Small independent jewellersNew

What gets pre-loaded

• preferenceimportance 8/10

  Named-craftsman continuity — every custom piece carries a named maker + named backup

  Independent jewellers sell the named-craftsman's hand and judgement as much as the piece itself — clients return because of the relationship and the visible-attention-to-detail of the named maker. Every custom-order accepts a named primary craftsman + a named backup who has already shadowed the customer's preferences from a prior project (or who the named primary briefs explicitly before the work starts). Sub-policy: a one-off bench substitute for a small repair is fine; a multi-week custom commission picked up by an unfamiliar craftsman without a logged briefing is the textbook setup for a 'this isn't the work I commissioned' delivery surprise. Surface a watch item on any active custom order without a documented named-backup or any craftsman change without a logged briefing.

• preferenceimportance 8/10

  Custom-order milestone cadence — named touchpoints at design + wax + cast + set + final review

  Custom jewellery commissions live or die on the customer-communication cadence between intake and final delivery. Every commission carries five named milestones — design approval (sketch or CAD), wax / model approval, cast review, stone-setting review, final pre-delivery review — and every milestone fires a named-customer comm (photo + named-craftsman note + invitation to flag anything off). Sequencing the milestones within named-published-windows lets the customer set expectations with their gift-recipient or event date, and lets the named-craftsman build slack into the schedule for any rework loop. Surface a watch item on any commission whose named-final-delivery date is closer than 21 days with one or more uncompleted upstream milestones.

• lessonimportance 9/10

  Appraisal + insurance documentation hygiene — every named piece over $2K carries a written appraisal + named-photographer record

  High-value pieces sold without written appraisal documentation leave the customer exposed on the insurance axis — a lost or damaged piece without a written appraisal is structurally undervalued by the carrier on payout. Every named piece over $2,000 (custom or retail) leaves the shop with a same-day written appraisal (named appraiser + named-replacement-value + named-stone-grading-summary + named-photographer record from at least 3 angles + named-ring-or-piece-size-record). The appraisal accompanies the piece in a sealed envelope; a digital copy is logged on the customer's named-account file. Surface a watch item on any piece over $2K sold without a logged appraisal within 24 hours of pickup.

• lessonimportance 8/10

  Chain-of-custody on every named piece in for repair, resize, or restoration

  A piece in the back-room for repair / resize / restoration is the highest-trust moment in the customer relationship — a customer hands the named-jeweller a 30-year-old engagement ring and trusts the named-craftsman with it. Every piece checked in carries a named-condition-report (photographs + weight + named-stone-count + named-stone-grading + named-prong-condition) signed by the named-customer + named-shop-staff at intake, a named-craftsman signature at every workbench-handoff inside the shop, and a named-final-photograph + named-customer signoff at pickup. The chain-of-custody is the load-bearing primitive that protects both customer + shop on the rare loss / damage / dispute event. Surface a watch item on any piece in the back-room for more than 14 days without a logged workbench-handoff or any high-value piece (>$5K) checked in without a named-photograph + named-condition-report at intake.