How does a jewelry sample get made?

A sample is a small piece of manufacturing, and it fails for manufacturing reasons — not because the sketch was unclear in a artistic sense, but because a dimension was left open and someone had to choose a number for you.

Stage 1: interpretation

Your reference goes to a technical drawing: dimensions, thickness, tolerances, stone sizes if any, finish, clasp, logo placement. This stage is short in hours and decisive in outcome. A drawing that specifies "about 2 mm thick" produces a sample that is 1.8 mm, and then a conversation.

• What you should send: a photo or sketch, a physical reference if you have one, the metal grade, the finish, the logo treatment, and the size range.
• What comes back: a drawing for approval. Read the thickness and the width. Those two numbers drive weight, cost and how the piece feels.

Stage 2: tooling and model

Cast pieces need a mould; laser-cut and stamped pieces need a die or a program. Simple bands and tags can be cut directly from sheet or tube, which is why they sample faster and cheaper than sculpted pendants.

This is the stage where the clock is genuinely outside your control — and also the stage where changes are most expensive. After tooling, a design change is a new tool.

Stage 3: first article

The piece is produced, usually in the specified steel but without the final finish. At this point weight and dimension are real numbers, not intentions.

Stage 4: finishing and coating

Polishing, then PVD if the piece is coloured. PVD runs in batches in a vacuum chamber, so a sample may wait for a chamber cycle that has capacity. This is one reason a coloured sample can take longer than a steel-finish one of the same design.

Stage 5: review and dispatch

Dimensional check, visual inspection, logo check, and photographs before packing. Good suppliers send photos and weight before shipping, so you approve the physical facts before paying for courier.

Where the days actually go

The total lands at 10-15 days when nothing is re-opened. Two rounds of changes add a week, not a day, because tooling and coating both restart.

How to keep to schedule

• Approve the drawing in writing, with thickness and width confirmed.
• Freeze the design once tooling starts. Note any second thought as a variant for the next order.
• Ask for the sample in the final finish, not a polished-only version, if colour matters to the sell-in.
• Request weight in grams with the sample photos. It is the number buyers notice last and complain about first.

If a supplier cannot tell you which stage your sample is in on a given day, that is a scheduling problem, not a communication preference. We report stage and date together, every time.