MANEK CHOWK, AHMEDABAD · SINCE 1961

Made at the bench, thirty feet from the counter

Commissions, remakes and a small standing collection, all cut and set in the workshop behind the shop.

What we work in
Soldering at the bench

The gold goes in weighed and comes out weighed

A commission, start to finish

A commission, start to finish

Most of what leaves here was somebody else’s jewellery first. You bring a set nobody wears, we weigh it in front of you, and it becomes one or two pieces that somebody does. The same gold, the same weight out as in, minus a stated wastage that is written on the estimate rather than discovered at collection. Where a stone is worth resetting we say so, and where it is worth selling instead we say that too.

Weighed both ways
In front of you, before and after. The wastage figure is on the estimate, not explained at collection.
Wax before metal
Every commission is carved in wax first and you handle it. Changes at wax cost nothing; changes in gold cost a remake.
Stones named honestly
Treatments named, lab-grown called lab-grown on the bill as well as in the room.
Three to six weeks
Quoted as a range because a bench is not a factory. If it will be late you hear it at three weeks, not at six.
Metals
22k, 18k yellow, white and rose, platinum 950
Own gold accepted
Yes, weighed and assayed on the counter
Wax model
Included on every commission
Typical lead time
Three to six weeks
Hallmarking
BIS, on every piece over two grams
Repairs
Anything made here, forever
At the bench

We would rather remake yours than sell you ours

A grandmother’s set that nobody wears becomes two pieces that somebody does, and the gold is the same gold — weighed in front of you before it goes into the crucible and weighed again when it comes out. We would rather do that than sell you something new, partly because it is better work and partly because the alternative is asking a family to hand over an heirloom and trust a number. Every stone is described by what it is, and a piece that would be better made a different way is quoted the better way.

Your gold weighed on the counter, both waysWastage stated on the estimateA wax model you handle before anything is castTreatments and lab-grown stones named on the bill
We would rather remake yours than sell you ours

Four generations at one bench

64
Years in Manek Chowk
3
Benches, all in this building
71%
Of commissions remade from a customer piece
0
Pieces made off-site

The standing collection

Small on purpose. Most of the bench is busy with commissions.

Three commissions

What came in, and what went out

Hetal Shah

My mother’s set had sat in a locker for thirty years because none of us would wear it. They weighed it on the counter, showed me the wax twice, and it came back as a chain and two pairs of earrings that all three of us actually use.

H
Hetal Shah
Remake, a 1970s bridal set
Dhruv Patel

They told me the stone I had chosen was lab-grown before I asked, and what that meant for what I was paying. Then they talked me down to a smaller one in a better cut. It is the only jewellery purchase I have made without feeling handled.

D
Dhruv Patel
Commission, an engagement ring
Sunita Mehta

A link went on a chain my father bought from the same shop thirty years ago. They repaired it while I waited and would not take money for it.

S
Sunita Mehta
Repair, a chain bought here in 1994

Bring the pieces nobody wears

Bench appointments run in the morning, when the light on Ratan Pol is worth choosing a stone in. Bring the box, whatever is in it — we will tell you honestly what is worth remaking and what is not.