Bead Gold Chain

By short bars that run from the inside of one bead to the inside of the next. Each bar has a swollen end that is captured inside the sphere, so the beads are held by shape rather than by a visible link or a soldered ring.

On the solid beads used here the bar end is fixed inside a drilled hole. The joint turns freely but cannot be undone without cutting.

The result is a chain with no visible links at all. From a short distance the beads seem to touch, with only a narrow neck between each pair, and the mechanism that holds them is entirely inside the spheres.

Each joint is a ball in a socket rather than a hinge. The bar can tilt a little in any direction inside the bead, and the bead can spin on the bar, so there is no plane in which the chain bends more readily than another.

A chain built from flat links prefers to bend one way and resists the other. A bead chain has no preference, which is why it curls into a tight loop however it is pushed and pours through the fingers without a fold.

The same freedom is why it settles to the neck without needing to be turned. There is no front and no back to a sphere, and a pendant hung from the chain finds its own position and stays there.

It does not sparkle so much as glint. A polished sphere reflects one small bright highlight from wherever the light falls, so a bead chain shows a row of evenly spaced points that move along the chain as the wearer moves.

Flat faces flash and facets scatter; a sphere does neither, which gives the bead chain its quieter, more regular look. Against dark cloth the row of points reads as a dotted line of light.

Where more brightness is wanted, the beads are diamond-cut, with small planes cut into each sphere. That replaces the single highlight with a cluster of flashes and makes the chain noticeably brighter at the same diameter.

Yes. Every surface that touches the skin is rounded, and because each bead turns on its bar the chain rolls over the skin rather than dragging. It is a comfortable chain to wear against bare skin and under a collar.

The narrow necks between the beads are the only feature that is not a curve, and at ordinary sizes they are too short to catch on anything. The rounded surfaces give hair at the nape little to lodge against, which many wearers find more comfortable than a chain with crests or open gaps.

Every style in this collection is solid 14K gold. Bead diameter and length are given on each listing.

Almost entirely. At one millimetre the beads are too small to see individually and the chain reads as a fine glittering thread, which is the size usually chosen to carry a small pendant without competing with it.

Around two millimetres each bead becomes countable. The chain is now a textured line with visible points of light, and it is worn on its own as readily as with a pendant.

From three millimetres upward the spheres are the design, and the chain reads as a string of beads rather than a chain. The widest style here runs to four millimetres in solid 14K gold.

Because there is no link to open. The bars that join the beads are captured inside the spheres, and the only way to separate two beads is to cut the bar between them. A jeweller therefore takes length off the end rather than out of the middle.

The unwanted beads are cut away, and a new end connector — a small cap that grips the last bead — is crimped or soldered on to carry the clasp. Ask your jeweller what the work involves for your piece.

Adding length is the difficult direction, since a new section cannot be joined in without a visible fitting. A bead chain is better bought at the length it will be worn, with any adjustment made downward.

It will, provided the bail passes over the beads. A bead chain has no flat face and no directional link, so it offers nothing for a pendant to fight against, and the pendant settles at the lowest point of the curve and stays there.

The bail opening has to clear the bead diameter, not just the neck between beads. A bail that is a tight fit rides on the spheres rather than hanging clear of them, so choose a bail that clears the bead diameter.

A pendant with a fixed loop rather than a hinged bail also hangs well, since each bead can rotate on its bar and the chain adjusts under the pendant rather than twisting it.

A solid bead takes a knock as a small surface mark rather than a dent, because there is no cavity for the surface to press into.

A sphere carries one clean highlight, so a mark on the polished surface interrupts that highlight and is visible at close range. A jeweller can usually polish a surface mark out.

Solid beads are heavier for the same diameter than hollow ones, which is part of why the styles in this collection run to four millimetres rather than wider.

With an end connector at each end: a small cap that closes over the last bead and holds it by its shape, in the same way the beads hold their bars. The clasp, usually a lobster or a spring ring, hangs from a loop on the cap.

The cap is the one part of the chain that is not a sphere, and on a very fine bead chain it is barely larger than the beads themselves. On wider chains it is made to match the bead diameter so the fastening reads as a continuation of the run.

The join between cap and last bead is where the chain carries its load when a pendant pulls or the clasp is tugged, so it is the first place to check if the chain ever feels loose at the fastening.

Like any fine chain, a bead chain can part under a sharp pull. The joints between beads are the points that carry the load, so a parting will usually occur at a joint rather than through a bead.

What can be repaired, and how, depends on where the chain parted and on the piece itself. A jeweller will assess it and advise.

If a chain fails in normal wear, contact us before attempting any repair.