14K Gold Convertible Ruby & Diamond Earrings - Worn 3 Ways

Convertible Ruby and Diamond Earrings - Three Pairs in One

Each earring comes apart into two pieces that are designed to be worn separately or together. The first is a jacket: an openwork gold wheel roughly 11mm across, its spokes radiating from a small centre, with four round diamonds claw-set at the four points of the compass. The second is a drop - an oval ruby cabochon, about 6 x 5mm, sunk in a deep plain gold bezel with a heavy rim, and a fifth diamond bezel-set into the small gold ring at the top of its bail. Five diamonds to each earring, ten across the pair. The pair weighs 3.28 grams in 14k solid gold.

Convertible earrings were a genuinely clever piece of 1980s and 1990s jewellery design and they have largely stopped being made, because they cost more to build than a fixed pair and are harder to explain in a shop window. The engineering is in the join: the drop has to sit dead centre under the jacket, hang straight, and come away cleanly without a tool. Get it right and one purchase behaves like three - the wheel alone as a bright everyday stud, the ruby alone as a quiet coloured drop, or both assembled into a full cluster for an evening.

FAQs

1. How do they come apart?
The ruby drop lifts away from the gold jacket by hand - no tool, no jeweller. Each earring is two separate pieces that assemble on the same post, which is what lets one pair be worn three ways.

2. How many diamonds are there, and where?
Ten across the pair. Four are claw-set at the four points of each openwork wheel, and the fifth on each earring is bezel-set into the small gold ring at the top of the ruby drop - so both halves keep some sparkle when worn on their own.

3. What is a ruby cabochon?
A ruby polished into a smooth dome instead of being faceted. It trades sparkle for depth of colour, letting you see into the stone rather than bouncing light off its surface. These are a soft purplish pink rather than a deep red - lighter and cooler than most people picture when they hear ruby, and the colour the cabochon cut suits best.

4. How big are they on the ear?
The gold jacket is about 11mm across and the ruby about 6 x 5mm. Assembled they read as a proper cluster stud; the jacket alone is neat enough for every day.

5. How should they be cleaned and stored?
Warm soapy water and a soft brush, working through the openwork spokes where dust collects, then dried fully. Ruby is very hard and takes daily wear easily. Because these come apart, keep both halves together in one pouch - the drop is small and easy to mislay. Our hallmark guide explains the 585 stamp, and the Gold Care Card covers the metal.

How to Style the Convertible Ruby Earrings

Treat them as three pairs. The wheel alone for work and plain colours; the ruby drop alone when you want warmth without weight; both together for anything that needs an occasion. The soft pink goes with more than a faceted red would - grey, cream, denim, black. Explore the full 14k and 18k Gold collection, see more Earrings, or visit JewelBuild™.