Bringing in a piece that means something and asking "what could this become" is a bigger step than it sounds, and it helps to know roughly what happens next before you take it. In broad terms, a redesign moves through assessment, a design conversation, un-setting the stones, making the new piece, and hallmarking, but the shape of each stage, and how long the whole thing takes, is worth understanding properly rather than guessing at.

We start by looking, not designing

The first thing we do with any piece is examine it properly, the metal, the stones, the mount, the general condition of a piece that may have been worn daily for decades. This tells us what's actually there to work with: whether claws have worn thin, whether a stone has old damage that needs attention, what the metal's purity is. We do this before we talk seriously about design, because a design built before anyone has looked closely at the piece is a design built on assumptions, and we'd rather not start there. This first appointment can happen either as a video call or in person at our Marylebone shop, whichever suits you better, and it usually takes forty-five minutes to an hour. There's no fee for it.

Then we talk about what you actually want

Once we know what we're working with, the conversation turns to you; how you'd wear the finished piece day to day, whether there's a specific style or feeling you're after, and whether you want to keep any element of the original design rather than start from a blank page. Budget belongs in this conversation too, openly, because it shapes what we propose rather than being an awkward afterthought. We'll also talk through the practical trade-offs that don't always occur to people at this stage, a very delicate band looks lovely but wears differently over years than a sturdier one, for instance, so that what you choose is something you'll still be glad of in daily wear, not just in the room.

Design, then un-setting, then making

From there, we move into a proper design phase before anything irreversible happens to your stones or your metal. Once a design and price is agreed, the stones come out of the original mount and are inspected again, closely, since their exact measurements determine how the new setting is built around them. The new piece is then made and finished by hand. If your original piece carries more metal than the new design needs, we'll talk to you about what happens to the surplus. We often can't tell whether there'll be any until the piece is finished, but where there is, it can be returned to you, and we work out the arrangement case by case.

We've written more about how this process typically unfolds across the trade generally, including realistic UK cost bands for different kinds of redesign, in our fuller guide on Commissioned. It's worth reading if you'd like a sense of the wider picture before your first appointment with us.

Hallmarking and collection

A significantly altered piece needs a new mount, a new shank, added metal and usually needs its own hallmark under UK law, even where the original metal was already marked, because in the eyes of the assay office it's legally a new item once it's been substantially reworked. We handle this as part of the process rather than treating it as a separate errand for you, and it's one of the last steps before your piece is ready to collect.

What to bring to a first appointment

A first appointment goes better, and any quote comes back more accurate, if you bring the piece itself so it can be assessed properly rather than described to us; any valuation or insurance paperwork you have, which gives us a starting point; a few images of styles that appeal to you, even rough or unrelated ones; a rough sense of your budget; and anything we should know about the piece's history; a stone you definitely want kept, an engraving to preserve, a detail that matters more than the rest. You don't need a finished design in mind. Most people don't arrive with one, and turning a feeling into something we can actually build is a large part of what these early conversations are for. As a general guide, a redesign like this tends to take four to eight weeks from first appointment to collection, largely depending on how quickly you're happy to approve the design. Before anything is cast, we can produce a printed resin model for you to hold, and a silver sample is possible too, at additional cost.

Starting the conversation

If you have a piece you've been meaning to bring in, the best next step is a bespoke consultation, where we can look at it properly and talk through what it might become with no obligation to go any further until you're ready.