WORK BENCH

Gold Standards

Performance, aesthetics, and value add glitter to gold framework

By Jeannie O'Sullivan

The eternal currency, gold, has emerged as the material of choice for some of the best in optical in this strained economy.

"We started limiting diamond work and making solid gold," said the adaptable Beverly Hills jeweler Franco, whose Luxuriator Collection features glasses with 18K solid gold frames.

Precious Details

Manufacturers aiming for this niche might get to know the ins and outs of gold, which currently costs about $1,125 an ounce and has some distinctive characteristics, according to the World Gold Council.

SHADES OF GOLD

Different metals can create a colorful twist on the golden hue. Here�s how various alloys affect the color of gold:

■ Copper, silver, and gold make yellow gold.
■ Gold, nickel or palladium, zinc, and copper make white gold.
■ Gold, silver, copper, and zinc make green gold.
■ Gold and copper make pink gold.

Gold is very soft. So soft, in fact, that it needs to be mixed, or alloyed, with other metals into a workable material. One advantage of this feature is its transferability into vapor form, like the 24K spray used on the lenses of Badgley Mischka Active Eyewear's Perry style.

Purity matters. A karat is a measurement of purity, or fineness, equal to 1/24 pure gold in an alloy, so 24 karat (24K) gold is pure or fine gold. To say that gold is 14K is to say that 14 of 24 parts are pure gold and 10 parts are other metals. To be defined as karat gold in the United States, gold must be 10K or more; Canadian and Mexican standards are 9K and 8K, respectively.

Manufacturing techniques vary. Karat techniques include lost wax casting, chaining, die striking/stamping, and electroformation (the electrolytic deposition of a metal on a mold).

Non-karat processes require 10K gold or finer and include: gold-filling or overlay (gold layer must comprise 1/20 of the total metal weight); goldplating (gold portion can weigh less than 1/20 of the total metal weight); gold electroplating (gold layer must comprise a minimum thickness of seven millionths of an inch); and vermeil (gold electroplated over a sterling silver base).