Platinum Ring Repair & Damage: Expert Assessment & Solutions

Question
I have a diamond platinum ring that I have owned for approx. 5 years that I have had nothing but trouble with. The band has separated from the central diamond at least twice and now the whole thing is splitting and cracking all over the place. It is totally misshapen and unwearable and the jewelers that sold it to me have said it is because of my busy lifestyle and that I did all of the damage myself. I did go for a second opinion and they told me that there was a lot of porosity in the ring and it essentially had metal fatigue and was crumbling and unfixable. My jeweler however insists that this is common with platinum rings and any other platinum ring that I purchased would only last me a year.

Can this be right? Shouldn't a platinum ring be an heirloom that lasts more than 5 years regardless of who is wearing it? I feel the ring should be replaced free of charge but am confident this will not be offered. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Jane. First off, platinum rings come in different alloys and in different levels of purity. Most rings would either be a 950 (95% platinum, 5% alloy metal) or a 900 (90% platinum, 10% alloy metal). Iridium, ruthenium or cobalt is usually used as the alloy metal. Now if your ring has a slight bluish hue, it probably uses cobalt. It isn't as hard as ruthenium but a jeweler won't have much of a hard time repairing or polishing it. Now a ruthenium alloy will be very hard, hardest among the three but it is also difficult to repair and polish. It is also prone to porosity and can be very brittle, this is perhaps what your jeweler is getting at, but platinum in itself is a hard metal and unless you do laborious tasks with your hands everyday (ex. washing dishes) your ring should not come apart like how you described.

If you notice that your ring is a bit greyish in color, then it is most probably made out of a ruthenium alloy.