If a ring you love isn’t fitting your chosen finger quite right, you’ve probably pondered: how much does it cost to resize a ring? A fast and often cost-effective process, resizing a ring gives the item a new lease of life. A skilled jeweller will perform the resizing seamlessly, ensuring the original item’s value isn’t negatively impacted.
Should you invest in resizing a ring you own or plan to buy? Our helpful guide will talk you through resizing a range of rings to help you decide whether it’s right for you. From how the job is carried out to all the factors that influence that all-important final bill.
Time to Resize Your Ring
The natural fluctuations in body weight that occur over our lifetimes mean that often a ring that once fitted perfectly well can suddenly become worryingly loose or uncomfortably tight. This is a common scenario during pregnancy and on other occasions where the body retains water or following a long illness or a weight loss journey.
Perhaps you’ve found a stunning vintage ring or inherited a cherished piece from a relative that doesn’t match your ring size. Rather than relegating these lovely pieces to a chain around your neck and running the risk of the chain snapping and losing the ring, visit the jeweller to see what the ring is made out of and how it could be altered.
We don’t always buy our own jewellery – and even when we give someone our ring size for an important purchase, such as an engagement ring, sometimes it just doesn’t fit quite as it should. A gifted ring will always feel extra special, so make sure you can spend a lifetime enjoying it by investigating the option of resizing a ring.
There’s a good reason why a ring should fit a finger well. It not only holds it in place (showing off any stones in all their sparkling glory), but it also ensures the ring feels pleasant to wear. Men are a little more likely to wear a ring that’s too big because they’re not used to the sensation of a snug item of jewellery. But a poorly fitting ring quickly becomes a nuisance – and since jewellery should be a life-enhancing item, rather than buying a replacement, why not resize it?
How a Jeweller Resizes a Ring
In most cases, a ring can be altered to change its size, regardless of its original size. So, don’t worry if you’ve found a beautiful antique ring that barely sits on your pinky, nor if you’ve inherited a ring that would currently wobble loosely even on your thumb. However, jewellers agree that it is easier to make a large band smaller than to increase the size of a smaller ring.
Some resizing jobs can be completed in under an hour, but it may take several hours to restore a ring to its original aesthetic when metal is being added to the band. It takes skill to carry out a size alteration because the ring’s metal must be heated to just the right temperature to allow it to be cut and reshaped cleanly without altering its chemical properties.
If you bring a ring to a jeweller that’s too large for your finger, they’ll make the band smaller by cutting the back of the band and removing the required length of metal to make the ring fit you properly. The two ends are soldered together and polished to create a blemish-free finish.
Reputable jewellers usually enlarge smaller rings by adding metal to the band rather than beating out the metal to increase its length (which can weaken the band and impact the aesthetic). First, the jeweller will cut the back of the band and pull the two ends apart to create sufficient additional width to fit the finger. This new gap can be filled with a corresponding metal, soldering the ends together and polishing the seams to disguise the new section.
There are exceptions to the rule, with certain rings not suiting the resizing process terribly well. These include very thin bands, bands with inset stones and some eternity bands. And also, bear in mind that if you need to change the ring by more than three sizes, this may distort the look and stability of the ring too much.
So, how much to resize a ring? Read on to find out how a jeweller calculates the cost.
Cost Considerations When Resizing a Ring
Rings come in all styles, shapes and sizes. No two resizings will be completely identical. Several factors influence the cost of resizing a ring, including:
The Size of the Ring
When enlarging a ring, the larger the new size, the more metal the jeweller will use and, subsequently, the higher the price. Likewise, if the band is thicker, any additional metal must be as uniformly thick – costing more.
The type of metal
Generally, the softer the metal in the band, the quicker it is to resize since softer metals are more malleable. This means that silver and yellow gold rings are often the cheapest to resize, while a harder metal such as platinum can cost a little more in terms of the hours spent altering the band.
Platinum rings can usually be resized well, but a jeweller needs specialist tools and experience to work with this precious metal. It is heated to a higher temperature than gold, which takes time to achieve.
White gold must be re-plated with rhodium if additional gold has been added to the ring – taking time and money. Rose gold can sometimes crack when being worked on, meaning changing the size of a rose gold ring takes time, effort and potentially a patch-up job if damage is sustained.
Rings crafted from stainless steel, titanium and tungsten can be hard to work on due to the physical properties of these metals. Indeed, tungsten is generally considered too physically hard to resize.
The Purity of the Metal
If you are working with an expensive metal, such as platinum or a high carat gold, the material is more costly, which will be reflected in the price of the job.
The Style of the Ring
If the band is set with stones, it may take the jeweller longer to carefully perform the adjustment to maintain the integrity of these stones. When decreasing the size of a ring, stones may need to be reset, which is time-consuming.
What’s the Alternative?
If resizing a ring costs feel prohibitive, or the style or size of the ring makes the methods mentioned above unsuitable, there are alternatives.
Sizing Beads
These small metal beads can be used to make a ring smaller. Added to the inside of the band, they can produce significant ring size changes. You can’t see them because they sit inside the ring, so they don’t impact your ring’s appearance. On the downside, they may need to be replaced several times if you wear the ring regularly, and some ring styles make fitting sizing beads a tricky and time-consuming task. It’s also worth noting that some people find sizing beads uncomfortable.
Ring Clip
These simple gadgets are a piece of silver or gold that clip onto the inside of the band of the ring to make it fit a finger more snugly. For a budget-friendly solution, you can also purchase clear plastic clips. These are a temporary adjustment because the clip is not permanently attached. A cost-effective solution when resizing a ring the traditional way seems too expensive, this is a good option for an item that you only wear on special occasions.
Spring Inserts
This nifty accessory is a strip of metal that fits inside the band of the ring, springing back to fit the curve of the band and decreasing the ring’s size with its thickness. Helpfully, they rank pretty highly when it comes to the comfort of the wearer,
How much does it cost to resize a ring? 0ur guidelines
So, you asked how much does a ring cost to get resized, and you learned that the metal type and style of the ring has the biggest influence over the pricing of the job. In some cases, you’ll need to weigh up whether it represents good value for money to perform a permanent resizing of the ring. As a helpful guideline, you should expect to budget the following to resize:
These estimated figures represent the upper limit of what you can expect to pay when changing your ring size by up to three sizes, and they are a general guideline only. For accurate pricing, please get in touch with your local jeweller.
Affordable but Effective Ring Resizing
If resizing a ring is a priority, chances are it has sentimental value or perfectly encapsulates your fashion sense. That means you’ll want to find a jeweller who can take great care of your ring while still offering you an affordable service based on the original value of your jewellery.
Finding the Right Jeweller
There’s nothing better than word of mouth when it comes to size being changed. If you know someone who had their ring resized well, you’ll feel assured that their jeweller will do a good job on your ring.
If you don’t have a personal recommendation, check a jeweller’s online reviews to look for positive comments. Try calling or visiting a jeweller and pay attention to the questions they ask you and the advice they give. Now that you’re armed with the information above, you know they should be interested in the metal type and purity, the band thickness and any settings. A good jeweller will be honest about the difficulties they may encounter with your ring type.
Compare Jewellers
If you have a few jewellers in your locality with a good reputation, enquire about their pricing, then go ahead and get the best deal. If you’ve got some other jewellery needing repair, why not see if you can get an even better price?
Resizing a Recent Ring Purchase
If you’re buying a new ring for someone, whether an engagement ring or a thoughtful gift, consider searching out a jeweller who offers a good free resizing window. This is most common when you’re purchasing a higher-value ring, and the window may vary from 30 days all the way up to a year.
Find an Online Jeweller
You may be able to source an online jeweller who can offer you a more competitive price for your ring resizing. If you have a slightly more complicated ring and your local jewellers are quoting a high price for the hours of work they’ll need to put in, you may find a jeweller proficient in adjustments to your particular ring style who can do the work faster and, therefore, cheaper.
Retain your Cut Out
Especially if you’re having a platinum or high-carat gold ring resized, ask the jeweller to give you the section of the band they removed. This means should you need to increase the size of the ring in the future, you’ll have the right metal ready and waiting. This can be useful for women’s engagement and wedding rings, which may need to be altered during and after a pregnancy. Getting any poorly fitting rings resized is a smart idea, not just for your comfort but to prevent the sad loss of a special item. In addition to professionally sizing your fingers and adapting your rings to fit accordingly, consider taking out personal jewellery insurance to protect your precious pieces. The industry leader, contact TH March to see how they can tailor a policy to keep your rings and jewellery safe so that you can wear them out and about and send them off for alterations worry-free.