Valentino Gold Bracelets

A Valentino bracelet is a flat bracelet built from the Valentino link pattern: an elongated link pressed flat on both faces, followed by one or two short round rings, repeated around the wrist and closed with a clasp that sits in the place of a ring.

The word describes the pattern of links and nothing else. It says how the bracelet is put together, how it will lie on the wrist, and how a jeweller will alter it, and it carries no other meaning on a listing.

On a bracelet the pattern reads differently from a chain, because there are few repeats. The long plates become the visible design and the rings between them become the spacing, which is why the plates are usually the part a listing photographs.

Length. A chain carries the pattern through many dozens of repeats, and the eye reads the alternation as a texture. A bracelet carries perhaps a dozen, and on a broad width fewer, so the eye stops on individual plates instead of running along a rhythm.

At that scale the rings recede. They still do the hinging and still set the spacing, but seen at close range on a short length they read as gaps between plates rather than as elements in themselves.

This is why a Valentino bracelet is often chosen in a wider link than the wearer's chain. With only a few plates on show, each needs enough surface to hold interest on its own, and a slightly broader plate does that.

The plates settle face-up on whatever part of the wrist they rest on, held there by their own weight. On the back of the wrist, which is broad and nearly flat, they lie across the surface in a row with a small dip at each ring.

When the wrist turns, the bracelet slides and the plates that were underneath come to the top, where they settle in the same way. The bracelet does not balance on its edges, since the plates are wider than they are thick and fall onto a face.

So the flat links stay on top of whichever surface is uppermost at the time. What the wearer sees, looking down, is a row of faces rather than a row of edges.

It travels around the wrist as any bracelet with a little slack does, but it does not turn over in the sense of presenting its back. The plates are finished alike on both faces, and each one rolls face-up on its rings whichever way the bracelet has travelled.

The turning happens plate by plate rather than all at once. Because the rings are round and each plate pivots on its own, a movement of the wrist sends a small wave around the bracelet as the plates settle one after another.

The clasp travels with the bracelet and may arrive on top of the wrist during the day. It sits in the position of a ring in the sequence, so when it does surface it interrupts the pattern only by its own length.

Loosely enough to slide a little, since the pattern relies on the plates being free to settle face-up as the wrist moves. A bracelet worn tight holds the plates where they are and can leave one presenting its edge until it is nudged.

The sequence should run unbroken around the wrist, with the clasp occupying the place of a short ring. On a correctly sized bracelet a plate sits on either side of the clasp, and the count is the same there as everywhere else.

The listing gives the finished length from end to end including the clasp. A bracelet that may be shortened later should be chosen a little long rather than a little short, since removing a repeat is straightforward and adding one requires matching links.

Yes. A jeweller opens a short ring, removes complete repeats of plate and ring, and closes the ring onto the next plate or onto the clasp. Because the cut is made at a ring the count is unchanged on either side of the join.

Each repeat removed is one plate and one ring, or one plate and two rings on the two-ring count. On a broad bracelet a single repeat can be close to half an inch, so the adjustment is made in steps rather than to a fraction.

The rule is to cut at a ring and not through a plate. A shortened plate, or two rings left meeting, reads as a fault at the clasp, and on a bracelet the clasp spends much of the day in view.

On the flat faces of the plates that ride on the underside of the wrist, which meet desks, tables and keyboards during the day. A flat face touches an edge across its whole width, so the wear shows as a soft haze on the polish rather than as individual scratches.

The rings show wear where they turn in the eyes of the plates, as any hinge does. Over years the round wire flattens slightly at the contact point and the eye of the plate opens a fraction, which is the ordinary ageing of a linked bracelet.

The plates on the top of the wrist, and those that spend the day under a cuff, keep their finish longest. A jeweller brings the faces back with a polish; on a diamond-cut plate the facets are re-cut.

It marks the plates rather than harming the structure. The rigid long links take the contact with the desk edge on their flat faces, spreading it across the whole width of the plate, and the result over time is a dulled surface that polishing restores.

The rings are not usually involved, since they sit slightly proud between plates and are shielded by them on either side. The hinging action of the bracelet is unaffected by surface wear on the plates.

A wearer who types all day can lessen the marking by wearing the bracelet a little further up the wrist, or under a cuff, where it is held off the desk. A wrist rest does the same for a bracelet worn low.

Comfortably, provided the width suits the cuff. The pattern lies flat with nothing standing off the wrist, so it does not catch the fabric, and the plates slide under a cuff without snagging. A fine or middle width disappears under a cuff; a broad one shows at the edge.

A cuff also protects the bracelet. It holds the plates still and keeps them off the desk, so the faces under a cuff keep their polish longer than those on a bare wrist.

The bracelet will move slightly with the cuff as the arm moves, and the plates settle face-up under the fabric in the same way as in the open. When the cuff is pushed back the bracelet reappears the right way up.

They share the link pattern, so worn together they read as a pair. The widths are often chosen differently, since a bracelet is usually taken in a broader link than a chain by the same wearer, and the patterns then appear at two scales rather than one.

The count should match. A one-ring bracelet worn beside a two-ring chain shows a different rhythm, and the difference is visible at the wrist and neck even when the widths are the same.

Karat and colour are the other things to match, since two yellow golds of different karat show as different shades side by side. The listing states both, and choosing the same values for chain and bracelet keeps the pair reading as one.