How to Clean Fine Jewelry at Home, Safely

By Ines Duarte · May 20, 2026 · Jewelry Care

Ninety percent of the pieces that come across our bench for repair do not need a repair. They need a clean, a check of the prongs, and a better place to live between wearings. Here is the routine we give clients so they visit us for the pleasant reasons instead.

For gold and platinum set with diamonds, sapphires, or rubies: warm water, two drops of unscented dish soap, and a soft baby toothbrush. Soak for ten minutes, brush the underside of the stone where the film actually collects, rinse in a bowl rather than an open drain, and dry on a lint-free cloth. That is the whole method. Done monthly it keeps a diamond looking the way it looked the day you took it home.

Now the exceptions, because they are the expensive ones. Emeralds are almost always oiled or resin-treated, and hot water and ultrasonic cleaners strip that treatment and reveal every internal fracture. Opals and turquoise are porous and will drink whatever you soak them in. Pearls are the most fragile thing most people own: wipe them with a barely damp cloth after each wear, never submerge the strand, and never spray perfume while wearing them. Silk thread that has been soaked stretches, then breaks, usually in public.

Skip the drugstore ultrasonic cleaner entirely. It is excellent at loosening dirt and equally excellent at loosening a prong that was already tired. If a stone has been rattling, an ultrasonic bath is how it ends up in a carpet.

Storage is the other half. Store pieces separately - a diamond will scratch every other stone in the box, and gold chains tangle into knots that cost real money to undo. Soft pouches or a lined box with individual slots, kept out of direct sun and away from bathroom humidity. Take rings off for the gym, the garden, and the pool; chlorine attacks the alloys in white gold specifically.

Bring anything you wear daily to us once a year. We check the prongs under a loupe, tighten what has moved, and re-polish at no charge for pieces made here. Ten minutes at the bench prevents the phone call that starts with the word gone.