Jewellery Care & Cleaning

Storage
To maintain the appearance of your jewellery and to reduce scratching, store items separately in sealed plastic bags. Store your jewellery in a discrete place for security purposes.

Wear
We recommend that you avoid wearing your jewellery during activities such as cooking, cleaning, gardening, swimming/showering and particularly sporting and gym activities.

Apply cosmetics and perfumes and allow them to dry before putting on your jewellery. Avoid contact with chlorinated water and other chemicals.

Cleaning your jewellery
We recommend following these steps to clean your jewellery:
For a light clean, wipe jewellery with a soft lint free cloth. Use soft fabrics such as velvet and cotton, as rougher materials like paper and polyester will impart fine scratches.
To clean jewellery more thoroughly, soak it in a diluted solution of detergent/dish washing liquid and warm water for five minutes. Use a soft brush (a soft toothbrush is ideal) to remove any dirt and then rinse thoroughly in clean warm water. Dry your jewellery completely using a soft lint free cloth or a hairdryer. Alternatively, our portable Ultrasonic Cleaner may be used to clean some jewellery types.

Silver jewellery can be cleaned using mild detergent and water, but to remove tarnishing we recommend Hagerty silver cleaning products.

Professional Cleaning & Ongoing Care
Walker & Hall will also clean your jewellery using an ultrasonic cleaner, free of charge on any occasion. This service will be completed while you wait when possible.

We offer polishing of platinum and yellow gold items and rhodium plating for white gold items. At this time we can also ensure that all settings and stones are secure.

Your gold, sterling silver and platinum rings can be resized to ensure the perfect fit. Our skilled jewellers can polish, rhodium plate and repair your precious metal jewellery items.

Visit our Anzac Ave Showroom to discuss your resizing or jewellery repair needs. Alternatively, visit your nearest Walker & Hall store and our friendly team can assist you.

Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man. Hardness refers to the ability of a material to resist scratches and toughness refers to the ability to resist breaking. Diamonds are extremely hard and cannot be scratched (except by another diamond) but they can be chipped and shattered. For this reason it is important to remove your diamond jewellery when undertaking activities where they may be damaged.

Please remember that despite diamonds being extremely hard, they are precious and can be damaged. Moreover, gold is a relatively soft metal and damaging the setting can compromise the safety of the stones. If you are concerned about the setting or stones in your jewellery, feel free to bring it into a Walker & Hall store for an assessment.

Gemstones are precious and can require special care. Remove your gemstone jewellery while undertaking physical activities and avoid impact with hard surfaces. Protect your coloured stones from perfumes, cosmetics and household chemicals.

Emeralds, tanzanites, opals, morganites and greenstone in particular need special care and it is best to avoid submerging them in hot water, cleaning them in an ultrasonic machine or wearing them near steam.

Bring back the sparkle to your gemstones by gently washing it in a solution of lukewarm water and a small amount of mild washing liquid or simply polish with a soft cloth. Otherwise, pop into one of our stores and let us take care of the cleaning for you.

It is important to protect your pearls from chemicals as they will affect the nacre of the pearl, you should apply perfume and hair spray before putting on your pearls.

Avoid exposing your pearls to moisture as it will affect the stringing on necklaces and bracelets and hot water will affect the adhesion of the glue in rings and earrings.

Depending on how often your pearls are worn, it is recommended they are restrung every 12-18 months. After restringing pearl strands can appear slightly stiff but after being worn they will settle and lie normally.

Our professional pearl stringer can restring your pearls to ensure their safety and security. Your pearls can be taken into any Walker & Hall store and our team can organise restringing for you.

As gold is naturally a yellow colour, other metals such as palladium are sometimes added to it to make it whiter in appearance. As it never achieves a pure white colour, most white gold is electroplated in a solution of rhodium. Rhodium adheres very well to gold and is extremely hard wearing, on bracelets and rings however it will over time wear away. This would normally happen over 9 -12 months depending on wear, rhodium plating is very straight forward can be organised for you at any of our stores.

Our 1899 18ct white gold used in our 1899 rings has an exceptionally high palladium component, being at least 50% of the alloyed metal used, along with no nickel. This high standard of quality results in improved durability and appearance over a longer period of time compared to other white metals, and ensures it is suitable for all skin types.

Gold is a relatively soft metal and damaging the setting can compromise the safety of the stones. If you are concerned about the setting or stones in your jewellery, feel free to bring it into a Walker & Hall store for an assessment.

Gold in its purest form is very soft, for this reason when used in jewellery, it is often mixed with other metals. As a greater proportion of other metals is added to gold, the lower the carat, and the more hard wearing the gold becomes. As such, the higher the carat, the more care that needs to be taken with the jewellery.

As with all jewellery, rings and bracelets will encounter the most wear due to where they are worn, so these will require the most care.

Gold is a relatively soft metal and damaging the setting can compromise the safety of the stones. If you are concerned about the setting or stones in your jewellery, feel free to bring it into a Walker & Hall store for an assessment.

Not only is platinum more expensive than gold but in jewellery, it is also used in higher purity, normally 95%. This high level of purity gives platinum hypoallergenic properties.

Platinum is also a very hard metal, for this reason you might presume it would maintain its shine, this is however not the case. All metals will scratch and because of platinum’s hardness it will tend to maintain its scratches. This gives platinum a duller natural state of wear than softer metals such as gold and silver. For this reason platinum will need to be polished more regularly and will occasionally need an emery polish to remove the deeper scratches, this may need to be done every 6 -9 months. This applies primarily to rings and bracelets which receive the most wear.

Sterling Silver is the most widely used metal in jewellery; it is typically of 92.5% purity which is also known as sterling silver. Silver is a relatively soft metal and as such can be misshapen relatively easily, for this reason rings and bracelets should be removed when undertaking physical activity.

All silver oxidizes causing tarnishing when it comes in contact with certain chemicals, it is particularly important to avoid minerals associated with thermal hot springs and chlorinated water as they can cause severe tarnishing. As with all jewellery, apply hair spray and perfume before wearing your jewellery.

Silver jewellery can be cleaned using mild detergent and water, but to remove tarnishing we recommend Hagerty silver cleaning products.

Gold plated jewellery is often sterling silver jewellery that has been plated in a thin layer of yellow gold. The plating can wear off over time and we recommend cleaning your gold plated jewellery with a soft cloth or gentle dishwashing liquid and warm water and avoiding abrasives.

Avoiding contact with chlorinated water and other chemicals and allowing cosmetics and perfumes to dry before putting on your jewellery, will help to prolong the the appearance of the plating.

The plating on gold plated rings will typically wear faster than on gold plated earrings or necklaces, due to where the item is worn on the body and the surfaces the jewellery encounters during wear.