Custom Jewelry Production Timeline: Week by Week

Buyers asking for a custom line usually want one number: how long. The honest answer is a range, because every stage has a queue, a revision cycle, and a few places where one missed email costs five working days. This is what a typical seven-to-nine-week custom timeline actually looks like on the bench.

Week 1: Intake and design brief

The first week is not drawing yet — it is aligning the brief. The buyer provides reference images, dimensions, budget tier, alloy choice, stone size and shape, target retail context, and any functional requirements (comfort fit, stackability, engraving space). A designer turns that into a written spec with hand sketches. Projects that slip at week one are usually the ones where the budget and the design ambition disagree, and the mismatch only surfaces after the first sketch round.

Weeks 2–3: CAD modeling and revisions

A CAD technician builds a 3D model of the design, then renders it from multiple angles. The buyer reviews the render and requests changes. Each revision cycle is usually two to four working days. The two most common revision requests are sizing the head for a different stone and adjusting the shank profile; both are quick. Requests to restyle the whole setting mid-cycle restart the clock. Factories that cap revision rounds protect both sides from endless tweaking.

Week 3: Wax print or mold

Once the CAD is approved, the workshop prints a resin or wax model on a 3D printer, or injects a wax into a production mold if this is a repeat design. The physical wax is checked against the render for scale — customers often misjudge how a 2D render translates to a worn ring. This is the cheapest point to catch a proportion problem, so any reputable workshop sends photos of the wax before casting.

Week 4: Casting

The wax is sprued onto a tree, invested in ceramic, burned out, and cast in the chosen alloy. The casting itself takes a day or two inside the furnace, but scheduling around a factory’s casting day means a half-week wait. The cast piece is cut from the tree, sand-blasted, and inspected for porosity or misruns. A bad cast sends the project back to wax — usually costing three to five days.

Week 5: Stone setting

Stones are seated and set. For a solitaire this is fast; for a pavé eternity band it consumes several days of bench time. The setter also trims the seat, checks stones for fit, and tightens prongs. Stones that arrive after casting (a common problem when buyers source their own) stall this stage completely — material has to be on hand before the setter is scheduled.

Week 6: Finishing and plating

The piece moves through polishing, brushing, or texturing, then to plating (rhodium on white gold, yellow-gold dip where required) and patina work. Engraving happens here, after polishing, so the engraving lines stay crisp. This is also where sizing is checked against a mandrel and adjusted if the cast came out off-spec.

Week 7: QC, photography, and packing

Final QC checks dimensions, finish, stone security, and engraving legibility. The piece is ultrasonic-cleaned, photographed for the buyer’s records, and packed. For wholesale orders, this is also when the parcel gets tagged, certified, and invoiced. Buyers should expect a QC photo set before shipment — front, back, side, and a macro of the setting — so any dispute is resolved before the parcel leaves the warehouse rather than after it arrives.

Where projects actually slip

Buyer delays on CAD review — every unanswered revision email adds two days.
Stones sourced separately arrive late or in the wrong size.
A casting failure forces a re-run.
Plating color is rejected and has to be matched a second time.

Projects that hold to the seven-week schedule are the ones where the buyer sent complete specs on day one and answered revision questions within 48 hours. To start a project, see our custom design intake. The takeaway for buyers: the timeline is not the factory’s clock alone — it is shared, and the buyer’s response speed is usually the variable that moves it.

What a rush order actually costs

Factories can compress a custom timeline, but compression is paid for. Expediting skips the wait between casting runs, schedules the setter out of turn, and pushes plating to the front of the queue. Expect to pay a premium of 20–40% on the unit cost, and to accept that one or two revision cycles may be cut short. A rush order is the right tool for a real deadline, but it is the wrong tool for a design that is not yet locked — rushing an unresolved CAD guarantees a rushed mistake. If the deadline is immovable, the safer play is to lock the CAD early and choose a simpler setting, rather than compress the work itself.

The Wikipedia article on rhodium explains why rhodium plating is applied to white gold and silver jewellery.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the custom OEM process work?

Send a reference, sketch or CAD file. We quote, produce a 3D render, then a wax or resin model for approval before casting. Nothing goes to bulk without written sign-off.

How long does a custom sample take?

About 20 days for a new CAD model, including one revision round. Repeat designs reuse the existing mold and ship in 3–5 days.

What is the custom MOQ?

100–300 pieces per design depending on the mold and stone setting complexity.

Do you sign NDAs for private label?

Yes. Private-label clients get an NDA and exclusive mold use for the agreed term.

Custom Jewelry Production Timeline: Week by Week, Realistically