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Choosing between a tungsten, titanium, or gold wedding band comes down to how the ring lives on your hand for the next several decades, not how it looks in a display case. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, this is the most common question we field from grooms, and the honest answer changes depending on your job, your skin, and whether you ever want the ring resized. Here is how the three metals actually compare, with the trade-offs spelled out. Hardness and scratch resistance Hardness is where these three metals separate fastest. Mineral hardness is measured on the Mohs scale,...

Chain types matter more than most shoppers expect, because the link pattern decides whether a necklace holds a pendant well, survives daily wear, or kinks the first week you own it. Cable, curb, rope, box, and Figaro are the workhorses, with snake and herringbone for a sleeker look. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, we repair broken chains in-house every week, so we see firsthand which styles last and which ones come back. Here is a plain rundown of each. The five everyday workhorses Cable is the classic. Simple oval links connected in a row, each one set at a...

A good necklace length guide saves you from the most common buying mistake we see: a beautiful chain that sits in exactly the wrong spot. Length is measured as the full circumference of the necklace, clasp included, and a few centimetres change everything about how a piece looks on you. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, we keep a measuring tape and a mirror at the counter for this reason. Here is how to choose the right length by your neckline and your height. The standard lengths, in centimetres and inches The trade uses a handful of named lengths. They...

Opal jewellery care comes down to one fact most people do not know when they buy their first piece: opal holds water inside it, and that makes it more fragile than almost any other popular gemstone. Treat it like a diamond and you will eventually crack it. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, opal repairs are some of the saddest jobs that cross the bench, because most of the damage we see was avoidable. Here is how to care for opals so yours stays whole. Why opal is so much softer than it looks Opal sits at roughly 5 to...

Alexandrite jewellery is built around one quiet bit of magic: a stone that shifts from green in daylight to a soft red or purple under a lamp. It is the rare colour-change variety of the mineral chrysoberyl, and it sits among the most sought-after coloured gems in the trade. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, alexandrite comes up most often with June babies and with collectors who want something that does not look like everyone else's ring. Here is how to understand it and how to buy it well. The colour change, and why it happens The headline feature is...

If you have ever wondered why two diamonds of the same carat look different sizes, the short answer is that carat measures weight, not width. A carat is one fifth of a gram. It tells you how heavy the stone is, and nothing about how big it looks once it sits on a finger. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, this is one of the most common surprises we walk customers through: two stones can both say "1.00 ct" on the report and still look noticeably different across the top. Carat is weight. Size is what you actually see. The...