Jewellery & Watch News
We’ve never met a piece of Whitby Jet that we couldn’t transform. Our skilled team of jewellery specialists are highly experienced in bringing that unique high sheen that Whitby Jet is famous for. When a raw piece of Jet arrives on our bench, our talented craftsmen and women use the latest specialist equipment to shape and polish into a stunning design. As you can see from our extensive, incredible range of Whitby Jet jewellery, we know what we’re doing!
Beachcombed Raw Jet
The fragments of Jet spotted on the beach do not look like those on display in our boutique window or carefully curated online collections. It is much less intense in colour, not as smooth and the mirror like shine is definitely not visible. Therefore, it is not easy to find and can easily be mistaken for lookalikes. It takes a keen eye and an experienced gem hunter to track Jet down. It’s not until the pieces of Jet have left our workshop that they look so smart.
Where the Magic Happens
It’s all down to our talented team who work tirelessly to bring out that spectacular shine we all love so much. It’s far from easy however our experts have been working with Jet for a some time and know everything there is to know about our beloved British gemstone. We pride ourselves on exceptional quality paying close attention to the smallest detail. We don’t stop until we can see our reflection in every stone.
- Our jewellers will meticulously check the piece of Jet for any flaws that it might have. We pride ourselves on only working with the finest natural Whitby Jet sourced from our local beaches.
- Once satisfied they will begin to shape it into the desired setting using a grinder and a linishing machine - we have many different designs that they are highly skilled in creating.
- The next step is to trim the surface and polish to perfection to achieve that brilliant lustre we all love so much!
- Leave it to the professionals to polish raw Whitby Jet as it is a skilled profession that takes years of practice.
We are lucky today that we have the equipment to make the process much quicker and easier as in the Victorian era traditional tools were used that are very different to what we have sitting in our workshop. Health and safety didn’t really exist centuries ago with the many workshops (over 200) trying to keep up with the growing demand. It is a very different scenario these days!
Taking Care of Your Jewellery
We make our jewellery to last from generation to generation however, it is important to take great care of your Whitby Jet to guarantee its longevity. We advise to buy one of our polishing jewellery cloths alongside your Whitby Jet design to keep it shining all year around. Storing your jewellery in a box or case and taking each piece off when cleaning is also a good idea. We’ve written all about taking care of your favourite pieces here, which includes getting your collection serviced every year to keep it looking its best.
Just a little glimpse into the life of our jewellers and how a raw piece of Whitby Jet turns into a stunning piece of jewellery for every day of the week.
