How Fine Jewellery Is Made: From Sketch and CAD to the Finished Ring

A finished ring looks effortless, which is the point. Behind it are around ten distinct stages and as many skilled hands: designers, modellers, casters, setters and polishers. This is how a piece of fine jewellery is made in our Surat workshop, from the first line on paper to the box it travels in.

1. The sketch

Everything starts with proportions. How wide should the band be? How high should the diamond sit? How many accent stones fit around a halo without crowding it? A designer answers these questions on paper first, often with several versions of the same idea.

2. The CAD model

The chosen sketch becomes a computer-aided design (CAD) model, accurate to a hundredth of a millimetre. CAD lets us check things the eye cannot: that prongs are thick enough to hold a stone for decades, that the gallery lets light reach the diamond, and that the ring is comfortable against the neighbouring finger. For bespoke pieces, this is the stage where you see renders and ask for changes.

3. Printing the model

The CAD file is printed in a special castable resin or wax, layer by layer, on a high-resolution 3D printer. The print is an exact, if fragile, copy of the finished ring.

4. Lost-wax casting

This technique is thousands of years old, and still the best way to make fine jewellery. The printed models are attached to a wax "tree", set in a flask and surrounded with plaster-like investment. The flask is heated in a kiln: the wax or resin burns away and leaves a perfect hollow mould. Molten gold or silver is then poured or vacuum-cast into the cavity.

5. Clean-up and sizing

Once cooled, the investment is washed away and each ring is cut from the tree. Bench jewellers file away the casting sprue, refine the edges and bring the band to the ordered size.

6. Pre-polishing

Hard-to-reach surfaces, such as the inside of a basket or the underside of a halo, are polished before any diamonds go in. Once stones are set, these areas cannot be reached safely.

7. Stone setting

This is the most delicate stage. The setter cuts a precise seat for each diamond, places it level and centred, then pushes and shapes the metal over it: prongs for a solitaire, small beads for pavé, a rim of metal for a bezel. A well-set stone sits straight, does not move, and has no gaps for dirt or snags.

8. Final polish and plating

Polishers bring the metal to a mirror finish with successively finer compounds. White gold pieces are then rhodium plated for a bright, cool white surface.

9. Hallmarking

Gold and silver purity is tested and stamped. Every Zarna Jewels gold and silver piece carries a BIS hallmark confirming its purity, such as 585 for 14K gold or 925 for sterling silver. Read more in our hallmarking guide.

10. Inspection

Before packing, each piece is checked under magnification: every stone, every prong, every edge and the finish inside the band. Only then does it go into its box, with its diamond grading report if it has a certified centre stone.

You can feel a well-made ring before you see it: smooth edges, no catches, and a stone that simply does not move.Bench jeweller, Surat

How long it all takes

Most of our pieces are made to order: two to three working weeks for standard designs and three to four for bespoke work, then insured delivery worldwide. Each piece is covered by our lifetime manufacturing guarantee.