Two gold-tone earrings can look identical in a photograph and be an order of magnitude apart in how long they last. The difference is measured in microns, and almost nobody publishes it unless asked.

What a micron actually buys you

Plating thickness is measured in microns — thousandths of a millimetre. Flash plating at 0.175 to 0.5 microns is a colour coat and nothing more; it wears through at contact points within weeks of regular wear.

Heavy gold plate at 1 to 2.5 microns lasts months to a year or two. Vermeil at 2.5 microns and above over sterling survives years of regular wear. Same appearance, entirely different product.

The base matters as much as the layer

Gold over brass will eventually show brass, which is yellow-ish and reads as tarnished rather than as a different metal. Gold over sterling shows silver, which reads as a deliberate two-tone and is far less obviously worn.

This is why vermeil specifies a sterling base. It is not snobbery about the underlying metal, it is about what the piece looks like at the end of its life.

Where wear actually happens

Not evenly. Plating goes first at the points that rub: the back of a stud where it meets the clutch, the edge of a hoop that sits against the ear, the highest point of any raised texture.

That means a flat polished piece and a heavily textured one wear very differently at the same plating thickness, which is worth thinking about at the design stage rather than after.

What you can honestly print

‘Gold vermeil’ if it is at least 10 karat gold, at least 2.5 microns, over solid sterling. ‘Gold plated’ otherwise, at any thickness. ‘Gold tone’ if it is a coating that is not gold at all.

Regulators and customers both increasingly know the difference. Getting the plating thickness stated on your quote is a two-minute email that protects the claim on your card.

Caring for it, and telling customers

Plating is worn away mechanically far more than chemically. Removing pieces before swimming, sport and sleeping extends life dramatically, and a short care line printed on the back of the card genuinely changes how long the product lasts in the wild.

We print care lines as standard because a customer whose earrings lasted is a customer who comes back.

What we do

2.5 micron minimum on anything we call vermeil, over solid sterling, with the thickness stated on the quote. Heavier plating on request where a piece will see hard wear. And we will tell you plainly when a target price only works as plate, rather than quietly thinning the gold to hit it.