Recently I saw an ad for a new jewellery brand which bragged about the amazing features of their jewellery which they claimed made it superior to other jewellery designs. As a jewellery professional, I was very skeptical of the claims being made, so I decided to do a bit of research into misleading marketing to try to bust some jewellery myths.
I hope this will help you to make better choices when you're shopping for jewellery as nobody likes to be misled or conned. So let's get started ...
WATERPROOF JEWELLERY
When I looked into one brand claiming to sell waterproof jewellery, their product care advice included avoiding contact with liquids and chemicals, along with exposure to humidity ... Riiiight.
The fact is that water will eventually be a problem for most metal jewellery with enough exposure and depending on what chemicals that water contains. Keep in mind that almost all water you come into contact with isn't pure.
PRECIOUS METALS
Precious metals, such as solid silver jewellery and gold jewellery, are much more durable when it comes to contact with water than base metals like brass or nickel, but they're still not impervious.
Pure gold and silver are both soft metals which are generally not suited for use in jewellery making, so they are almost always alloyed with other metals to make them harder. Salt water and chlorinated water especially can cause damage to some of those alloyed metals, which over time can result in pitting and discolouration, depending on how frequently and for how long the jewellery is immersed.
Platinum jewellery is often 90-95% pure and will be very resilient when it comes to water and chemical exposure. However, it will still contain alloyed metals which may cause problems over time, especially at lower levels of purity.
STAINLESS STEEL & TITANIUM
Even highly corrosion resistant metals like stainless steel and titanium can be affected by chemicals found in some water and from long periods of water immersion, so it's still recommended that you remove such jewellery while showering and if you go swimming regularly.
GEMSTONE JEWELLERY
If you have gemstone jewellery, then this is also something to consider when it comes to water. Softer gems like opal and also pearls can be affected by exposure to water. Do your research before getting gemstone jewellery wet on a regular basis.
PVD COATING
On the upside, there is PVD coating (physical vapour deposition) which bonds a strong coating material to metal jewellery. This does provide good protection from water damage and makes jewellery tarnish resistant. Some brands advertising waterproof jewellery are indeed using PVD coatings, so their claims are more valid.
This is still far from a perfect solution, however. While PVD coating is durable, it will be difficult to repair or replace when it wears through, which it will almost certainly do eventually - and faster for designs that take a lot of wear and tear (rings and bracelets especially). It's also an expensive process, so there will be a limited array of generally mass produced designs which make use of it and it will noticeably increase the price of those designs. Another issue is that if the piece needs to be repaired, resized or you want it redesigned, the coating may cause problems.
It's up to you to decide whether it's worth it, especially if the underlying metal isn't precious (most PVD coated jewellery I've encountered isn't made of solid precious metal) and the piece has minimal intrinsic value.