Engineered in CAD before any metal is cast.

At ACCA, every approved CAD model becomes a physical pattern before any metal is cast. The file is sliced into layers of around twenty-five microns. With each pass, the build plate dips into castable resin, and ultraviolet light cures one exact cross-section. Prong tips, pavé seats and filigree survive at full resolution. The finished pattern rises from the vat, is washed and post-cured, and is checked against the CAD before it goes to the casting room.

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Investment casting is the backbone of the ACCA casting room. Wax or resin patterns are sprued onto a central trunk to form a tree, sealed in a steel flask and invested in plaster. A slow burnout cycle, rising to around seven hundred and thirty degrees, removes every trace of the pattern. Molten eighteen-karat gold, at roughly one thousand and fifty degrees, is then drawn into the cavity under vacuum. When the plaster is quenched away, the gold carries every detail of the original model.

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Hand forging gives metal a density that casting cannot match. At ACCA, a gold or platinum bar is annealed to a dull red glow, then worked on the anvil with measured, overlapping blows. Each strike compresses the grain and drives out porosity, so the finished band is harder and more resistant to wear. The bar is drawn down, curved over the horn, and finally closed into a ring, ready to be soldered, trued and sized.

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Every time metal is hammered, rolled or drawn, it work-hardens and becomes brittle. Annealing restores it. At ACCA, the coil is brought evenly to a dull cherry red: for eighteen-karat yellow gold, roughly six hundred and fifty degrees, held just long enough for the grain to recrystallise. It is then quenched, pickled clean, and returned to the bench soft and ready. This cycle of work and anneal is repeated at every forming stage, so the metal never cracks.

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The rolling mill turns a cast ingot into sheet or strip of exact thickness. At ACCA, the ingot is fed between hardened, polished steel rollers. Each pass reduces it by only a small fraction, with annealing in between, until it reaches the gauge specified on the technical sheet, often to within two hundredths of a millimetre. The result is dense, even stock for bezels, galleries and backing plates. Patterned rollers can also print texture into the surface.

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Wire drawing produces the exact gauges that prongs, jump rings and chain depend on. At ACCA, annealed wire is tapered at one end, fed through a tungsten carbide drawplate and pulled through one hole after another, each slightly smaller than the last. Round, square and half-round profiles are made the same way. A prong wire that is a tenth of a millimetre too thin is a security risk, so every gauge is measured with a micrometer before it reaches the setter.

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Fold forming creates sculptural volume from a single flat sheet. At ACCA, an annealed sheet is folded and the fold line is forged with a cross-peen hammer. The metal stretches far more along the fold than at its edges. When the sheet is opened, it springs into a curved, leaf-like form that could not be raised any other way. The result is light, rigid and organic, suited to statement earrings and limited editions.

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Anticlastic raising produces a saddle curve: the metal bends one way along its length and the opposite way across its width. At ACCA, a flat strip is laid in the groove of a sinusoidal stake and struck with a narrow raising hammer, stretching the edges while the centre is compressed. The double curvature makes a cuff remarkably stiff for its weight, so a bangle can be both light and strong.

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Torch soldering creates joins that disappear. At ACCA, two parts are filed to a light-tight seam, fluxed, and a small paillon of solder is placed on the line. The torch heats the whole assembly, not the solder, until the alloy flows and capillary action draws it along the join. Hard, medium and easy solders melt at stepped temperatures, so later joints never reopen earlier ones. Solder is matched to the karat, so the line stays the same colour as the piece.

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Laser welding joins metal where a torch cannot go. At ACCA, the operator aligns the parts under a stereo microscope, and a pulsed laser delivers a spot about two tenths of a millimetre across. The metal fuses in milliseconds, and the heat stays local, so a stone set a millimetre away is not affected. The technique is used for assembly near stone seats, for re-tipping prongs, and for repairs that must leave no visible trace.

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Chain is built at ACCA one link at a time. Drawn wire is wound tightly around a steel mandrel, and the coil is sawn into identical jump rings. Each ring is opened, threaded through its neighbour, closed flush and soldered, so no link can pull apart under load. The chain is then shaped into cable, curb or rope, cut to the length on the specification, and finished with its clasp.

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A clasp is a small mechanism that has to work for years. At ACCA, box clasps are fabricated from tube and sheet: a precisely cut box, and a folded spring tongue that compresses as it enters and expands behind the catch. The fit is adjusted to tenths of a millimetre so it closes with a firm, audible click. A hinged safety catch is then added, and every clasp is opened and closed repeatedly before it is approved.

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Even layouts start with matched stones. At ACCA, loose stones are measured with gauges and electronic callipers, and sorted into size bands often only a few hundredths of a millimetre apart. They are then graded for colour against reference stones under daylight-balanced light. Only stones from the same band go into one eternity band, halo or line bracelet, so every seat fits and the finished surface looks uniform from edge to edge.

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Lapidary faceting turns a rough crystal into a cut stone. The rough is mounted on a dop and set in a faceting head that locks each angle to a fraction of a degree. At ACCA, our lapidary partners grind every facet against a diamond lap, working through the pavilion and the crown, then polish each facet in turn. The angles are chosen so that light entering the table reflects back to the eye. The same skills are used to re-cut and calibrate stones for a design.

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A cabochon is cut for colour and optical effect rather than sparkle. A slab is marked with a template, sawn, and ground to a precise outline. The dome is then shaped on progressively finer wheels, from coarse grit to a final polish, keeping the curve even all the way round. At ACCA, cabochons are cut to calibrated outlines, so they sit perfectly in a bezel and show the stone's full depth of colour.

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Intaglio is carving in reverse. The design is cut below the polished face of the stone, so that pressed into wax it reads as a crisp relief. Working under magnification, the carver uses diamond burrs, from fine points to small wheels, building depth gradually and checking the impression as he goes. For signet rings, ACCA reproduces a crest or monogram to a carver's drawing, then sets the stone so the seal can still be used.

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Micro-pavé covers a surface in stones that are often less than one millimetre across. At ACCA, the stone layout is defined in CAD, and each seat is cut under the microscope with a bur sized to the stone. The setter places the stones one by one, then raises tiny beads of metal from the surrounding surface with a graver, pushing them over each girdle. Every bead is shaped with a beading tool and checked under magnification, so the surface reads as continuous light.

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Pearl knotting protects every pearl on a strand. At ACCA, the pearls are graded for size and lustre, and strung on silk or nylon with a fine needle. After each pearl, a knot is tied and pushed firmly against it with an awl. The knots stop the pearls from rubbing against each other, and if the thread ever breaks, only one pearl can come loose. The strand is finished with gimp at each end, to protect the thread where it meets the clasp.

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Hand engraving is still done with a burin. At ACCA, the piece is held in an engraver's ball vice under magnification. The engraver pushes the graver into the metal at a shallow angle and cuts a curl of gold away. Turning the work instead of the tool, he shapes scrolls, lettering and bright-cut facets that catch the light. No two hand-cut lines are identical, and that is exactly what a client is paying for.

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Laser engraving marks logos, hallmarks and serial numbers with permanent precision. At ACCA, the artwork is imported as vector paths and the fibre laser traces them, vaporising a few microns of metal with each pass. Depth is set by power and the number of passes, so a mark can be a fine surface line or a deep, crisp engraving. Every mark is placed exactly where the technical sheet specifies, and checked under the loupe at final inspection.

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Guilloché is engine-turned decoration. A rose-engine lathe, guided by a stack of shaped cams called rosettes, moves the workpiece against a fixed cutter as it rotates. Each pass cuts one fine line; the cutter is indexed and the pass repeated, line after line, until waves, sunbursts or barleycorn patterns interlace across the surface. At ACCA, guilloché is used on its own or under translucent enamel, where the pattern glows through the colour.

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Milgrain adds a row of tiny beads along an edge. At ACCA, a hardened knurling wheel, sized to the bead required, is rolled along the edge with steady pressure, and each notch in the wheel raises one bead of metal. The beading frames stones and outlines with a fine, vintage detail. The line must stay straight and every bead the same size, so the work is done under magnification.

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Diamond-cut finishing carves facets into the metal itself. At ACCA, the piece is mounted in a precision cutting machine and a diamond-tipped tool takes a single, clean cut for each facet, leaving a surface that is already mirror-bright. Facets are indexed around the band at fixed angles, so they flash in sequence as the piece turns. The result is sparkle without stones, repeatable from the first piece to the last.

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Granulation is one of the oldest techniques in goldsmithing. Tiny gold spheres are made by melting fragments of gold until surface tension pulls each one round. At ACCA, the granules are placed one by one in their pattern, held with a copper-salt glue, and heated until the copper and gold diffuse into one another. The granules fuse to the surface without solder, so every sphere stays perfectly crisp.

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Filigree is lace made of metal. Fine gold wire is twisted, then flattened slightly so it catches the light. At ACCA, the craftsman bends it with tweezers into scrolls and spirals and packs them tightly inside a heavier frame wire. Powdered solder is applied, and the whole panel is heated at once, joining every contact point. The result is open, light ornament for earrings and pendants.

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Chasing and repoussé create relief from a flat sheet. At ACCA, the design is transferred to the metal and the sheet is set in warm pitch, which supports it while it moves. Working from the back, the chaser drives the forms outward with rounded punches. The piece is then turned over, re-set in the pitch, and the detail is refined from the front with tracers and matting tools. Raised, sculpted relief is achieved without removing any metal.

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Mokume-gane is Japanese for wood-grain metal. Alternating sheets of contrasting alloys are stacked and diffusion-bonded under heat and pressure into one solid billet. At ACCA, the billet is then carved or drilled through its layers, and forged and rolled flat again. The cuts expose the layers as flowing rings and waves, so every band carries a grain that is unique.

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Keum-boo is a Korean technique for bonding gold onto silver. At ACCA, the silver is first depletion-gilded, building up a layer of fine silver at the surface. Pure twenty-four-karat gold foil, only microns thick, is cut to the design. The piece is heated to around three hundred and fifty degrees, and the foil is pressed down with an agate burnisher until the two metals diffuse into a permanent bond: bright gold detail on white silver.

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Niello is a black sulphide alloy of silver, copper and lead. At ACCA, the design is engraved deeply into the metal, and the niello is ground to a powder and packed into the cuts. Gentle heat melts it so that it flows into the recesses and fuses there. Once it has cooled, the surface is filed, stoned and polished flush, leaving crisp black lines set into bright metal. The contrast is strong, and it will not wear away.

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Enamelling fuses coloured glass to metal. At ACCA, finely ground enamel is washed, then laid wet into each cell, in champlevé recesses or between cloisonné wires. The piece is fired in a kiln at around eight hundred degrees, and the glass melts into a smooth, glossy layer. Several thin layers are built up and fired in turn for depth, then stoned flush and refired. Colours can be matched to a brand reference.

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Plique-à-jour is enamel without a back, light shining through it like stained glass. At ACCA, the frame is pierced into open cells, and each cell is filled with translucent enamel held in place only by surface tension. It is fired on a temporary mica backing, which is removed once the glass has fused to the walls. After several firings, the cells are stoned and polished, and the colour glows when the piece is held to the light.

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Hand polishing decides how a piece looks and feels. At ACCA, the polisher works through a sequence of stages: emery and pre-polish to remove file marks, a tripoli compound on a felt or bristle wheel, then rouge on soft cotton for the final mirror. Edges are kept crisp, and the inside of the band is shaped for comfort. Each stage removes only the scratches from the stage before, so no detail is lost.

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Burnishing creates shine by pressure, not abrasion. At ACCA, a burnisher of polished hardened steel or agate is drawn firmly across the surface, flattening the microscopic peaks of the metal so it reflects light. No metal is removed, which makes it ideal for bezels, edges and settings close to stones. The compressed surface is also harder, so a burnished edge resists wear in daily use.

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The Florentine finish comes from Italian goldsmithing. At ACCA, a liner graver with several fine parallel teeth is pushed across the surface, cutting lines evenly spaced only a fraction of a millimetre apart. The work is then turned and a second set of lines is cut across the first. The cross-hatching breaks light into a soft, silky shimmer, and it is often set against high-polish edges for contrast.

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Texture gives a surface depth and character. At ACCA, sandblasting with fine glass bead gives a soft, even matte. Brushing with fine abrasive wheels lays down parallel satin lines. Hand hammering with polished faces leaves facets that catch the light. Areas that must stay bright are masked, so polished and textured zones meet in a clean line, exactly where the design places them.

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Rhodium plating gives white gold its bright, cool colour. At ACCA, the piece is first cleaned electrolytically, so the coating bonds evenly. It is then lowered into a rhodium bath and connected as the cathode, and current deposits a layer of rhodium, typically a fraction of a micron thick, across every surface. Areas can be masked for selective two-tone plating. Coverage is checked at final inspection.

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Physical vapour deposition applies colour in a vacuum. At ACCA, pieces are cleaned and loaded onto rotating fixtures inside the chamber. The air is pumped out, and a metal target is vaporised by an arc or sputtering source. Reactive gases combine with the vapour to form a hard ceramic film, a few microns thick, that bonds to every surface as the fixtures turn. It produces even, durable black, gold or rose tones.

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Oxidising adds depth to silver. At ACCA, the clean piece is immersed in a sulphur solution, and the surface darkens through grey to deep black. The craftsman then relieves the high points by hand with fine abrasives and a polishing cloth, so the recesses stay dark while the raised surfaces return to bright silver. Engraving and relief become far more legible, and the contrast is sealed if the specification requires it.

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Before release, every ACCA piece is cleaned and inspected. Ultrasonic cleaning creates millions of microscopic bubbles that collapse against the metal, lifting polishing compound from behind stones and inside galleries. The piece is steamed and dried, then inspected under a ten-times loupe: prongs, stone seating, joins, polish, plating, hallmarks and key dimensions. Only pieces that meet the agreed specification are released.

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