Sound advice from the appraiser?

[ladyciel]

My fiance and I went yesterday to have my e-ring appraised, and after absolutely drooling over the excellent cut of my diamond

, the appraiser gave me a very VERY stern lecture on ALWAYS keeping it clean. He basically said that he would be personally offended and appalled if my diamond was EVER prevented from sparkling the way it should, and explained how diamond isn''t wettable (it''s surface is hydrophobic, for you science geeks) and grease coats it in a heartbeat. Even hand soap cakes it with a film.
Him - "So, say you wash your hands 5 times a day, that''s 5 new layers of film on your diamond. Quick quiz - this ring should only ever be in one of two places - what are they??"
Me - "My finger or its box?"
Him - "WRONG. well, half right..."
His answer was it should only be on my finger or soaking overnight in cleaning solution with ammonia in it. His advice was buy a bottle of jewelry cleaner w/ the little basket in it, use the cleaner for a while, dump it out, and refill as necessary with a 50/50 ammonia-water mix.

So, my question is, can ammonia have any negative effects on 900 Platinum (10%Iridium) if left for significant periods of time? Like overnight, every night? I don''t imagine he would so strongly back this approach if it DID cause problems, but I don''t think I''ll feel completely comfortable until I have a second (or third, fourth, fifth...) opinion. For anyone who''s curious, I did ask him about ultrasonic cleaners, and his feeling was that a US is a waste of money and soaking every night worked just as well if not better.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

The ammonia will not hurt. Add a little dish detergent too.
I prefer to put a dash of cleaner into a cup with some boiling water.
make sure you give it a good rinse and dry well wwith tissue

Not sure about the home versions of US''s and there are even steam cleaners for the final rinse

 

[lyra]

I disagree about the US. I recently bought one from Amazon, for around $40, and nothing cleans my diamonds as well as that. I do add a bit of detergent, a bit of Mr. Clean, and hot water. In between US cleanings I do the manual cleaning as your appraiser suggested, although I don''t soak overnight.