Potential damage summer on metals and diamond

[Double E]

Many people are lovers for both jewellery and summer, however these may often contradictory. Would the folks and professionals here mind giving a clear clarification on whether and how chlorine, salt water (ocean water), sand on the beach will damage physically and chemically platinum, rose gold, yellow gold, white gold and more importantly diamond?

 

[david b]

I dont know about gold less than 14k, but 14k and higher will not danage in any of the scenarious, Gold and platinum will scratch a lot yes but nothing else.
Anyway your Gold and Platinum rings get scratches the minitueyou put them on and they should have maintanance at least once a year if you want the fresh and sparkling. Diamonds will get dirty also very quick mainly when in rings due to hand washing and other jewels to showers.
You renew their life when cleanning with Ultrasonic and steam, this is anyway part of the metal renewing procedure.

 

[RetroQT]

Chlorine will damage gold jewelry and I’ve seen how it will cause it to become more brittle. Best advice on that is to not wear jewelry in a chlorinated pool or to allow your jewelry to come in contact with household cleaners (such as bleach).

Brian Gavin has a good article about it here: LINK

 

[tyty333]

You must be from Australia?

 

[missy]

It's funny because I was just remarking on this topic yesterday but in a quite opposite way lol. I was saying to my dh how winter makes it difficult to enjoy my bling. Hats and hoods make earrings risky to wear and scarves and coats and collars make necklaces more challenging to wear. And don't get me started on my rings and wearing gloves. OMG squishy even with wearing mittens which is my glove of choice to keep my fingers warmest. So yeah winter feels more hostile to wearing my bling than warmer temps ever do. My perspective.


But I would never swim with my jewelry or even just wear it to the beach or doing anything really active like cycling etc. So I don't expose my jewelry to harsh conditions if I can help it.

 

[Double E]

Thanks for the replies~I was wondering whether the chlorine and salt or even chemicals in sun screen is corrosive to the metals we used in rings or jewels. And if so, how about the sand from the beach, considering it's in fact located extremely close to the ocean, will there be any similar chemical reaction to the metal, say the wearer touched and played with sand despite haven't get it wet in the sea directly?

As for the diamond, can we simply confirm it won't be damaged in any extent after going through pool water, ocean and sand? I've heard that even diamond's surface or polish could be damaged accordingly in above ways, true?

You must be from Australia?

Haha, not an Aussie, but just back from Maldives after a memorable journey^^

 

[partgypsy]

My response is, nothing is indestructible, including diamonds. While gold and platinum are noble metals and don't interact much with the elements, gold, and even platinum are alloyed with other metals that are not noble metals. I would guess that a plain platinum band would hold up the best, then high carat gold (except that it would scratch). I would guess that simple rings including bezel rings would hold up better than rings that have multiple prongs delicate settings or melee.
It's also a matter of how much exposure too. Taking a dip in the ocean? Not a biggie. Are a surfer or going into the hot tub with your jewelry? I would take off your rings if you are doing that.
Short periods of time I have worn my silver and semi precious gemstone rings into the swimming pool, ocean, and even hot tub with no ill effects, but those were for short periods of time.

I'll let experts weigh in on effect of salt water, swimming pool, etc on diamonds and gemstones

 

[JPie]

I’d be less concerned about the effects of chlorine & salt water and more concerned about rings slipping off. Also, if you lost other jewelry in the water, your chances of finding them are slim to none.

 

[ringo865]

Salt water tarnished my sterling jewelry. No other effects. Sand won’t scratch diamonds but can scratch gold. (I once was sandblasting under our Camaro without gloves... while wearing a diamond solitaire on lefty and a 10 stone on righty. The gold (one white, the other yellow-both 14k) had some comet marks that I could see under 10X loupe. Diamonds were unaffected). (Gloveless sandblasting is not recommended.)

 

[Double E]

My response is, nothing is indestructible, including diamonds. While gold and platinum are noble metals and don't interact much with the elements, gold, and even platinum are alloyed with other metals that are not noble metals. I would guess that a plain platinum band would hold up the best, then high carat gold (except that it would scratch). I would guess that simple rings including bezel rings would hold up better than rings that have multiple prongs delicate settings or melee.
It's also a matter of how much exposure too. Taking a dip in the ocean? Not a biggie. Are a surfer or going into the hot tub with your jewelry? I would take off your rings if you are doing that.
Short periods of time I have worn my silver and semi precious gemstone rings into the swimming pool, ocean, and even hot tub with no ill effects, but those were for short periods of time.

I'll let experts weigh in on effect of salt water, swimming pool, etc on diamonds and gemstones

Agreed, would love to learn more on the bolded area! Anything will be corrosive to diamonds?

In regards to the physical side of diamonds, as we are normally informed, diamonds can only get scratched by other diamonds (when we are talking about natural substances) which is why ringo865's solitaire diamond wasn't affected even under snadblasting; and at the same time, learnt from other diamond website that, even there are scratches in diamonds, they are classified as blemishes, and these blemishes can often be polished off. This will not affect the appearance or weight of the diamond drastically. Is this the case actually?

In addition, it seems common that smaller diamonds or melees are transported loose in a parcel with other diamonds. This bought my attention to how easy diamonds would scratch each other. With such way of transportation, wouldn't they be extremely scratched??

Apprreciate if david b & Cali-ohsomethingshiny and other experts could share more on the mentioned^^