Astra Hand Chain

Fine gold chains running from wrist to finger, with round brilliant lab-grown diamonds set along the span so the back of your hand catches light the way a bare hand never does. Astra is named for stars, and worn on skin that is exactly what it reads as.

It is the piece that makes people watch your hands while you talk. Reaching for a glass becomes something. So does signing your name.

✦ Diamond Specifications

• Stone: Round brilliant lab-grown diamonds, set along the chain
• Clarity: VS+, eye-clean
• Color: EF+, near-colorless and bright white
• Cut: Excellent
• Carat weight: 1 or 1.5 ctw
• Setting: Open-backed, so light passes through the stone from underneath as well as above

Round brilliant is the right cut for a piece that moves constantly. Fifty-eight facets means the diamonds are throwing light from some angle at every moment your hand is in motion, which is not true of a step cut. At 1ct the effect is a scatter. At 1.5ct it reads unmistakably as diamonds.

✦ Metal & Construction

• Solid 14k gold, in yellow or white. Not plated, not filled, not vermeil.
• The chain divides across the back of the hand rather than running as one line, which is what gives Astra its spread instead of looking like a bracelet with a leash.
• A slim loop sits over the finger and a lobster claw fastens at the wrist, with an extender chain so you can set the drape tight across the knuckles or let it fall loose.
• The chain is fine enough to move with the hand and hold its line when your fingers close, which is the whole engineering problem with hand jewellery.
• Settings sit low and open-backed, so nothing digs in when you rest your hand flat on a table.

✦ How to Wear It

Bare hand, no rings, or one plain band at most. Astra is already occupying the space rings would use, and adding more turns the whole thing into a costume.

Put it on the hand you gesture with. Set the extender so the chain sits just taut across the back of the hand rather than sagging toward your wrist, and slide the finger loop onto whichever finger makes the line straight. It works with a bare arm and a sleeveless dress. Under a long sleeve, nobody sees it, which defeats the point.

✦ Why Lab-Grown Diamonds

• Chemically and optically identical to mined diamonds. Same carbon structure, same 10 on the Mohs scale, same fire.
• Graded on the same 4Cs by the same standards, which matters on a piece where several stones sit in a line across open skin. One warm stone in that row would be visible from a metre away.
• Traceable origin for every diamond.
• Better value, and on a piece like this that changes what you buy it for. A hand chain is not a wedding ring. Being able to own one because you simply wanted it is the point.

✦ Perfect For

• The woman who already owns the classics and wants something people have to ask about.
• Evenings, dinners and anywhere your hands are visible above a table.
• Photographs. Hand chains are the most photographed category in fine jewellery for a reason.
• Weddings where you are a guest and would rather not compete with anyone, since almost nobody expects jewellery there.
• Wearing something genuinely fine without wearing it around your neck.

✦ Care & Longevity

• Solid 14k gold does not tarnish or fade.
• Warm water, a drop of mild soap and a soft brush. Clean it more often than you would a necklace. Hands meet more soap, cream and surfaces than any other place you wear jewellery.
• Take it off before anything that requires a grip. A chain across the palm side of the finger loop is the part that fails first.
• Off before swimming. Chlorine attacks the alloys in gold over time.
• Fasten the clasp before storing it, and lay it flat. Hand chains tangle into themselves faster than any other piece, because there are two ends and a loop.

✦ Made to Order

Each Astra Hand Chain is made for your order in your chosen carat weight and metal. Allow 4 to 5 weeks for delivery. If your metal and carat weight are already in stock, it tends to arrive sooner.

• Returns accepted within 20 business days of delivery for store credit, unless stated otherwise under product.
• Custom lengths, engraved and personalised pieces are final sale.