Raymond Kelley
Great necklace. I have always wanted a gold Miami Cuban link necklace but for one this size (6mm thick,26”long) it would have been around $2k. I decided that I could live with sterling silver as I have always liked the way it looks. But for one this size it was well over $100. I wanted something right away and my fiancé and I are saving $ so I decided to try stainless steel. I was pleasantly surprised. The necklace looks great, won’t tarnish whether you swim or shower with it on, and it is well made. The clasp is the same type of clasp that you see in the high end real gold necklaces. It’s not the flimsy looking crab claw. It’s the type that clicks into place and has the little hinges on either side that also close it. Most people think it’s white gold because the blend in the stainless steel they used for this piece has a very slight hint of gold color that makes it look like it’s either Platinum or white gold. It doesn’t look like some other stainless jewels I’ve bought before that looks like it’s chrome. For the price I’m very happy with it. It’s sturdy and will last a lifetime if I decide to wear it that long. I may do an experiment with it though. My mom used to refinish antiques for a living. They had a setup for gold plating that they used on different items like the knobs on antique dressers so they would look shiny and gold instead of faded brass. They use 24k gold to plate items and I am going to have them put it in several batches when they are playing different items. If I only did one layer it would start to show the steel after a month and after 6 months it would be half gold looking and half stainless. I’m going to have it electroplated at least 5 times. I’ll hang it from one side two times and the other side two times and from the middle once. Also I’ll do it once with the clasp closed and the other 4 times with the clasp open. If I do 5 layers of 24k gold it should have a thick enough layer of gold that I can wear or daily for at least a year or two before any of the steel shows through at all. It would last a lot longer if it wasn’t something that you wear daily but plated jewelry tends to not last as long as other things bc I’d sweat and constant contact with skin and clothes. But if I do 5 layers of electroplating it should look solid gold for two years. And then I’ll just get it plated 2 more times every 2-4 years and it will look like it’s a $2k necklace for probably about $20 each time I get them to plate it for me. It would normally cost a lot to get something gold plated multiple times but since it’s my moms old shop and it won’t make a big difference at all if they are already plating some brass knobs and I throw the necklace in there. They don’t use up all the gold each time they plate something so I will just get a decent thin layer of gold each time. I’ll throw them $20 and they will add it into the machine a few times when they are doing other stuff. After I get 5 layers on there it will last years without havsing to worry about it wearing off and looking crappy. It will probably cost me $100 over the course of a year or two but I will have a nice Miami Cuban link necklace that no one will ever know that it’s plated. The only way you would be able to tell is by weight. If it is put on a scale with a solid gold necklace the same size it will weigh a few grams less. Anyway, call me cheap but I’d rather spend $100! Instead of $2k+ for a necklace that no one will ever know is t solid gold.
