The Oval Egg Pendant

A tenth anniversary. The husband was clear that he did not want formal jewelry, which is usually code for a pendant that goes in a box and stays there. He wanted something she would put on and forget about. That is a harder brief than it sounds, because the pieces people forget about are the ones that do not tangle, do not flip, and do not catch on a collar.

We set an 8x10 oval moissanite in a slim bezel with a 0.7mm wall, on 14k yellow gold. Total weight is 2.4 grams including the bail and the chain. The chain is a 1mm cable, 18 inches, sized so the bezel lands just below the collarbone and can disappear under a shirt.

The bezel is hand-turned from tube stock rather than cast. Tube gives you a wall that is the same thickness all the way around, and on an 8x10 oval that matters, because a cast bezel that thin comes back thin in the long curves and thick at the points. The stone sits on a shelf cut 0.3mm into the tube with a graver, then the rim gets pushed over in four passes with a burnisher. Four passes, not one, because one heavy push ripples the rim and you cannot un-ripple it.

The bail is the part that took extra time. The first attempt slid on the chain but hung at an angle, and a pendant that hangs crooked is worse than one that does not move at all. We re-made the bail one gauge larger, filed the inside to a slight oval so it sits flat on the chain under load, then tested by hanging the piece and rolling the chain back and forth a hundred times. It slides. Extra bench day, and it was the right call.

Finish is a light hand polish and a rouge pass on the bezel rim only, so the oval keeps a fine line of light. Ultrasonic, then a 10x check for solder pits around the bail joint. Clean. 4 weeks from CAD approval. He asked us to write the date on the inside of the box lid. We did.