Can gold-plated jewellery get wet?

“Water-resistant” and “waterproof” do not mean the same thing, and the difference is exactly what you need to know before you get into a swimming pool with a bracelet on.

What water does to gold plating

Water on its own, almost nothing. Gold does not oxidise: it is one of the most stable metals there is, and a layer of wet gold is still a layer of gold. The problem is never the water itself, but what is dissolved in it and what happens afterwards.

• Chlorine (swimming pools, some cleaning products): the worst on the list. It attacks the metal underneath through the microscopic pores in the plating and lifts it from the inside.
• Salt (sea, sweat): it speeds up corrosion of the base metal and leaves deposits that scratch the surface as they rub.
• Soaps, shower gels and shampoos: they leave a film that dulls the shine and holds damp right between the piece and your skin.
• Staying on while wet: this is what wears a piece down most, and what people think about least. A damp chain against the skin, all day, rubbing, is worse than ten showers.

So what does “water-resistant” mean?

It means that the piece is not spoilt by getting wet: it copes with washing your hands, with rain, with a normal day’s sweat, with a splash in the kitchen. You do not have to take it off every time a tap is turned on, which is the reason the word matters.

It does not mean waterproof, and that is a word we do not use. Waterproof suggests it makes no difference: that you can bathe, swim and shower with the piece indefinitely and nothing will happen. No gold-plated jewellery does that, whether it costs €20 or €200, and promising it is what produces the disappointment six months later.

Case by case

The rule that most extends the life of a gold-plated piece

It is one sentence: the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off. After the cream, after the perfume, before the swimming pool, before the gym. And if it does get wet, dry it with a soft cloth instead of leaving it to dry on your skin.

What our pieces are made of

Bronze with 24 kt gold plating over a layer of palladium. That intermediate layer of palladium is not decorative: it is a barrier between the bronze and the gold, and it is the reason the plating copes with daily wear and with water far better than a piece plated straight onto the base metal.

It is also the reason we say “water-resistant” and not “waterproof”: it is plating, not gold filled or solid gold, and plating can be worn away. How long that takes depends on rubbing, on your skin and on what comes into contact with the piece — it is explained in gold plating explained and the day to day of it in caring for your jewellery.