Wear & tear on Hardwear links?

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foxgal

foxgal

O.G.
Jul 22, 2010
3,433
7,817
#1
Hi Hardwear owners! I was cleaning my silver microlink bracelet today and noticed what looks like significant wear on the links. Most of the tops of the links look about half as thick the rest of the link, and the clasp looks like it's getting close to worn through! Is this just wear and tear? I have been wearing it 24/7 for over three years now. I understand silver is not the strongest metal but am sad if I'll only get a bit longer before it breaks.

How are your bracelet links wearing? I was considering getting the small size and/or perhaps gold...do you think the 18K will wear longer than silver? Would love to see pics from anyone else who wears their Hardwear a lot.


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#3
I'm friends with a jeweler and Cartier SA. She says that jewelry should not be worn 24/7, unless the pieces move very little (like a wedding band). Otherwise, you WILL be shortening the life of the piece by a great deal, regardless of material. She says that even if you get this bracelet in gold, if you want it to last a long time without serious wear, then you should remove it for showers, bed, and physical activities (gardening, cleaning, the gym, etc.).
 
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#5
Berengeria said:
I'm friends with a jeweler and Cartier SA. She says that jewelry should not be worn 24/7, unless the pieces move very little (like a wedding band). Otherwise, you WILL be shortening the life of the piece by a great deal, regardless of material. She says that even if you get this bracelet in gold, if you want it to last a long time without serious wear, then you should remove it for showers, bed, and physical activities (gardening, cleaning, the gym, etc.).
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The only thing I ever take off is my watch. Guess it’s just what I need to factor in to jewelry purchases, the type of metal and type of link. I’ve had other items last much longer…Pandora silver snake bracelet (without charms) was worn 24/7 for over a decade before the clasp wore through.

Never really liked bangles but maybe I should consider a Love bangle that’s designed to never be removed.
 
#7
A1aGypsy said:
This is still weird to me. I have a friend who has a micro and she’s worn it non-stop for years. I’ll try to remember to look at it tonight.
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Thank you - I would really appreciate it! Especially the clasp. I never examined it up close before so I can’t say 100% if that divot in it is wear or intentional - ?
 
#8
foxgal said:
Hi Hardwear owners! I was cleaning my silver microlink bracelet today and noticed what looks like significant wear on the links. Most of the tops of the links look about half as thick the rest of the link, and the clasp looks like it's getting close to worn through! Is this just wear and tear? I have been wearing it 24/7 for over three years now. I understand silver is not the strongest metal but am sad if I'll only get a bit longer before it breaks.

How are your bracelet links wearing? I was considering getting the small size and/or perhaps gold...do you think the 18K will wear longer than silver? Would love to see pics from anyone else who wears their Hardwear a lot.


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This is definitely metal on metal wear. I only wear mine maybe once or twice a month but I've had this kind of wear occur on stainless steel laptop bag parts. It looked exactly like your photos. My bag was heavy and being used daily (pre-covid times), the metal wore through on the parts.

What I don't understand is there is no weight or no pull on a worn bracelet. Unless it is really small for your wrist, with the links constantly pulling up tight (which I highly doubt you'd be wearing that way, it wouldn't be comfortable for you), I don't see how this should be occurring.

I would definitely bring it back to Tiffany and see what customer service say.
 
#9
caruava said:
This is definitely metal on metal wear. I only wear mine maybe once or twice a month but I've had this kind of wear occur on stainless steel laptop bag parts. It looked exactly like your photos. My bag was heavy and being used daily (pre-covid times), the metal wore through on the parts.

What I don't understand is there is no weight or no pull on a worn bracelet. Unless it is really small for your wrist, with the links constantly pulling up tight (which I highly doubt you'd be wearing that way, it wouldn't be comfortable for you), I don't see how this should be occurring.

I would definitely bring it back to Tiffany and see what customer service say.
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Thank you for your response! The bracelet isn't tight (though perhaps when I'm sleeping and it rolls up my arm?), so as you say, it seems odd that there would be this much wear.

That said, I fear it would be more aggro than it's worth to contact Tiffany. I don't live near a boutique and am not a big client. Suspect they would just tell me to take it off when sleeping, showering, yada, yada and give me a massive quote to fix it. I may look at getting a local jeweller to just add a bit of silver solder to the clasp to build it up, but it would be very labor-intensive to do this on each link.
 
#10
foxgal said:
Thank you for your response! The bracelet isn't tight (though perhaps when I'm sleeping and it rolls up my arm?), so as you say, it seems odd that there would be this much wear.

That said, I fear it would be more aggro than it's worth to contact Tiffany. I don't live near a boutique and am not a big client. Suspect they would just tell me to take it off when sleeping, showering, yada, yada and give me a massive quote to fix it. I may look at getting a local jeweller to just add a bit of silver solder to the clasp to build it up, but it would be very labor-intensive to do this on each link.
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I don’t have any experience with this like @caruava does, but I don’t think it would hurt when you are next at the store to ask about this. And, also ask if you can see a new bracelet to see if the links are thinner on the ends to facilitate movement. I’m sorry this happened. While I don’t wear my jewelry at home or anywhere near 24/7, I do wear my favorites daily, and I would find this amount of wear horrifying. I hope that they can help you out.
 
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#11
That level of wear does not look right to me. I am not a big client either, but have a few of the hardware pieces, and have always found them to be helpful and respectful (in London). It definitely would not hurt to ask, as others have said. One thing I have found, if you end up buying a new piece, no matter how "small", it can make them even more helpful when you're there!!
 
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#13
Thank you, @mave33. Yes, that's how I remember my clasp looking new. As some people suggested I contact Tiffany, I did reach out to their customer service online 3 days ago, and though their website says customer service will respond in 24 hours, I've yet to hear a peep (surprise, surprise...I'm so disenchanted with luxury brands).
 
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#14
A1aGypsy said:
This is still weird to me. I have a friend who has a micro and she’s worn it non-stop for years. I’ll try to remember to look at it tonight.
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Hi @A1aGypsy - did you ever get a chance to check out your friend's microlink for wear? I'm getting no feedback from anyone who has worn theirs substantially.

I did get an email back from Tiffany customer service with the typical response..."fill in this form and send the piece into us" which I'm really not interested in doing...I know they are just going to give a huge quote to repair and not admit it's defective or anything. Though I don't believe it's defective, I'm guessing it's just extensive wear and tear and it just bums me out that a product called "hardwear" isn't meant for hard wear (lol but kinda sad too).
 
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#15
mave33 said:
This is what it looks like new. I texted with a client advisor and they said the micro link bracelet in silver is solid but the micro link bracelet in gold is hollow.
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Wait all the hardwear link bracelets in 18k are lightweight and hollow? I was considering purchasing but hollow is a big turn off for me. Are the lock bracelets hollow too?
 
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