Bracelet size from your wrist measurement

Measuring the wrist

Wrap a strip of paper or a soft tape around the wrist just below the wrist bone, on the hand side, where a bracelet actually sits. Pull it snug against the skin without compressing it, mark the overlap and read it against a ruler in inches or centimeters. Do not add anything at this stage; the calculator adds the room for you. Wrists change less through the day than fingers do, so the time of day matters little, but measure the wrist you will wear it on, since the dominant hand is often a quarter inch larger.

Standard sizes and who they fit

Most retailers stock women's bracelets at 7 inches and men's at 8 inches and call everything else a special order, which is why so many bracelets are worn a size too big. A jeweler can shorten a chain bracelet cheaply by removing links, so when a listing offers only 7 or 7.5 and you measure between, take the longer one.

Style changes the rule

Tennis and line bracelets

A flexible line of set stones should sit close, with room for one finger under it and no more. Too loose and it flips so the stones face the table and the clasp faces up; the snug allowance of half an inch is right, and many tennis bracelets are sold in quarter-inch steps for that reason. Ask for a safety clasp: the stones make it the most expensive bracelet to lose.

Chain bracelets

Cuban, rope, figaro and charm bracelets are meant to move and look wrong when they grip the wrist. Use the comfortable or loose fit. Heavier chains hang lower and need slightly more room; a 6 mm Cuban at the same nominal length feels tighter than a 2 mm cable because the links have thickness.

Cuffs

A cuff is sized by its inside circumference including the gap, and it should sit on the wrist without sliding over the hand. Most are made to a standard 6.5 to 7 inch inside measurement and adjusted by gently opening or closing the gap; do not bend one repeatedly, the metal fatigues at the back.

Bangles

A rigid bangle has to pass over the hand, so the wrist measurement is irrelevant. Tuck the thumb into the palm, wrap a paper strip around the widest part of the hand at the base of the fingers, and divide that circumference by 3.14 to get the inside diameter the bangle needs: typically 2.5 to 2.75 inches (63 to 70 mm) for women, 2.75 to 3 for men. A bangle that just clears the hand is right; one that slides on easily will rattle on the wrist bone all day.

Men's bracelets

Men's wrists commonly run 7 to 8 inches, so 8 inches is the stock length and 8.5 fits larger wrists; a heavy Cuban worn loose can go to 9. Because nearly all men's bracelets are chain styles, use the comfortable fit as the default and the loose fit for anything over 6 mm wide. Watch wearers should measure the wrist above the watch if the bracelet will sit on the same side, and add a quarter inch so the two do not fight.

Mistakes that produce the wrong size

Measuring over the wrist bone instead of just below it, which adds half an inch and then adding an allowance on top of that. Ordering a chain bracelet at the snug length, so it grips like a watch strap. Ordering a tennis bracelet at the loose length, so it spins. Sizing a bangle by the wrist. Assuming both wrists match, when the dominant one is often a quarter inch bigger. And rounding down: between two stock sizes, a chain bracelet is easily shortened and never cheaply lengthened.

Resizing and adjusting

Chain bracelets are the easy case: a jeweler removes or adds links, usually for a few dollars, and many come with a one or two inch extender chain that turns one size into three. Tennis bracelets can lose a stone-set link, at a higher price and with a visible change in the pattern only if the links are large. Cuffs adjust by gentle bending, once or twice in their life. Bangles and hinged bangles cannot be resized in any practical way, which is why the hand gets measured before buying one.

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