Summer time and the weather is HOT! Great time to spend by the pool or beach to get some tan. So you put on your diamond stud earrings, chain and watch. Oh yes, don't forget to bring along that bottle of oily sun tan lotion and that's where half your problems begin! The other half comes when you clean the dishes from the barbecue, and play a bit of tennis.
How do you get this oily stuff off your diamonds, gold and, was this watch waterproof?
Oil adheres do diamonds, in fact in the mining process of diamonds grease is used to separate diamonds from surrounding dirt! So think how that sun tanning lotions is going to stick to your earrings! And although your watch might be water resistant, by exposing your watch to oil and soap you can cause the gaskets on the watch to harden and even crack to the point where it's water resistant properties are compromised. The swinging action of playing tennis, golf or softball can easily damage the rotor of any automatic watch.
Many people have an idea which might lead to disaster when it comes to cleaning your favorite jewelry pieces. Some of these include boiling in a soapy solution and cleaning with ammonia or other cleaner.
In general jewelry should be cleaned as much as your favorite clothing articles. And this is especially important if you shower or wash dishes with your jewelry on because no matter how well you rinse afterwards soap will always get trapped between your skin and jewelry which can lead to rashes and in the case of earrings, even infections.
Of course the best answer is to take it your jewelry periodically to your jeweler and have him clean, polish, steam and check any prongs for wear. You can easily maintain your jewelry at home by having an extra toothbrush available and once a week remove your earrings and chains and scrub them with plain old toothpaste. Rinse well and have a towel handy to dry off. Toothpaste is an excellent cleaning agent for jewelry because it contains minimal abrasives that will not scratch your jewelry and it rinses clean unlike ammonia or other soapy products which tend to leave a film that will make your jewelry look dull.
You might think that using baking soda is good because jewelers do, I don't recommend this because we use baking soda as part of an entire process which involves high speed polishing and "replating". I consider baking soda too abrasive for home jewelry care.
Be especially careful of handling emeralds and other "softer" stones like tourmaline, aquamarines (beryl), pearls and coral (organic). These stones are delicate and should not be put into boiling water or home ultrasonic jewelry cleaners if you have one.
WARNING: BE SURE YOUR SINK IS PLUGGED BEFORE EVEN THINKING OF CLEANING YOUR JEWELRY! I guarantee your earring backs will go down the sink if you don't do this.
At one time or another you might see small parts of your chains or rings turning color, especially around joints or anywhere you have had your jewelry repaired. The reason for this is because the solder used is of a lower karat gold than the rest of the jewelry is made out of. In this case you should take it back to your jeweler and he should be able to remedy the problem by resoldering the joint with a higher karat solder.
Watches should be maintained more or less in the same way you clean your other jewelry using a toothbrush and toothpaste (be absolutely sure your watch is water resistant) you should especially clean the inside of the bracelet buckle if it has one, this is where soap ALWAYS gets trapped.
If you have a leather band on the watch remove it so that you can clean the dirt, sweat and the whatever that gets trapped there.
Cleaning and maintaining your jewelry not only makes your pieces look their best but also keeps their status as special adornment on your person in place.
Luis A. Bouzon Owner, Louis Alexander Fine Jewellers