Gold Vermeil Pricing is Dependent on Surface Area, and Not on Weight

When it comes to making gold vermeil jewelry, the general belief among jewelry designers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and direct-to-consumer brands is that using heavier jewelry will entice more gold to be used in the gold plating.

However, the weight of the jewelry, on its own, certainly does not define how much gold will be needed for gold plating.

In the gold vermeil production process, three main factors need to be taken into consideration to determine how much gold is required for gold plating:

• Surface Area
• Gold Thickness
• Gold Deposition Requirement

The difference is essential in calculating costs for manufacturing, creating new jewelry designs, correctly pricing the products.

Why Jewelry Weight may not be Enough

The weight of two pieces of jewelry may differ drastically, while their surface areas may turn out to be much closer.

Let us see an example drawn from our real production calculations.

Example 1: Ring – weight – 4 grams, surface area – 1500

Example 2: Bangle – weight – 35 grams, surface area – 3900

At first sight, weight difference seems to be substantial – the bangle is almost 9 times heavier than the ring.

However, the surface area is about 2.6 times larger.

This is why the weight criterion may not be too informative when it comes to calculating the amount of gold for jewelry.

Surface Area Matters

In gold vermeil production, gold plating is applied to the exposed surface of the jewelry.

Consequently, the amount of gold that is applied depends on the surface area that A clear way to comprehend this mathematical relationship is:

Gold Consumption ≈ Surface Area × Thickness of Plating × Gold Density

Thus, raising the actual weight of a jewelry piece does not correspond with the increase in gold consumption. For instance, the design can become heavier due to having:

• An increased thickness of the body
• A solid design
• Much more internal material
• A larger volume.

Nevertheless, since these factors would not increase the surface area amount significantly, gold consumption would remain constant.

Importance for Jewelry Brands 

Realizing the impact of the weight-to-surface area ratio can be crucial for manufacturers.

Many jewelry companies just calculate expenses based on the weight of metal in the design.

Even though the weight of metal is an essential aspect of determining the metal cost, this figure cannot be treated as the only one, which helps to derive the gold cost.

The manufacturing process calculation should encompass:

1. Total surface area of the piece
2. Micron thickness
3. Gold purity of the metal used for plating
4. Plating method and efficiency
5. Number of plating cycles
6. Geometry of the design
7. Areas that need constant coating
8. Requirements for quality control

A More Effective Query for Your Jewelry Maker

Instead of bringing up issues such as:

“What is the weight of this item of jewelry?”

it can be more advantageous to bring up:

“What is the surface area of this particular piece of jewelry, and what does it mean for gold usage?”

This question leads to a much more in-depth understanding of the amount of plating required.

This knowledge allows product development teams to define ways to:

• Enhance the jewelry design
• Manage manufacturing costs
• Ensure proper thickness for plating
• Increase production efficiency
• Establish prices of new products
• Analyze the efficiency of different designs
• Minimize excessive material consumption

Optimizing Design of Jewelry before Manufacturing

Cost optimization does not necessarily imply reduction in quality.

Cost optimization in this case means understanding how design, surface area, thickness and specifications of plating work together.

For instance, the designs can have similar visual dimensions, but different calculations of surface area.

Furthermore, the heavier design does not necessarily assume higher amount of gold for plating purposes.

Thus, correct development of a product involves not only weighing the final or prototype product.

At DWS Jewellery, we believe that the manufacturing decisions are supposed to be based on tangible production data.

The thickness of gold that is needed will affect the amount of gold that is used on the pieces of jewelry.

For example, if you need to increase the thickness of gold in a certain area of jewelry then you will need to add more gold to that area.

In short, you can think about gold vermeil plating as is:

Surface Area + Micron Thickness = Key Parameters Required for Gold Deposition

That is why it is critically important to clearly define the conditions of plating while developing a product.

The requested thickness of the gold layer should preferably be proved by the help of the quality control process.

Regarding the X-ray fluorescence control.

When ordering gold vermeil jewelry, one should not rely only on the words of the manufacturer.

X-ray fluorescence is a non-destructive method of testing that is very useful for verifying the coating thickness.

In case a company buys gold vermeil products in bulk, it should ask about the need to verify the coating thickness with the help of X-ray fluorescence technology, thus acquiring more confidence.

This is especially true if plating thickness is a crucial parameter in the product specification.

In general, gold vermeil is a more complex process than just weighing items.

The weight gives information about the amount of the material.

The surface area indicates what area needs to be plated.

The micron thickness tells us how much gold is to be deposited in that area.

Thus, knowing these correlations, one can take the

It is crucial for manufacturers and brands to assess gemstone jewelry in more proportionate terms than just that of its weight.

So, they should take into account:

Weight → Surface Area → Micron Thickness → Gold Deposition → Manufacturing Cost

This can dramatically change the estimate regarding the gold plating.

What Jewelry Brands Should Ask Before Production

The questions a jewelry manufacturer should ask before going into mass production are the following:

• What is the approximate surface area of the jewelry item?
• What is the required thickness of the gold-plating?
• What is the method of measuring the thickness of the plating?
• How pure is the gold that is used for gold-vermeil?
• What methods of measuring the thickness of gold-plating are in use?
• Does the company have the capability of performing XRF testing?
• How does geometry of the design influence the consumption of gold-plating?
• Is it possible to optimize the design while maintaining its original quality?

So, asking these questions will help brands to make the right decision about mass-producing their product.

Final Thoughts

To finish with, it should be noted that what sets the cost of gold vermeil jewelry is not the weight but the area of the surface of the jewelry.

Our example of a 4g ring with the area of 1,500 and a 35g bangle with the area of 3,900 proves that weight alone gives distorted impressions of the consumption of gold plating.

With the growing popularity of gold vermeil jewelry brands aware of the technology of gold-plating will have more chances to succeed in the business.

DWS Jewelry is convinced that successful jewelry manufacturing requires a combination of design, engineering, knowledge of metallurgy, plating skills, quality control and data on production.

For the jewelry brands it is important to understand how the surface area of the piece is connected to the micron thickness and gold consumption.