Rhodium Archives - Knox Jewelers

The Importance of a Lifetime Warranty

As the saying goes, ‘A Diamond is Forever’, we believe a warranty should last just as long.

All of Knox Jewelers’ heirloom quality rings are protected by our lifetime warranty. This service is free of charge and covers all regular maintenance needed to ensure your ring lasts generations.

It’s important to understand that jewelry is not a maintenance free purchase. Just like a car, periodic service is required. Cleanings and inspections are designed to catch when work needs to be done.

Without our lifetime warranty, you could be paying hundreds of dollars to keep up on yearly maintenance elsewhere.

The Knox Lifetime Warranty Covers:

Free Rhodium Plating and Polishing is offered twice a year to keep your ring looking like new.
Cleaning and Inspections are always free, no appointment is needed at our Minneapolis or Woodbury locations.
If during one of these inspections there is a loose stone, we will take care of getting it tightened for you, a savings of $19 a stone.
If a side diamond ever falls out or is damaged, Knox will replace it free of charge, an average savings of $73 per stone.
Included in our warranty is one free ring sizing, so your ring will have a perfect fit.
You will want to have your ring insured under a homeowners or renters policy. We will issue you a free certificate of sale; this is the document your insurance carrier will need. It will outline all the important details about your center gem and ring. The average cost for a similar appraisal is $125.
Our lifetime warranty also helps in case something major happens to your ring. Like it was lost, stolen or damaged. With Knox, we will cover up to $250 of your insurance deductible in the event you need to make an insurance claim.
Lastly, to keep your ring looking brilliant between in-store cleanings, we supply you with a free jar of jewelry cleaner every year.

As you can see, the savings of common services needed to maintain your ring will add up to thousands of dollars over a lifetime of wear. Knox is here to protect your purchase for the rest of its life.

When we created our lifetime warranty, we wanted to make it easy for our customers to maintain.

We don’t need you to come in every six months to the date like most jewelers do. We want to see your ring once a year. If you happen to miss an annual inspection, don’t fret, we can reinstate your warranty after we inspect your ring on your next visit.

We don’t require you to keep a signed and dated inspection book to get warranty work done. We keep track of your visits so you don’t have to.

The jewelers that crafted your ring are also the ones who will take care of your jewelry when warranty work is needed. We will never ship your ring out of state or use sub-contractors for repairs.

Almost all warranty work is performed while you wait. Jewelers who are not equipped for on-site repairs like us will have to send your ring out, which can take up to four weeks.

Ring Metal FAQ

What metal type do you recommend?

We always recommend our 950 Platinum-Ruthenium alloy. It’s the best metal for engagement rings and wedding bands.

Platinum Pros and Cons

The most important characteristic in Platinum jewelry is Platinum’s resistance to metal loss caused by normal wear & tear. When metal is rubbed against another object, a little bit of that metal is rubbing off onto the other surface. If the metal is Platinum, the amount lost is exponentially smaller than the amount that would rub off from a gold item. This translates into Platinum rings lasting two or three times as long as a similar gold ring.

Our Platinum Alloy is the Best

Our 950 Platinum-Ruthenium blend is the best Platinum alloy for jewelry. It has the best combination of tensile strength and hardness amongst all Platinum blends. Tensile strength refers to the durability of the metal and hardness refers to the scratch resistance.

More common Platinum alloys like 950 Platinum-Iridium are softer and tend to scratch and bend almost twice as easy. Manufacturers typically use this blend because of it’s ease to cast and work with. Often times, you’ll see or hear of Platinum engagement rings that scratch very easily and/or have become bent. These are most likely made of 950 Platinum-Iridium.

Our Platinum won’t do that. We purposely use a stronger alloy so you can enjoy your rings for a lifetime.

platinum Ring Metal Info

Pros

Extremely Durable – Lasts a Lifetime
Naturally White – No Rhodium Plating
Denser Metal – Holds Stones Better
Uses 100% Precious Metal
Hypoallergenic – No Allergies
Very Inert Metal – Resists Corrosion and Weakening

Cons

Cost – More Expensive than White Gold

White Gold Pros and Cons

Our white gold is a blend of gold and nickel alloy. Nickel gives white gold its whitish color and helps increases the metals hardness. While nickel helps in whitening white gold, it doesn’t completely make it white. Our alloy does require Rhodium plating every six months.

We also work in 18k White Gold. This alloy has more precious gold and is a little heavier than 14k White Gold. The natural color is very comparable to 14k and does require Rhodium plating.

All of our white metal jewelry items will look virtually identical coming out of our shop. After several months of wear, a white gold ring may need to be re-plated where as a platinum ring is always white. After a decade or two, a white gold ring may require re-tipping of prongs and channels. Platinum wears away at a much lesser rate than white gold and it is not uncommon for Platinum to last a lifetime.

Pros

Less Expensive than Platinum
Very Hard to Scratch
Easy to Size

Cons

Not as Durable as Platinum
Not White – Requires Rhodium Plating
Possible Allergic Reactions
Negative Reactions with Chlorine

Yellow Gold Pros and Cons

We work in both 14k and 18k Yellow Gold. These alloys are softer than there white counterparts. Rings made in yellow gold are more prone to wear and tear than white metals.

Pros

Less Expensive than Platinum
Easiest to Size

Cons

Not as Durable as White Gold

Cost Comparison: Platinum versus White Gold

Platinum is about 1.6 times heavier than White Gold. Comparing two identical rings, one in White Gold and one in Platinum, the Platinum one is automatically 1.6 times more in price. Another factor is the much higher percentages of actual precious metal used in Platinum blends, the Platinum blend we use is 95% Platinum, compared to the typical Gold blends that are only 58% Gold (14K) or 75% Gold (18K)

Due primarily to the density of Platinum, it is much more difficult to achieve a perfectly polished finished surface. Therefore, it takes much more labor to produce a Platinum ring over an identical White Gold piece.

Platinum is at least twice as expensive and can at times be 3-4 times as expensive as a White Gold ring. The exact amount is based on many variables.

Crown and Prong Metal Type

Because Platinum is renowned for it’s durability, we highly recommend having the crown or prongs of your ring made in Platinum. This will help protect your diamonds and gemstones longer than Gold.

How often will my white gold ring need to be rhodium plated?

What is rhodium plating?
Does white gold discolor or turn yellow over time?
Are all white gold rings rhodium plated?
How much does it cost to rhodium plate a ring?
How long does rhodium plating last?

With the recent popularity of white metals, we are asked similar questions more and more frequently. The answers depends on several factors that I will explain below.

Our current cost as of December 2015 for rhodium plating starts at $53 per piece. This includes cleaning and polishing. To have Knox rhodium plate your jewelry, contact us here.

Rhodium plating or “dipping” is the standard in our industry to make white gold items white. Nearly all white gold jewelry sold in the U.S. market is rhodium plated. All 14k and 18k white golds are alloyed with other white metals to achieve a white look. Given that both of these alloys are predominantly pure yellow gold (14k is 58.5% pure and 18k is 75% pure), the resulting color isn’t absolutely white like platinum. In order to provide a beautiful bleached white color, white gold is plated with a platinum group metal called rhodium. This rhodium plating is a non-permanent metal deposition process that can be done while you wait at most jewelry stores.

The actual layer or coat of rhodium, which is applied in an electroplating process, is microscopic (maybe a few microns thick) and will eventually wear off. Body chemistry, excessive sweat, occupational and lifestyle wear, and chlorine can all shorten the life of rhodium plating. A new rhodium plating should last six months to a year on a ring until the plating will be noticeably diminished. The yellowing of the bottom of the ring is usually the first noticeable sign that your rhodium plating is wearing thin. Areas with diamonds, filigree, or engraving will retain the rhodium finish longer as these areas receive less wear. Also, rings with large polished areas will make the inevitable wearing away of the rhodium finish more noticeable. Rhodium plating on pendants and earrings will last much longer as they aren’t exposed to as much wear and tear or skin oils.

To properly rhodium plate an item, the item should first be polished and then thoroughly cleaned via an ultrasonic bath and a distilled water steaming. It is paramount that it is absolutely free of any dirt, oil, and polishing compound before it is plated. After this cleaning, the item should also go through an electro-cleaning process. This final step will help ensure proper rhodium adhesion as the heated cleaning solution is activated by electricity. If there are yellow or rose gold elements in the jewelry, they will need to be masked with a non-permeable substance (fingernail polish is popular) so those areas are not plated white.

Like anything else, results will vary, especially if shortcuts are taken. If fewer of the above described cleaning steps are used in the process, the rhodium finish could prematurely wear off.

In the last few years rhodium plating has become a more expensive service to provide as rhodium prices have sky-rocketed to $6000.00 per ounce. Expect to pay between $25.00 to $60.00 for a complete polishing, cleaning, and Rhodium plating of a ring. Two tone designs may be more due to the necessity of masking the areas that are not to be plated.