Nicholson Goldsmiths is an independent diamond and goldsmith bench on Highgate, in the conservation quarter between Toll Gavel and Beverley Minster. Ian Nicholson has spent thirty-seven years at the bench and holds the HRD Antwerp diamond-grading qualification, one of three internationally recognised grading institutes in the world. Bespoke engagement and wedding rings, diamond replacements, laser-welded repairs and gold Rolex bracelet refurbishment, all designed and made in the same workshop.
HRD Antwerp (Hoge Raad voor Diamant) is the Antwerp World Diamond Centre’s grading institute, one of three internationally recognised authorities on diamond quality alongside GIA in the United States and IGI. The training is the European industry standard. It is what the Antwerp trade itself uses. Ian Nicholson is the qualified grader on the Highgate bench.
A one-bench independent: the diamond is graded, the design is drawn, the metal is finished and the Rolex bracelet is refurbished all in the same room.
Stones laid out on a black velvet pad under a 10x loupe, the same way the Antwerp trade chooses them. Cut, colour, clarity and carat described in grading vocabulary, against your budget. Certified stones available where you need the paperwork. Replacement stones for inherited pieces sourced and matched on the bench.
Engagement rings, wedding bands, anniversary pieces. Drawn at the workshop, made on the same bench. Platinum and yellow, white or rose gold in 9, 18 and 22 carat. Your own inherited gold can be melted down and reused in the new piece, so the metal stays in the family and only the form changes.
Sophisticated laser welding lets us size, repair shanks and re-tip claws on rings whose adjacent stones cannot survive a torch. Channel-set eternity bands, claw-set diamond shoulders, fragile or heat-sensitive stones. Worn pieces of sentimental value rebuilt to look new. Cleaning, polishing, rhodium plating, necklace and clasp work.
Gold Rolex bracelet repair and refurbishment is a micro-skill most independent benches will not touch. Stretched links retightened, worn pins replaced, broken clasps rebuilt, the bracelet brought back to the wear of the watch. Every job guaranteed and fully insured while the piece is in the workshop.
A first appointment at the Highgate workshop. We talk about what the piece is for, the budget, the shape, what you wear, and whether there is inherited gold or a stone to bring into the design. No deposit; no commitment to commission.
If stones are part of the brief, candidates are laid out loose on a black velvet pad under the loupe and described in HRD grading vocabulary. You see the proportions, the table, the fluorescence, the way the cut catches light, against the budget. Nothing is set until the stone is chosen.
Sketches and adjustments come back to you over a fortnight. We change the shoulder width, the claw style, the metal carat, the band profile until it is the ring. Only then are metal and stones committed and the bench work begins.
The piece is made by hand in the workshop, hallmarked, polished and set on the same bench the design was drawn at. Collection at Highgate, by post if you are further afield, ready to wear and fully insured up to the moment we hand it over.
Thirty-seven years on, Ian Nicholson is still on it, in the same workshop on the same cobbled street between Toll Gavel and Beverley Minster. The HRD Antwerp qualification, taken when very few UK provincial benches held it, is the spine of the diamond work. The laser welder, the platinum-from-9ct range and the Rolex bracelet refurbishment grew up alongside the diamond grading, line by line.
Nicholson Jewellers Limited took the door at 33a Highgate in 2008. The Company Secretary, Lily Lawson, joined in 2012. In March 2020 the business was renamed Nicholson Goldsmiths, deliberately leading with the bench and the making rather than the retail counter. The Mon to Fri 09:30 to 16:30 hours are the hours of a working bench, not a shop floor.
The loupe is the same. The trade is older than any of us. What changes is the patience the bench has for the stone in front of it. The spirit of the work · Highgate
The high street can sell you a ring. It cannot grade the stone for you in front of you, lay it loose on a pad under the loupe, describe it in trade vocabulary and let you change your mind. The bench in Beverley does. And once the stone is chosen, the same bench draws the ring, melts the metal, sets the stone, hallmarks the piece and hands it over. One room, one pair of hands, one set of standards.
Most of the repair work that comes to Highgate has been turned away somewhere else. The laser, the diamond eye and the patience are what make the difference.
Channel-set eternity bands, claw-set diamond shoulders, fragile stones in old settings. The laser fuses metal at the spot with almost no heat travel, so the stones stay where they are. Most independents will say no to this work. We take it in.
Worn claws re-tipped, lost stones replaced, loose settings rebuilt. We grade replacement diamonds at the bench against the originals so the matched stones disappear into the piece. Inherited rings rebuilt to be worn again.
Broken chains, snapped shanks, worn clasps, loose hinges. Cleaning and polishing of the piece you have not worn in a decade. Rhodium plating on white-gold rings whose plating has dulled. Quoted at the bench when we see the piece.
Stretched links retightened, worn pins replaced, broken clasps rebuilt. A micro-skill most independent benches do not touch and that the official service often quotes a full bracelet replacement for. We refurbish on the bench at Highgate.
The first conversation is free. We schedule it at the Highgate workshop or, if you cannot get to Beverley, by phone. Bring inspiration, an inherited piece, a budget, a stone, a sketch on the back of a Christmas card, or nothing at all. The first appointment is the brief, not the commitment.
33a Highgate
Beverley
East Yorkshire HU17 0DN
Phone · 07711 040 546
Email · info@nicholsongoldsmiths.co.uk
Walk-in · cobbled Highgate between Toll Gavel and Beverley Minster, in the conservation area
Park · Saturday Market and Wednesday Market car parks, both five minutes on foot
Mon to Fri are the workshop hours. The bench is closed at weekends so the work on the bench actually gets finished. Saturdays are reachable on the mobile by arrangement, for collections, drop-offs and the occasional engagement-ring brief that cannot wait until Monday.
HRD Antwerp is one of three internationally recognised diamond grading institutes worldwide, alongside GIA in the United States and IGI. The training is the European industry standard and is what the Antwerp trade itself uses. In practice it means when we sit a loose stone in front of you we describe it the way the trade does: cut grade, table percentage, crown angle, fluorescence, the way the proportions catch the light. You go home knowing what you bought, not a marketing description.
Yes. We strip the inherited piece, weigh and test the gold, and melt it down here so the metal can be reused in your new ring. The carat is verified against what the new piece needs. Stones are lifted and either reset into the new design or held for another piece. The gold stays in the family. Only the form changes.
Yes, that is exactly what the laser is for. Traditional torch heat travels through the band and risks cracking heat-sensitive stones like opal, emerald, or some treated diamonds. The laser fuses metal in a spot smaller than a pinhead with almost no heat transfer, so a ring can be sized or a claw re-tipped without lifting the stones. It is the reason we will take on jobs other benches send back.
We refurbish gold Rolex bracelets on the bench: stretched links retightened, worn pins replaced, broken clasps rebuilt, the bracelet brought back to the wear of the watch. It is a micro-skill most independents will not touch and that the official service often quotes a full bracelet replacement for. Bring the watch in and we will tell you honestly whether refurbishment is the right call or whether the bracelet has run its life.
Six to twelve weeks is typical, depending on the stone and the design. The first meeting is the conversation about what you want, what you wear and what the occasion is, with diamonds laid out under the loupe. Sketches and revisions come back within a fortnight. The bench work runs three to four weeks once metal and stones are committed. Specific dates can usually be accommodated if you mention the deadline at the first meeting.
We do not ask you to commit to a final design at the first appointment. The first conversation is just the brief: stones, budget, shape, the piece it will replace, who it is for. Sketches and adjustments come back to you over the following two weeks. We work the design until you are sure, then commit metal and stones. No deposit is taken until the design is settled.