We’ve always done repairs, but it’s a good time to revisit what the power of good jewelry repair work can accomplish.
Let’s start with daily wear rings. A ring worn daily will experience wear on the prongs around the stones. Depending on the metal, prongs will need to be re-tipped at different points in their lives to prevent loss of the stone. Well made prongs will last for some time before they begin to show wear. At first, the prongs become flattened by contact with clothing, skin, and other objects. As they grow flatter and flatter, they become thinner. When the metal is thin enough, the paper thin portion of the prong that sits atop the stone breaks off, leaving the stone vulnerable to falling out. Whether the prong has merely thinned out or broken off, we can add metal and reshape the prong using goldsmith techniques so that it does its job, holding the stone safely in place. 
The quality of a re-tipping job greatly influences the appearance of the piece. Excellent re-tipping work should look perfect under a loupe, and not like “blobs” of metal added inconsistently throughout. Also, prong re-l;kjtipping should match the color of the original metal, rather than appearing to be a different color. We often see lower quality re-tipping work on white gold showing up as more yellow than the host prong.
There are multiple ways to re-tip, and the less skilled and less expensive methods of jewelry repair do not look as good, or last as long. Re-tipping done with a torch requires the use of solder, and a solder-only re-tipping will not be as long lasting as a re-tipping done with a laser welder using laser wire–which is how we do it at New Gild Jewelers. Like they say, you get what you pay for.
Remember to have your ring looked over by a trusted jeweler once a year or so, to ensure that your stones are not vulnerable to loss.
