If you've ever picked up a piece labelled 'waterproof' and wondered what that actually means, you're asking the right question. The short answer is not much. 'Waterproof jewellery' is a marketing phrase rather than a standard, which is exactly why we've chosen never to use it.
Maybe you've been there already. You bought a piece because the listing said it could handle water, wore it through a few showers and a swim at the beach, then watched it turn dull, dark or patchy within weeks. Or maybe it held up for a few months before you noticed the colour slowly coming off. Either way, the label promised one thing and the piece did another.
There's no standard behind the word
Watches are a useful comparison. When a watch says it's water resistant to 50 metres, that figure is tied to an international standard (ISO 22810) with defined tests behind it. Jewellery has nothing like that, in Australia or anywhere else. There's no standard setting what a piece has to survive before it can be called 'waterproof', so anyone can use the label and what sits behind it changes from one listing to the next. On one piece it might mean it survived a quick rinse under the tap. On another it might simply mean the stainless steel doesn't rust. On its own, the word tells you almost nothing.
We don't use 'tarnish-free' either, and the reason for both comes down to experience. Our founder has spent more than 30 years in the jewellery industry, working alongside the manufacturers who make it. That much time teaches you how each metal and finish really behaves over months and years of wear and how far that can be from what a label promises. So instead, every product page tells you what the piece is made of. Each piece also comes with a care guide so you know how to look after it.
So is anyone checking? Here in Australia, the Australian Consumer Law says a business can't mislead you about what a product is or what it can do. That covers jewellery like everything else, but nothing in it defines 'waterproof'. There's no test a piece has to pass and nobody approves the label before it goes on a listing. In practice the word tends to get questioned only after something goes wrong, which leaves you, the person wearing it, to find out the hard way.
What actually decides how a piece wears
Part of the problem is that one word gets stretched across very different pieces. 'Waterproof' might sit on stainless steel with a PVD finish. It also turns up on gold vermeil and plated pieces, where a layer of gold is doing all the protecting. Think of it like nail polish. One quick coat of regular polish can start chipping within days, while several proper coats or a gel finish will last much longer. Both wear eventually. Whatever's underneath is what you're left with. Jewellery works the same way. The base metal is your nail and the plating or finish is the polish. Sterling silver is the bare nail, so there's nothing to chip or wear away. It does have its own reaction to water, which we'll come to. So before you trust the label, look for three things: the base metal, the type of plating or finish over it and, for vermeil and plated pieces, how thick the gold layer is. If a listing doesn't tell you these, that tells you something too.
No single one of those things decides how a piece copes with water. It's the combination, plus how the piece is worn and looked after. In nail polish terms, it's the nail, the polish, how well it was put on and what your hands get up to afterwards. The same manicure won't last as long on someone who's in and out of water or working with their hands all day as it will on someone at a desk. The same goes for jewellery. A ring that's constantly wet and knocking against things will wear faster than a pair of earrings that barely get touched.
Once you think of it that way, it's common sense. Any layer sitting on top of something else, whether it's paint on a house or polish on a nail, will wear away over time with rubbing, knocking and scratching. That's true of every jewellery finish, however well it's made. Over the next few sections we'll look at how that plays out across the metals and finishes we actually work with.
How our metals cope with water
Sterling silver is the bare nail from earlier, so there's no layer to wear off. That doesn't mean it ignores water. Sterling silver contains 92.5% pure silver, with the rest usually copper to make it strong enough to wear. Both metals react with things around them, including sulphur in the air, sweat, some skin products and the chlorine in pools and spas. That reaction is tarnish, the darkening you see over time. Chlorine speeds it up a lot and, with repeated exposure, can weaken solder joins and clasps. Salt water speeds up tarnish too. The good news is that tarnish sits on the surface and can be cleaned off, which you can't do once a layer of gold has worn away. The odd swim won't ruin a sterling silver piece, but it's worth taking it off before you get in the pool.
Gold vermeil and gold plated pieces both have a layer of gold over a base metal. With vermeil, that base is always sterling silver. Gold plating can sit on brass or other metals, but ours sits on sterling silver too. So on our pieces, the main difference between the two is how thick the gold layer is. Vermeil's is much thicker, so it takes longer to wear through. The gold itself is usually mixed with a little copper and silver for strength and colour, and those are the metals chlorine goes after. Even so, it's mostly the rubbing, knocking and scratching of everyday wear that takes the gold away, with chlorine and salt water speeding things along. Once it wears through, the sterling silver underneath is exposed and tarnishes like any other sterling silver. That happens no matter what the label said when you bought it.
Gold filled is made differently again. Instead of gold being plated onto the surface, a thick layer of gold is bonded to a brass core using heat and pressure. If plating is like a coat of paint, gold filled is closer to a laminate. That bond and the amount of gold involved mean it generally copes very well with everyday wear. It's still a layer over a base though, so the same common sense applies. The gold is an alloy with copper and silver in it, so chlorine can dull it over time. Anywhere the brass core shows through, it can tarnish to a greenish or brown colour. That might be where years of rubbing have worn the gold away, where a deep scratch has gone through it or at the cut end of a wire, where the brass inside is exposed.
Our gold bonded stainless steel uses a different process again, called PVD (physical vapour deposition). Rather than placing the piece in a liquid bath with an electrical current, as with plating, the finish is applied inside a vacuum chamber. The coating material is turned into a vapour and settles onto the steel atom by atom, building up a dense, hard layer that grips the surface far more tightly than plating does. We've had ours made with a thicker PVD layer than is standard, partly so it stands up to everyday Australian life. Even so, PVD is still a finish over a base. Over the long term, rubbing and knocking will eventually show on the spots that take the most wear, the same as anything else.
Chlorine, salt water and everyday products
Of everything your jewellery is likely to come across, chlorine is the toughest. Pools and spas are the obvious places, but it's also in plenty of household cleaning products. Over time it can leave tiny pits in the surface and weaken the small joins that hold a piece together, like solder points and clasps. Even stainless steel isn't completely immune to long, regular soaks in chlorinated water. That's why your care guide suggests taking your jewellery off before you swim, shower or use cleaning products.
Showers, beaches and bathroom shelves do their damage more quietly. Soap, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion don't eat into metal the way chlorine can, but they leave a film behind that dulls the surface and wears on a finish over time. Sunscreen, perfume, fake tan and hand sanitiser do the same. With sunscreen and perfume, the easy fix is to put them on first and let them dry before your jewellery goes on. A day at the beach brings salt water, which speeds up tarnish. Then there's sand, which rubs at a finish like fine sandpaper. None of it ruins a piece in one go. It's what builds up, day after day, that makes the difference.
How to check a 'waterproof' claim
So next time you see 'waterproof' on a listing, you've got an easy way to check what's behind it. Go back to the three questions from earlier: what's the base metal, what finish sits over it and, for vermeil and plated pieces, how thick is the gold? Then find the care instructions. If a piece is sold as 'waterproof' but its care guide tells you to take it off before swimming or showering, the two can't both be right. Ours says exactly what this article does, which is why you won't find 'waterproof' anywhere on our product pages.
The warranty is worth a look too. If a listing calls a piece 'waterproof' but the warranty excludes damage from water, chlorine, sweat or salt water, the label and the fine print are pulling in opposite directions. Here in Australia, though, the fine print doesn't get the final say. Any warranty a business offers sits on top of your rights under the Australian Consumer Law and can't take them away. One of those rights is that a product should be as durable as a reasonable person would expect, taking into account how it was described when you bought it. That doesn't cover the normal wear that comes with time or damage from using a piece in ways it wasn't made for. Even so, a word on a listing isn't just marketing. It helps set the standard the piece is expected to meet.
What we do instead
Across our whole range, we'd rather give you real information and trust you to decide what suits the way you live than hand you a word that just sounds reassuring. Our PVD bonded stainless steel is the most durable finish we offer. It's safe for brief water exposure and daily wear with normal care, but we still won't call it 'waterproof', because over time that simply wouldn't be true.
So what is 'waterproof jewellery', really? It's a word being asked to do a job it can't do. Finding out what a piece is made of and how it's finished will always tell you more than the label on it.
If you'd like jewellery that's upfront about what it is, that's what we're here for. Every piece in our range, from sterling silver and gold vermeil to gold plated sterling silver, gold filled and PVD bonded stainless steel, tells you what it's made of before you buy. Each one also comes with a care guide, because knowing how to look after a piece is a big part of how long it lasts. If you're ever unsure about a piece, ours or anyone else's, just ask. We'll give you a straight answer, even when it takes more than one word.
Explore our PVD bonded stainless steel collection
Frequently asked questions
Is any jewellery actually waterproof?
Not in the way the word suggests. Every finish wears with time and use. Even sterling silver, which has no finish, reacts to chlorine and salt water. How a piece copes depends on the base metal, the finish, how it was applied and how you wear it. No single word covers all of that.
Is 'waterproof' jewellery regulated in Australia?
There's no Australian standard that defines it. The Australian Consumer Law says a business can't mislead you about what a product is or what it can do, but nothing sets out what a piece has to survive before it can be called 'waterproof'. Anyone can use the label.
Can I shower or swim in my jewellery?
We'd take it off. Chlorine, salt water, soap and shampoo all wear on finishes and speed up tarnish over time. Our premium stainless steel is safe for brief water exposure, but taking any piece off before you swim or shower is the easiest way to help it last.
Why has my jewellery changed colour?
Usually because a gold layer has worn through or the metal has tarnished. Once the gold wears away, sterling silver underneath can darken and the brass core in gold filled can turn greenish or brown. Tarnish on sterling silver can usually be polished off with a silver polishing cloth.
