Jewellery and accessories guides

A titanium chronograph on its metal bracelet

Watch Straps and Everyday Accessories: Materials, Fit and Care

Most advice about watches concerns the movement, which you cannot see and will probably never touch. The strap is the part you feel all day, the part that fails first, and the one you can judge and ch

A metal strip with one end polished bright next to the dull, tarnished section

Tarnish, Plating Wear and What Can Be Restored

Trinket File
Care
26 Aug, 2026

A dulled piece of jewellery is usually called tarnished and treated with a polishing cloth. Sometimes that is right. Sometimes the dullness is not a film on the metal but metal that is no longer there

Plain bands worn on two hands resting on white linen

Everyday Jewellery: What Survives Daily Wear

Trinket File
Buying
11 Aug, 2026

The jewellery that survives daily wear is not the most expensive jewellery. It is the jewellery with enough metal in the right places. Two pieces can carry the same hallmark and the same price, and on

A velvet jewellery box holding a tray of silver rings

Caring for Jewellery at Home: Cleaning, Storage and Wear

Trinket File
Care
28 Jul, 2026

Very little jewellery is ruined by cleaning. A great deal is ruined by wearing it in the wrong places, storing it in a heap, and cleaning it with something more aggressive than it needed. The right ap

A silversmith at a workshop bench with hammers and stakes behind him

Resizing and Repairing Jewellery: What a Workshop Can Do

Trinket File
Repair
23 Jun, 2026

Most jewellery can be repaired and much of it can be resized. The useful question is not whether something is possible in principle but whether it is sensible for this piece, which depends almost enti