, however you may feel that this is a waste of good gin!