A tennis bracelet is a single line of matched stones held in a flexible metal chain, with no obvious front or back. Every link carries a stone, so the piece looks the same all the way round the wrist. It is one of the few jewellery shapes that has stayed almost unchanged for decades, and one of the few whose name has a traceable origin.
Where the tennis bracelet got its name
Until the late 1980s it was simply called a line bracelet or an eternity bracelet. At the 1987 US Open, the American player Chris Evert lost her diamond line bracelet mid-match and asked officials to pause play while it was found. Commentators and the press started calling it her tennis bracelet, and the name stuck to the whole category. The design itself is much older than the nickname.
How one is built
The construction is what makes it work. Instead of a solid bangle, it is made of dozens of small links, each holding one stone in its own setting, hinged to its neighbours. That is why it drapes rather than sits rigid, and why a well-made one feels heavier than it looks.
Two settings dominate. A prong setting holds each stone with four small claws, which lets more light in and makes the stones look larger. A channel or bezel setting wraps the metal around the stone, which is duller but far more secure and much kinder to jumpers. If you wear a bracelet daily, choose security over sparkle.
What to check before buying
The clasp is where these bracelets fail. A box clasp alone is not enough on a piece that spends its life catching on sleeves; look for a safety catch or figure-of-eight latch on top of it. Ask whether the stones are individually set rather than glued, and check that the line lies flat when you hold it up rather than twisting.
Length matters more than with a necklace. A tennis bracelet should have roughly a finger's width of play at the wrist, enough to move but not enough to slide over the hand. Too loose and it spins so the clasp ends up on top; too tight and every link is under tension.
The handmade alternative
A diamond tennis bracelet is a serious purchase. If what you actually like is the repeating line of set stones, that effect is very achievable at home in silver. Silver clay is worked like modelling clay, then fired with a torch, and what comes out is 99.9 per cent fine silver. It shrinks by 8 to 10 per cent as it fires, which draws the metal tight around a stone that has been set before firing.
The usual approach is to make a series of small matched links, each with a cubic zirconia set into the face, and connect them with jump rings. It is slower than one large piece, but each link is small enough to fire quickly and a mistake costs you one link rather than the whole bracelet. Our guide to using silver clay covers rolling, drying and firing in order.
If you would rather start with something simpler and build up to a line, the silver clay starter kit contains clay, a torch, tools, a cubic zirconia and instructions. We ship worldwide with duties covered.
Looking after one
Whether bought or made, the care is the same. Take it off before swimming, showering and gardening. Wipe it with a soft cloth after wearing so skin oils do not settle behind the stones, and once a year have the settings checked, or check them yourself by running a fingernail lightly along the line and listening for anything that rattles. A stone almost always loosens before it falls out.
