How to reorder a jewellery design without changing the wrong piece

By La Roche Jewellery Manufacturing · Published 2 November 2026

A retailer asks for another run of a pendant that sold well. The buyer sends a photograph and says, “Same as last time, but with a slightly longer chain.” Is that one reorder, or two products? It depends on whether the original length must still be available, what the customer was told, and which details the manufacturer is being asked to reproduce. The drawing might not change at all; the finished item the shop puts in the box certainly does.

This guide starts after a design has already been made. Its purpose is to help a jewellery buyer in Dubai assemble a repeat order that someone outside the original conversation can read. You will need a reliable reference for the earlier piece, a quantity for each version, and a decision about every proposed departure. If you are still developing the first design, start instead with our manufacturing brief guide. A reorder has a different advantage: you can learn from what actually arrived the first time.

Start with the piece your customer received

Pull the earlier order, its final specification and the delivery record. Do not start with the oldest drawing merely because it has the cleanest filename. Between a drawing and delivery, a chain may have been changed, an engraving shortened or an attachment moved. Find out whether those changes applied to the entire run or to a single customer's piece. A one-off alteration is a poor default for the next batch.

Lay the records side by side. The purchase order tells you what was bought; a packing list helps identify what was shipped; a dated drawing describes design intent. A photograph shows appearance from one angle but rarely establishes thickness, alloy or the operation of a clasp. A physical reference can resolve questions about feel or scale, but it may have been worn, polished or repaired. None of these records automatically overrides all the others. Identify which reference is reliable for each feature.

Consider a pendant photographed on two chains. The image used on the sales page shows the longer one, while the previous order lists the shorter one. Neither merchandising nor purchasing should quietly choose a winner. Check the delivered item or another trustworthy record and write down what customers actually received. If that cannot be established, ask the workshop to quote a clearly specified length as a new decision. Do not call it a verified repeat.

Choose one of three routes for each order line

An unchanged repeat has the same intended product and a usable manufacturing reference. The quantities, current quotation and requested date may differ without changing the design. Write these commercial details on the new order; keep the old order attached as evidence, not as a standing promise. An unchanged product still needs a fresh discussion about materials, availability and the work the current order includes.

A variant is a deliberate alternative you want to sell alongside the original. Think of a ring offered in a second gold colour, or a necklace sold in two lengths. A useful test is whether a shop assistant could hand a customer the wrong item while believing the style name was correct. If so, give each version its own order line and an unambiguous description. Keep a link to the parent style so the workshop knows which features are shared.

A replacement specification supersedes an earlier version for some or all future units. For example, a brand may prefer a different clasp after hearing that customers find the original awkward. Decide whether existing stock can be sold under its original description, who needs to know about the change, and whether outstanding customer orders still require the original fitting. Changing tomorrow's production does not retroactively change what is in today's display case.

Sometimes the sensible route is to pause a single line. If the only unresolved question concerns the rose gold version, separate it from the confirmed yellow gold quantity. Ask whether the manufacturer can review or quote them independently. Do not imply that splitting the paperwork guarantees a split delivery. The aim is to make uncertainty visible without holding up decisions that genuinely do not depend on it.

Build a quantity sheet that survives handover

One row should identify one sellable configuration. Include your style reference, revision, metal colour and purity, size or length, finish, component description, order unit and quantity. Put any inscription or customer-specific variation on a separate line with a private reference. The manufacturer does not need a customer's personal details to understand which version is requested. Give the buyer and the workshop the same current sheet.

The order unit deserves its own column. Six earrings might mean six single studs or six pairs. A pendant can mean the pendant alone or a pendant with a chain; the presentation box can be one per pair or one per individual piece. Spell out what is inside each sellable unit. Then multiply the number of units by their components to see whether the quantities reconcile. If a line says five pairs and a component summary says five backs, resolve that before asking for production.

Distinguish confirmed orders from forecast demand. A shop may want four rings for an upcoming display and expect to need another four later. An eight-piece forecast is useful context but should not appear as an eight-piece commitment. Put the four confirmed units on the order and the potential second four in a clearly labelled planning note. Ask what would have to be reconfirmed if that second purchase goes ahead.

Reconcile incoming quantities against stock already allocated. If the retailer has one yellow gold pendant on hand but it is reserved for a customer, do not count it as available display stock. Likewise, do not order a complete pair when the actual need is one replacement earring for an existing pair. Matching an older piece can require its own review. Record it as a separate request rather than silently counting it as an ordinary saleable pair.

Record differences in words a workshop can test

“The same, only finer” leaves too much open. Is the buyer asking for a narrower visible outline, less projection above the finger, a lighter feel or a different surface finish? State the observation that prompted the request. Then describe what must stay the same. A buyer who wants a pendant to look narrower may still need its existing chain to pass through the bail. That requirement matters more than an adjective on a drawing.

For a dimensional change, say where the measurement begins and ends. Necklace length measured end to end is not the same instruction as the length of the chain section alone. A pendant dimension might include or exclude the bail. Give the unit and the measurement points on a permitted sketch or annotated reference. Ask the manufacturer which dimensions can realistically be controlled and how the finished item will be checked. Do not copy a tolerance from an unrelated style.

For a finish change, identify the surface, not just the finish name. A satin front with polished edges is a different request from an all-over satin finish. A bright highlight in a photograph may come from lighting rather than a polished strip. If that boundary is important, mark it on a view and ask what reference can support a comparison. Do not turn an edited product photograph into a specification for colour or shine.

Give each change a disposition: requested for review, accepted for this order only, or accepted for all future orders of the stated version. Include the decision date and the person authorised by your business to make it. If a message approves a revised illustration but says nothing about price or timing, record precisely that. Design approval, commercial acceptance and permission to start work answer different questions.

Handle substitutions before they reach the sales floor

A proposed component substitution need not be dramatic to matter. Two clasps can both fasten a necklace while having different proportions, different handling or different clearance through a pendant opening. Ask for the proposed component reference, what has changed and what other parts must work with it. If the buyer cannot tell whether the original chain and pendant remain compatible, request a demonstration or suitable reference before agreeing to the substitution.

Keep the gold description and the finish description separate. The World Gold Council explains that alloy composition affects gold colour; a purity designation alone does not describe every visible or surface detail. For an existing range, specify the intended colour and finish alongside purity. Ask whether a particular surface treatment was part of the prior specification and whether it is proposed again. Do not promise an exact colour match to a worn piece merely because both are described as white gold.

For stone-set designs, decide what the retail description actually requires. A repeatable outline, a particular stone identity and a match to a particular previous stone are three different instructions. If a substitute would change what the retailer can truthfully say about a piece, hold the affected line until both the sourcing decision and the product description have been reviewed. See the guide to specifying stones for a collection for the stone-selection decision itself.

Ask who may authorise an alternative when the buyer is away. An acceptable option in a quotation is not necessarily an approved substitute in a purchase order. For example, a note saying that an alternative clasp can be sourced does not give permission to fit it. If no authorised person has decided, record the line as waiting. This prevents a purchasing assistant from reading a list of possibilities as a list of instructions.

Worked example: one pendant, three different requests

Imagine a retailer with a yellow gold pendant previously supplied on a short chain. The shop wants three more pieces as before, two on longer chains, and one pendant without a chain for a customer who already owns one. All six pendants can look like the same design in a catalogue. Treating them as a single six-piece order, however, loses both the chain quantities and the customer-specific compatibility question.

The first line is three complete necklaces against the earlier reference. Check the prior finish, fitting and chain description, and ask for a current quotation. The second line is two complete necklaces with a different chain length. Record the new length, the measurement method and whether the fastening remains unchanged. Ask merchandising to label the lengths separately so that the distinction survives after the pieces leave the workshop.

The third line is one pendant only. The customer’s chain ends must pass through the opening, not merely the chain links themselves. Request the relevant measurements or a suitable physical comparison before treating fit as established. If meeting that need requires a different bail, keep the decision specific to this line. There is no reason to change the other five pendants unless the retailer deliberately decides to adopt a revised design across the range.

The resulting component request is six pendants and five chains, divided between two lengths. Verify that description against the order sheet rather than relying on the total number of necklaces visible in a photograph. This example is illustrative, not a La Roche client project. Its value is the discrepancy it exposes: a single line for six necklaces would buy an unwanted chain and leave the longer versions undefined.

Ask for a current quotation with a useful dividing line

Separate repeat work from new development when requesting a quotation. If the file and specifications remain usable, ask what the quotation covers for those units. If the request changes a fitting, introduces a size or needs a new comparison piece, identify that work separately. This lets you evaluate the choice between an unchanged repeat and a new version without assuming that a previous quotation still applies.

La Roche has no minimum order quantity, and samples and CAD revisions are available. For a small replenishment order, those facts make it reasonable to enquire about the exact number you need; they do not settle the development scope, fees, revision count or timing. Ask what information would let the workshop assess your order as it stands. Do not inflate the requested quantity to make a brief look more substantial.

Distinguish the date you need goods at the shop from the date you want to discuss the design or receive a quotation. If your display opening is fixed but the design change is optional, say which matters more. Ask whether an unchanged version and a revised version would need different review steps. Treat the workshop's response as a project-specific assessment, not a lead time to publish in a catalogue or promise to customers.

Close the order with a record you can use again

Before accepting the delivery, reconcile what was received against the current lines. Check quantities in the stated units, pairings, labelled sizes or lengths, component combinations and the documents agreed for that order. Set aside a discrepancy under its actual line reference. Reporting “one necklace is wrong” is much harder to resolve than identifying which chain length was ordered, which was delivered and which units remain unaffected.

Keep the original production record and the current one. Mark obsolete versions so they cannot accidentally be used for a fresh order, but do not overwrite the history of pieces already sold. A later repair enquiry may relate to an earlier clasp rather than the one now in production. A dated record is useful precisely because it can tell you when two pieces with the same collection name are not identical.

A concise opening message to a manufacturer can read: “We want to replenish the attached pendant design. Lines one and two refer to the last delivered version, but line two changes the chain length. Line three is pendant only and needs a compatibility review. The quantities are confirmed; the requested shop date is a target for discussion. Please identify any missing references before quoting.” Attach only files you are permitted to share. That short message gives a buyer and workshop a common starting point without making either side guess what “same again” means.