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Men's Silver Jewellery Guide — How to Wear It Right
Men's silver in India stopped being a statement some years ago and became ordinary. A kada at a desk. A chain under a collar. A Rudraksh worn every day instead of only on festival mornings. What follows is the practical part: what to choose for your build, how to size a kada properly, and how to wear the pieces without looking like you are wearing them. Kada, bracelet or chain These three are not interchangeable, and wrist size decides more than taste does. A kada is rigid. It does not follow the wrist; the wrist sits inside it. On a broad wrist with a heavy forearm, a kada reads as proportionate. On a narrow wrist, under about 16 cm around, a wide heavy kada tends to look borrowed, and it slides. If your wrist is on the finer side and you still want one, go narrower in width rather than smaller in size. A bracelet is flexible and clasped. It follows the wrist, so it suits almost every build, and it sits under a shirt cuff without catching. This is the safer first purchase. A chain avoids the wrist question altogether. Length is what matters. Twenty inches sits at the collarbone and disappears under a buttoned shirt. Twenty-two to twenty-four inches sits on the chest and is meant to be seen. Eighteen inches is a close fit that reads more European than Indian. Seeing widths side by side settles this faster than measuring does, so it is worth looking through the full men's jewellery range before deciding. Sizing a kada: the 2.x system Kadas are not sized small, medium, large and extra large. Indian bangle sizing uses a numbered system that describes actual inner diameter, and it is worth learning because it is precise. Sizes run 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 2.10 and 2.12. Note that 2.10 comes after 2.8. It is read as "two-ten", not as a decimal. Each step up adds roughly one centimetre of inner circumference. Bangle size Inner diameter Inner circumference 2.2 5.4 cm 17.0 cm 2.4 5.7 cm 17.9 cm 2.6 6.0 cm 18.9 cm 2.8 6.4 cm 19.9 cm 2.10 6.7 cm 20.9 cm 2.12 7.0 cm 21.9 cm How to measure at home Press your four fingers together and tuck your thumb in toward your palm, as if you were sliding a rigid bangle on. Wrap a strip of paper or a length of non-stretch thread around the widest part of the hand in that position, usually across the knuckles at the base of the thumb. Mark where it overlaps, lay it flat against a ruler, and read the length in centimetres. That is your hand circumference. Choose the size whose inner circumference is equal to or just above your measurement. If you fall between two, go up. Two practical notes. Measure the hand you will actually wear it on, since the dominant hand is usually slightly larger. And an open-ended kada has a little give at the gap, so it forgives a near miss, where a closed one does not. The full chart is on the size guide, and sizes are listed piece by piece in the kada collection. Weight and presence Two kadas can look identical in a photograph and feel like completely different objects on the wrist. A solid kada carries its weight low and still. It settles against the wrist bone and stays there, and you stop noticing it after a day. A hollow or thin-walled kada of the same outer dimensions weighs a fraction as much. It rides up the forearm, swings when you move, and rings slightly when it meets a table. It also dents. A solid piece takes a knock and keeps its shape. Weight is the most reliable indicator of what you are actually buying. When two pieces look the same and are priced differently, the gram weight usually explains the gap. Oxidised or polished An oxidised, or antique, finish is deliberate darkening pushed into the recesses of a design, so the pattern reads as depth rather than shine. A polished finish is bright and reflective and reads as new. Oxidised works with warm and deeper skin tones, with kurtas, linen, denim and anything textured, and with carved or detailed designs where the darkening is doing structural work. It is quieter across a room. Polished works with cooler and fairer skin tones, with tailoring, formal shirting and sharp minimal shapes. It reads dressier and photographs brighter. If you are choosing one piece to wear with everything, oxidised is more forgiving. If you are building around a suit, polished. Layering chains without clutter Layering fails when everything competes. Three rules cover most of it. Differ the lengths by at least two inches. Chains at similar lengths tangle and read as one messy line. Let one piece lead. A pendant on the shorter chain and a plain chain longer, or the reverse, but only one of them should be the thing people notice. Vary the link, not the metal. A box chain next to a curb chain reads as intentional. Two near-identical curbs read as an accident. Keep the metal and the finish consistent. Two chains is a sensible ceiling for most men. Three works only if one of them is genuinely thin. Spiritual pieces, worn daily Om, trishul, Rudraksh, Khatu Shyam. These are the pieces most often bought for a festival and then kept in a box, which wastes a good object and misses the point of it. A spiritual pendant is designed to be worn against the skin every day. That is what the form is for. Worn daily it also ages properly: sterling picks up a soft patina in the recesses, the high points stay bright, and the piece starts to look like it belongs to you rather than to a shop. For daily wear, keep the pendant modest in size and let the chain do the work. A large pendant on a thin chain looks unbalanced and pulls at the neck. The spiritual collection is built around pieces at daily-wear scale. Wedding versus work For a wedding, this is the one occasion where scale is correct. A solid kada with an oxidised finish, a visible chain at twenty-two inches, a ring with presence. Ethnic clothing carries weight that tailoring cannot, and an understated piece disappears entirely against a sherwani. For work, one piece, at or just under the cuff. A narrow kada or a flat bracelet. If you wear a chain, keep it at collarbone length and let it stay under the shirt. Rings are the exception; a single band is fine in almost any office. The test is simple. At a wedding, the jewellery should be seen. At work, it should only be noticed by someone standing close enough to notice. Keeping it right Sterling is rhodium-finished to resist tarnish, but no finish is permanent. Contact points wear over time, and sweat, perfume and humidity speed things along. Wipe a piece with a soft cloth after a long day, put it on after the aftershave rather than before, and store it dry and sealed rather than open on a shelf. Tarnish, when it comes, is a surface film and it comes off. Details are on the care page.
What 925 Sterling Silver Really Means
Sterling silver is one of the most misunderstood materials in Indian jewellery. A great deal of what is sold as silver contains no silver at all, and the stamp inside a band means different things depending on who put it there. This is a plain account of what 925 is, how to tell it apart from the things it gets confused with, and what to expect from it over years of wear. What 925 actually means 925 is a purity figure. It means the metal is 92.5 per cent silver by weight, with the remaining 7.5 per cent made up of other metals, most often copper. The obvious question is why anyone would add anything at all. The answer is that pure silver, at 99.9 per cent, is too soft to build jewellery from. A pure silver ring goes out of round in a trouser pocket. A pure silver kada flattens under the weight of an ordinary day. Prongs holding a stone would open on their own. The 7.5 per cent alloy fixes that. It gives sterling enough hardness to hold a shape, enough spring to take a knock, and enough structure to keep a polish and grip a setting. 925 is the international benchmark for sterling, used in Italy, Thailand, the United States and India alike, which is why it appears on jewellery from all of them. Sterling, plated, German silver and "silver-toned" Four very different things share a shelf in most Indian markets. 925 sterling silver is silver throughout. Cut it in half and the inside looks like the outside. It can be resized, repaired, re-polished and re-finished, because there is real metal to work with. Silver-plated is a base metal, usually brass, with a very thin layer of silver deposited on top. The layer wears through at the points that rub: the underside of a ring, the edge of a kada, the back of a pendant. Once it is through, the brass shows. German silver, also sold as nickel silver or alpaca, contains no silver at all. It is copper, nickel and zinc. It is a legitimate material, but the name misleads, and its nickel content is the single most common cause of skin reactions. "Silver-toned" or "silver finish" fashion jewellery is a colour description, not a material one. It tells you what the piece looks like and nothing about what it is made of. How to tell them apart before you buy Weight. Sterling is dense. Pick up a plated piece and a sterling piece of the same size and the difference is immediate. Brass and light alloys feel hollow for their volume. The stamp. Look for 925 stamped into the metal, usually inside a band or on the tag of a chain. No stamp anywhere is a red flag. Price. Silver has a daily market rate. A "sterling" chain priced far below the metal value of its own weight is not sterling. Wear points. On a used plated piece, look at the underside of the shank or the edges. Yellow or pink metal showing through settles the question. Magnets. Sterling is not magnetic. A piece that jumps to a fridge magnet has a steel or iron core. A 925 stamp is not a BIS hallmark This is where most Indian buyers are misled, often by sellers who are confused themselves. A 925 stamp is a maker's mark of purity. The house that produced the piece stamps it to declare the metal is sterling. It is a statement of the standard the piece was made to, backed by the maker's own name. A BIS hallmark is something else entirely. It is issued under the Bureau of Indian Standards scheme, applied at a licensed assaying and hallmarking centre, and it carries the BIS mark along with the centre's identification. It is a third-party certification, not a maker's declaration. The two are not interchangeable and the words should not be used as synonyms. When a listing says "925 hallmarked" or "925 certified", it is worth asking what is actually meant. In most cases it means a house stamp, described loosely. Ruaab pieces carry a 925 house stamp, and we describe them that way because that is what they are. Why sterling suits sensitive skin Most jewellery reactions in India are not silver allergies. They are nickel reactions. Nickel is the most common contact allergen there is, and it turns up in German silver, in cheap plating, and in low-grade alloys sold loosely as silver. Sterling's alloy is copper, not nickel. For the large majority of people, including those who cannot wear costume jewellery for more than an hour, sterling is comfortable for all-day wear. The exception is worth naming honestly: a small number of people react to copper, and a very small number react to silver itself. If your skin has objected to every metal you have tried, sterling is a strong bet but not a guarantee. Tarnish: what causes it, and why it is not damage Tarnish is a chemical reaction, not decay. Silver reacts with sulphur compounds in the air to form silver sulphide, a dark film on the surface. The metal underneath is untouched. What speeds it up: Sulphur in the air, from traffic and industry, and closer to home from rubber bands, wool and some cardboard and paper. Sweat, which is mildly acidic and carries salts. Perfume, deodorant, hairspray and lotion sprayed onto or over a piece. Humidity. Coastal and monsoon air tarnishes silver faster than dry inland air, which is why silver behaves differently in Mumbai than it does in Bikaner. Chlorinated water in swimming pools. The useful part is that tarnish is reversible. A soft polishing cloth takes early tarnish off in a minute. Heavier tarnish needs a proper silver clean. Nothing is lost, because nothing was consumed. Full instructions are on our care page. Worth knowing: silver worn regularly tarnishes less than silver left in a drawer. Skin contact and gentle friction keep the surface bright. Storing a piece sealed, with the air excluded, does the same. What a rhodium finish does Rhodium is a platinum-group metal. Applied as a thin layer over sterling, it does three things: it adds a hard surface that resists scratching, it gives a brighter white than silver's natural warm grey, and it puts a barrier between the silver and the air, which slows tarnish considerably. Now the honest part. Rhodium is a finish, and every finish wears. How long it lasts depends on where the piece sits and how you live. A pendant that hangs clear of everything can hold its finish for years. A ring on a working hand, or the underside of a kada that meets a desk edge and a steering wheel every day, will thin at the contact points sooner. That is normal, it is not a fault, and it is why rhodium-finished pieces can be re-finished rather than replaced. Anyone who tells you a silver piece is permanently anti-tarnish is overstating it. What is true is that a rhodium finish resists tarnish, and that the resistance is a layer that gets used up. How we work Ruaab is a 925 sterling silver house in Bikaner, Rajasthan, run by Shiv Shakti Jewellers. Every piece is sterling throughout, stamped 925, and finished to be worn rather than stored. Weight, worn with intent. If you are starting out, rings and pendants are the easiest entry, and the FAQ covers sizing, shipping and exchange. Shipping is free across India, dispatch takes 24 to 48 hours and delivery 3 to 7 working days. Exchanges run for 15 days; damaged, defective or wrong items are replaced free.
How to Choose the Perfect Ring for Men and Women
A ring is the hardest piece of jewellery to buy and the easiest to get wrong, because it is the only one that has to fit. Everything else forgives a centimetre. A ring half a size out is either uncomfortable or on the floor. This is how to get the size right, and how to choose a ring that survives actually being worn. Measuring at home Method one: the paper strip Cut a strip of paper about 5 mm wide, or use a length of non-stretch thread. Not elastic, and not string that gives. Wrap it around the base of the finger, snug but not tight. You should be able to slide it slightly. Check it will pass over the knuckle. On many hands the knuckle is wider than the base of the finger, and the knuckle is what decides the size. Mark the overlap, lay the strip flat against a ruler and read the length in millimetres. That is your finger circumference. Method two: an existing ring If there is a ring that already fits the right finger, this is the more accurate route. Lay it flat and measure the inner diameter in millimetres, inside edge to inside edge, across the widest point of the opening. Measure twice and take the larger reading, because it is easy to cut a corner off the circle by eye. Circumference is diameter multiplied by 3.14 if you need to convert between the two. Match either figure against the chart on the size guide rather than guessing at a size number, because size numbering differs between Indian, US and UK systems while the millimetre figure does not. When to measure Fingers change through the day. Measure in the evening, when they are at their largest. Do not measure cold hands, after a cold shower, off a flight, or in a heavily air-conditioned room, because a finger measured cold can read a full size small and the ring will be uncomfortable by afternoon. Do not measure straight after exercise or a salty meal either; those go the other way. If your reading falls between sizes, go up. A slightly loose ring is wearable. A tight one is not, and it is harder to put right. Band width changes the fit This catches people out. A wide band fits tighter than a narrow band at the same nominal size, because it covers more of the finger and leaves less room for skin to move. As a working rule, if the band is 6 mm or wider, go up half a size from what you measured. Width also changes how the ring reads. A narrow band, 2 to 3 mm, is quiet and layers well with other rings. A mid-width band, 4 to 6 mm, is the most versatile single ring. Anything above 8 mm is a statement piece and needs a hand that can carry it. Choosing a finish Sterling takes several finishes, and they wear differently. Polished is bright and reflective. It shows fine scratches soonest, but it also re-polishes easily, so it stays recoverable. Matte or brushed hides scratches by having a texture already. Over years the high points gradually gloss up on their own. Oxidised darkens the recesses of a design and suits carved or textured bands. The darkening wears off the raised areas first, which usually improves the piece. Rhodium-finished sterling is brighter and harder-surfaced, and it resists tarnish. It is still a plated layer, so on a ring, which takes more abrasion than anything else you own, expect it to thin at the underside of the band over time. It can be re-finished. Stone settings and daily wear How a stone is held decides whether a ring can be worn every day or should be kept for occasions. Setting How it holds the stone Daily wear Solitaire, prong-set Three to six metal claws grip the stone and lift it clear of the band Catches on fabric; prongs loosen and want checking once a year Bezel A continuous rim of metal wraps the edge of the stone The most secure setting there is, with nothing to snag. Best choice for every day Pave Many small stones set close together in tiny shared beads of metal Fine detail, but individual stones can work loose under knocks Channel Stones sit in a groove between two walls of metal Sturdy and flush; a good middle ground between pave and a plain band Plain band No stone Effectively indestructible in normal use If the ring is going onto a hand that types, cooks, drives and carries things, choose a bezel, a channel setting or a plain band. Keep prong-set solitaires and pave for the days they are meant for. Matching the ring to the hand Proportion does more work here than design does. Short or broad fingers look longer with narrow bands, vertical detail, and stones set lengthways along the finger rather than across it. Very wide bands shorten the visual line. Long, slim fingers carry almost anything, and are the one case where a wide statement band or a large stone genuinely works. Broader hands need some weight to look balanced. A delicate 2 mm band can look like it went missing. Prominent knuckles are best served by a band with a rounded inner edge, often sold as comfort fit. It passes the knuckle more easily and then sits without spinning. Spinning is usually a sizing problem rather than a design one. A ring that spins is too large for the base of the finger, even though it needed that size to clear the knuckle. A rounded inner profile helps, and so does a slightly wider band. Adjustable rings, and gifting without a size An adjustable ring, an open band with overlapping ends, has a real advantage as a gift. It fits a range rather than a single point, it can be moved to a different finger, and it removes the one variable you cannot check without giving away the surprise. It is the sensible default when you are not certain. If you want a fixed size anyway, the reliable routes are these. Borrow a ring she already wears, on the finger you are buying for, and measure the inner diameter. A ring from a different finger will mislead you. Press one into soap or clay for an impression if you cannot keep it long enough to measure properly. Ask someone. A sister or a close friend usually knows, and asking is less awkward than a ring that does not fit. Default to the index or middle finger if you are guessing. A fashion ring is worn there more often than on the ring finger, and those sizes vary less between people. One honest caveat about gifting. Exchanges at Ruaab run for 15 days from delivery, so a gift bought long in advance of an occasion can fall outside that window before it is opened. Buy close to the date, or buy adjustable. Before you buy Measure in the evening. Go up if you are between sizes. Add half a size for a wide band. Choose a bezel if the ring is for every day. Then choose the one you actually like. The ring collection is sterling throughout, stamped 925, and finished to be lived in rather than locked away. Care instructions are on the care page, and shipping and exchange terms are in the FAQ.