Toi et Moi Hand Chain Bracelet

Two round brilliant lab-grown diamonds, set together at the centre of a whisper-fine solid 14k gold chain that runs from your wrist to your finger. Toi et moi means you and me, and the design has spent two centuries being read as two people.

Read it however you like. Two stones can just as easily be the woman you were and the one you turned into, sitting side by side on the back of your own hand.

✦ Diamond Specifications

• Stone: Two round brilliant lab-grown diamonds, set as a pair at the centre point
• Clarity: VS+, eye-clean
• Color: EF+, near-colorless and bright white
• Cut: Excellent
• Carat weight: 0.6 to 1.2 ctw across the pair
• Setting: The two stones sit close and slightly offset, so they read as one gesture rather than two separate diamonds on a chain

Two stones next to each other is the hardest matching job in a small piece. Side by side and touching, there is no distance to soften a difference in colour or brilliance. If one were even slightly warmer than the other, this design would fall apart. That pairing is the whole craft here.

✦ Metal & Construction

• Solid 14k gold, in yellow or white. Not plated, not filled, not vermeil.
• The diamonds are set at the midpoint of the chain, so they land on the back of the hand rather than at the wrist or against the knuckle.
• A loop slips over the finger and a lobster claw fastens at the wrist. There is no size to choose.
• The chain is deliberately fine. Two stones on a heavy chain would look like a bracelet that got lost. On this weight of gold they float.
• Settings sit low, so the pair stays flat against the hand instead of standing up and catching on things.

✦ How to Wear It

Loop over the middle finger, chain drawn back across the hand, clasp at the wrist. Adjust until the two stones sit dead centre on the back of the hand. That placement is the entire design, and half an inch out in either direction shows.

Wear it on a bare hand. This is the quietest of our three hand chains, so it also happens to be the one you can wear to a lunch rather than only to a dinner. If you want more, put a Mosaic Ring on the other hand instead of loading up this one. Two diamonds is the idea. Adding a third defeats it.

✦ 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 is what allows two stones sitting in contact to be genuinely matched rather than approximately matched.
• Traceable origin for both diamonds.
• Better value, which is why the toi et moi motif does not have to be an engagement ring anymore. It can be a piece you choose for yourself, in a form nobody will mistake for a proposal.

✦ Perfect For

• The woman who likes the romance of the motif and would rather own it than be given it.
• Daytime, where a hand chain this fine passes as jewellery rather than as an event.
• Marking a before and an after. A move, a divorce, a company, a decade.
• Anyone who wants diamonds somewhere other than a finger, an ear or a neck.
• The second hand chain, once the first one has taught you how much you like wearing them.

✦ Care & Longevity

• Solid 14k gold does not tarnish or fade.
• Warm water, a drop of mild soap and a soft brush. Work between the two stones. That narrow gap is the one place on this piece where cream and soap collect and refuse to rinse out.
• Clean it more often than a necklace. Hands are washed several times a day and jewellery on them is not.
• Take it off for anything requiring grip. The chain running past the palm side of the finger loop takes the most stress on the whole piece.
• Off before swimming. Chlorine attacks the alloys in gold over time.
• Clasp it closed and lay it flat to store, and keep it away from heavier chains. A chain this fine will lose that argument.

✦ Made to Order

Each Toi et Moi Hand Chain Bracelet is made for your order in your chosen metal, with the two diamonds matched to one another before setting. Made to order, ships in 2–5 weeks, between Nov 10 and Dec 1.

• 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.