The bracelet in the first picture is a heavy weight curb chain bracelet and it is not a bracelet for attaching charms to! It has been sold as a 'charm bracelet' because it is in the same style as the charm bracelet pictured next to it. The links on the first bracelet are 2mm thick and the bracelet weighs 20.9 grams in weight. The bracelet on the right has 1mm thick links and weighs 9 grams.

The links on a true charm bracelet should 'disappear' as charms are added. Regardless of the size of the charm, the charm should always be the focal point of the bracelet. In the case of the bracelet on the left, the links of the bracelet were the focal point and the charms ended up being so insignificant that that the customer was disappointed.

With the smaller charms, that were fitted to the bracelet on the left, the links were so strong that over time, they would have simply crushed any charm that slipped between two links!

The jeweller had struggled to fit the smaller charms to the links on the bracelet. The holes in the top of the charm would not accept the diameter of jump ring that was needed for the bracelet links. Therefore, the jeweller had added a smaller ring to the charm and used a second ring to solder the charm to the bracelet, which resulted in 'double soldering' and charms that were actually smaller than the two rings used to attach them!

The most common mistake made, when purchasing a charm bracelet, is the belief that the more solid and chunky the bracelet, the more secure the bracelet will be. This is not true.  By the time the bracelet on the left had an average charm collection on it, weighing 30 grams, the total weight that the Padlock Clasp would have been expected to hold would be in excess of 50 grams! 

The padlock clasps, on both the bracelets pictured, are the same size and the safety chains are also identical. The true charm bracelet will always has a padlock clasp, (or lobster claw clasp) and a saftey chain that will support both the weight of the bracelet and a collection of charms, which is why on a true naked charm bracelet, the clasps always seem so large. Put another way, the bracelet on the left would need a padlock clasp twice the size and a 4mm thick saftey chain for it to support the bracelet and a 30 gram collection of charms! The padlock clasp and the safety chain have been designed to support the bracelet as is. The bracelet was never designed to be a holder of charms.

So please, whilst the catalogue shop sale might enable you to purchase a very solid, heavy weight bracelet, that looks similar to a charm bracelet and seems to present exceptional value for money, please appreciate that just because the bracelet looks like a charm bracelet does not mean it is either designed to hold charms or will hold charms!

Big is not always beautiful, nor better value :o)