ACTUAL Jeweler Reviews SHOP GLD Cuban Link Chain! You Wont BELIEVE What they're made out of!

Summary

Gus Villa Jewelry's video provides a detailed review of Shop GLD's Miami Cuban Link plated chain. As a professional jeweler with hands-on experience, Gus showcases the product's features, delving into its construction and materials. Despite finding it machine-made and using inexpensive metals like iron and nickel, he appreciates its affordable pricing for those not wanting to invest in a costly handcrafted version. Throughout, Gus emphasizes the chain's great packaging and customer service, ultimately recommending it for casual use, especially for younger buyers looking for an economical yet stylish option.

Highlights

• Gus Villa delves into Shop GLD's popular Miami Cuban Link chain, examining its quality and features. 💍
• Packed with cool details like fast shipping and stylish packaging, Shop GLD impresses initially. 🚚
• Despite being lightweight and machine-made, the chain is appealing at a glance for casual affairs. 🔍
• A quick thermal test reveals its material composition: stainless steel, iron, and nickel - not the best for prolonged wear. 🌡️
• Gus rates the value top-notch for casual buyers but cautions against expecting long-term durability. 📉

Key Takeaways

• Gus reviews Shop GLD's Miami Cuban link chain - a hit for affordability but misses on material quality. 💰
• The chain has impressive packaging and customer service, getting a solid 10/10 from Gus. 📦
• Major con: Contains nickel, known for causing skin reactions - a big no-no in quality jewelry. ❌
• Gus gives it a thumbs up for temporary use, like a weekend outing or event. 👍
• For authentic Cuban link look and durability, handmade gold versions are irreplaceable. ✨

Overview

Jewelry expert Gus Villa takes on the challenge of reviewing a trending product from Shop GLD - the Miami Cuban Link plated chain. Initially hesitant about doing reviews, Gus finally caved after numerous requests to share his professional jeweler's perspective on these mass-produced links, compared to the traditional handcrafted masterpieces his audience is familiar with. His aim? To provide honest insights and comparisons that go beyond consumer reviews.

From the unboxing, Gus is thoroughly impressed with Shop GLD's attention to detail, noting its excellent customer service and presentation. The packaging stands out with its prompt delivery and additional perks like a lifetime guarantee card, which even makes him re-evaluate his brand's approach. Yet, as soon as he measures and tests the chain's metal, the disparity between its appearance and quality begins to emerge, revealing a less durable, machine-made product.

Despite its shortcomings in materials, Gus acknowledges the chain's functional appeal - perfect for those on a budget looking for that flashy look without a hefty price tag. He warns potential buyers of the aesthetic vs. authenticity trade-off. However, for temporary occasions or for someone not ready to invest in solid gold pieces, he sees it as more than just a piece of costume jewelry, but a viable accessory pickup for casual events.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Video Setup In this chapter titled 'Introduction and Video Setup', Gus from Gospel of jewelry.com introduces the video where he will be conducting a live review of a famous Miami Cuban Link plated chain. He shares his initial hesitations about doing reviews but explains that due to frequent requests on Instagram and DMs, he decided to review jewelry pieces from other manufacturers. Gus aims to provide a jeweler's perspective on these reviews, contrasting with the majority of existing reviews that come from regular consumers.
• 00:30 - 05:30: Unboxing and First Impressions The chapter begins with preparations for a review, where the narrator is readying some equipment—a thermal gun and a scale—for testing. This sets the stage for a detailed assessment of an unidentified product. As the review is about to commence, there's a mention of 'link chains,' suggesting that the focus might be on jewelry or similar items.
• 05:30 - 16:00: Product Details and Quality Analysis The chapter discusses alternatives to expensive solid gold chains, particularly focusing on gold-plated silver options. It highlights how these alternatives are handmade and offer a less costly solution for those not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on solid gold. The author mentions checking a product from Shop GLD to evaluate its quality against expected standards.
• 16:00 - 21:00: Thermal Gun Test and Metal Composition The chapter is about opening a package and the quick delivery time of the item. The narrator mentions using a pin found on the studio floor to open the package instead of a fancy knife. The item was ordered on Friday night and delivered by Monday, which the narrator highlights as impressive and useful, especially for events or music video shoots.
• 21:00 - 27:00: Conclusion and Final Thoughts The chapter concludes with an emphasis on the convenience and efficiency of GLD's service, highlighting their two-day shipping and excellent customer service practices such as text message updates on deliveries. The customer appreciation extends to the brand's stylish packaging, making the unboxing experience noteworthy. The chapter reflects on the overall positive experience with GLD, recognizing their commitment to service and customer satisfaction.

ACTUAL Jeweler Reviews SHOP GLD Cuban Link Chain! You Wont BELIEVE What they're made out of! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 what's up guys this is Gus from Gospel of jewelry.com and in this video I'm going to be doing a live review of a famous Miami Cuban Link plated chain I debated on whether I wanted to do reviews or not I got asked so many times on Instagram so many times on DM hey can you review some of the pieces from other manufacturers we want to know what you think about it I know that there's a bunch of reviews on these particular companies they're usually all come from just regular consumers so I figured I'd show you guys from a perspective of an actual Jeweler who makes Miami Cuban
• 00:30 - 01:00 link chains we're gonna do a couple of tests on it I got my uh thermal gun ready and I'm on my scale so uh without further Ado let's get it popping let's go thank you [Music] jewelry jewelry this is a shop called shop GLD I guess they have really really big online presence I had never heard of them but I did get a bunch of people telling me hey can you review some of
• 01:00 - 01:30 their chains because their chains are actually cheaper than yours I do provide an alternative to solid gold which is gold over silver I can make the human link chains and then we dip them in Gold but uh they're all rather expensive because of course it is handmade this is an alternate option for those who don't necessarily want to spend the five six eight hundred dollars on a handmade one I'm gonna check this one out right now it's from again shop GLD I'll put the link in the description we're gonna open up this box and see what do you think about it or see what I think about it really now here's the part usually in a
• 01:30 - 02:00 video where someone would whip out this fancy knife to open this package up but I don't have a fancy knife so uh we're gonna do with a good old pin that we found on the floor here the studio holla at me so and you just open this up now the the the cool part about this is that I ordered this on Friday night it's Monday and it was already here so delivery time is fire you know what I mean I I sure as hell I'm not doing it in two days so uh it's really good if especially if you have like an event or like a music video or something like
• 02:00 - 02:30 that or like uh just somewhere to go that you have you need it like on the spot two-day shipping badass plus they send you a text message uh letting you know exactly when it's gonna be coming in they shouldn't need the tracking number immediately I mean just from a customer service standpoint like it complete follow-through so shop GLD that's fire fire that you guys do this so here is the opening of The Box here's what it looks like on the front of it or the thing it has a GLD gang built from
• 02:30 - 03:00 the ground five thousand dollar cash Instagram giveaway I guess they give you something so like a sticker or whatever which is this sticker is kind of this is a good quality sticker to the fair it comes with this card I don't know what what the hell this is all about damn this is really this is really nice packaging this that's actually really nice my packaging sucks to ask so this is out this is absolutely putting me to shame don't look at this card it has like a little like a little hologram action this card certifies our
• 03:00 - 03:30 jewelry complies with the jewelry vigilance committee standards what the hell is that what the hell is the jewelry vigilance committee standard I have no idea what that is I've never even heard of that but I guess this complies with that so that's cool car guarantees your jewelry is purchased for life and entitles you to a one-time replacement or repair for an identical item oh that's fire Okay cool so that's again dope little card you you know what's cool about these things from uh from us consumer standpoint like these
• 03:30 - 04:00 little Details Matter someone actually put a lot of work and a lot of design into this even if it's just a stupid little card like I for instance I look at my own company and I'm like I'm trash at packaging and so like I've gone out and tried to Source other companies to do this for me and this costs a lot of money this is this is really really well done without further Ado I guess it comes with the receipt or whatever what I paid for it I don't even know what I
• 04:00 - 04:30 paid for it I may have paid 150 160 bucks I don't know oh okay so it's this way oh there's a magnet on there oh so this is the box here right packaging so far I haven't seen the chain itself ultimately none of this matters ultimately like when you're rocking it anywhere the main thing is going to be like what does it look like what does it feel like that's really the biggest thing that's why I don't really care for the packaging for myself but just strictly talking about like presentation
• 04:30 - 05:00 this is fire fire there's a nice like obviously this isn't leather right but it doesn't matter it's like you know whatever it doesn't matter but it looked just really nice like you can afterwards you can store your chain in one of these and I think that looks really really good the packaging 10 out of 10. absolutely 10 out of 10. customer service so far 10 out of 10 because they followed up with the entire order the entire time so this is the actual package in here where the chain will come in I'm assuming so and this is the actual piece right here so
• 05:00 - 05:30 once again oh look it has a little sticker that tells you that it's a 24 inch to remind you that it's a 24 inch oh that's really cool actually this is the first time I'm seeing it on camera I've never seen this before and so we'll take a look at it obviously first impression it's light but more than likely this is stainless steel this isn't like some crazy good stuff or anything like that like you know a precious metal that's going to have some sort of density to it this
• 05:30 - 06:00 is going to be you know 100 stainless steel maybe even brass or copper I don't know that's how we have our thermal gun and we're going to test it out we're gonna see exactly what it's what it is just off rip looking at it this is a thousand percent Chinese made so I can tell you for sure if not Chinese made it's it's either Indian or Chinese made because it it is this has a very very common clasp and this clasp is
• 06:00 - 06:30 what would be made in some sort of Chinese design um it's it's going to be sturdy as all health I can tell you that for sure yeah this is a this is a thousand percent Chinese made um just aesthetically looking at it look at The Branding on there there's like a little etching on there that says GLD on there that's fire that's really cool um just the aesthetic of the links I could tell you right now the Links are very spaced out they're not tight links but it's mostly because of the machine
• 06:30 - 07:00 that they use to make these this is kind of one of the harder parts of when Mass produce Cuban and chains via stainless steel or even silver or brass or copper the machines that they use you can't they don't they don't know how to tighten the links because they're Mass producing these out and I'm gonna show you some b-roll of what what it looks like when you uh machine make these it's a machine that basically hooks one ring and then the other ring Falls in with
• 07:00 - 07:30 the wire so it's like this Twist on twist off kind of kind of deal and because of that the links there's spacing between them they don't really know how to tighten the links on a handmade one we use oval jump rings and we make an oval mandrel and that measurement of course is a secret to us but it's how we use those to make them tight really really tight links there's no file to this again there's no file no one's hand soldering these or soldering them in general because you can still
• 07:30 - 08:00 solder them with a machine they put like this little dot on them and then they go through an oven and then the solder melt solder some together that's how the Italians make it that's why the Italians are so good uh with their machine made Cubans but this is Chinese right so this isn't going to be soldered at all now the construction of it from a distance from a dis purely a distance standpoint it doesn't look bad it really doesn't look bad like if I didn't know as much as I know now and I just looked at this from a distance outside of the gaps
• 08:00 - 08:30 being a little bit open it doesn't look bad no it doesn't look bad at all like I'm putting it around my wrist to kind of see what it would look like with my skin behind it the look isn't you know it isn't horrendous at all like in fact it's actually quite nice for the price point and what you're getting if this is something that you plan on just kind of wearing it on the weekend it's not a bad look it's not a bad look at all like I obviously it doesn't look authentic that's kind of the bad part about it like it doesn't it doesn't look like
• 08:30 - 09:00 authentic with the minute you get close to it so in other words if you are gonna be going out to the club and it's like you know dark out and you can't really see or someone doesn't really get up close to it you can't really see that it's not a handmade Cuban or that it's not a Cuban at all it has the shape and overall aesthetically look to it but the minute you get any anywhere near it you're gonna instantly tell that it's just kind of stainless kind of crappy stuff now it's supposed to measure I'm
• 09:00 - 09:30 going to measure it with my handy dandy uh caliper five millimeter chain so the caliper is showing that it is exactly 5.23 and it's going to be 5.23 the whole way around because again this is this is all machine made so there's no imperfection here when you do it when you when you measure a handmade one because some of the links are closed a little bit more than let's say for instance because we're hand soldering these so on one of them we may solder them a little bit closer again there's
• 09:30 - 10:00 human imperfection you can measure down uh the the actual spine of the chain and you'll see there's inconsistency so you'll get like a 5.4 A 5.6 a 5.3 a 5.5 but it'll be five millimeter this is machine made so this is going to be like 5.22 here 5.22 here maybe 5.23 somewhere else you know what I'm saying but like the point is it's pretty much going to be beautifully uh symmetrical because it's a machine right it's not a person doing
• 10:00 - 10:30 it the plating I don't know how it's going to hold up I could tell you for sure it doesn't feel very thick it feels pretty thin so it's not going to be that long I'm assuming maybe anywhere from four to five months maybe even less than that and then the plating should be starting to come off as far as the Box Clap The Box clap is going to be solid because again this is a standard kind of Chinese run-of-the-mill box slap like there's nothing really crazy about it you know it is firm it is tough but it's
• 10:30 - 11:00 that's machine made it's not even casted this is just a machine made clasp I'm gonna put the weight here so that we can both kind of see it together five millimeter 30 grams so to give you guys to put it in to perspective If This Were a solid gold let's say for instance 14 karat or let's say for instance uh I don't know 18 characters something like that it'd probably be in somewhere in the 50 to 55 gram range so your the weight difference is pretty fast you're talking about almost a 40 decrease because of course the weight of
• 11:00 - 11:30 stainless steel or whatever it is that they used here is much cheaper now I'm going to do the final test here which of course is what is this thing actually made out of uh this is called the thermal gun um it'll run you around 18 to 20 grand and this particular gun is what any Jeweler any Jeweler out there is going to use we don't do the scratch test no one does a scratch test I mean that's just a waste of time right this is the industry standard for how we test uh the materials that we're going to be using this is so that we know when we make you a 4 14 karat 18 karat 20 carat
• 11:30 - 12:00 22 karat doesn't matter that we know that it's plum in other words it's the carrot that you purchased or higher so we're gonna find out right now exactly what this is made of what you do is you hold it till about here um and you do you do about a 10 to 15 second pool and uh yeah let's see what it comes up on there for starters there's it's Fe which of course is iron uh you do have cr you have 15 chromium which is a different type of metal again
• 12:00 - 12:30 very very inexpensive Metals um and then there's nickel which is kind of what I don't like about this nickel is a metal that shouldn't be worn on a human uh we try to avoid putting Nickel in anything that we do because that's where you get like that green neck it's not a metal that you should wear on your shoes on your skin in fact most countries have band nickel from being used on pieces um I wouldn't recommend it but that's kind of the only metal that I don't like to see there uh the iron and chromium
• 12:30 - 13:00 that's that's okay but nickel that's way too much Nickel in there and the reason why that nickel is there more than likely is because of the plating you first give the stainless steel or the silver or whatever it is that you're using it a quick dip in nickel and what that does is it's the porous type of metal that gives it like a base coat and then all you do is just give it a quick flash plate in gold and it attaches that thin gold but you use a lot less gold to Plate something so it's kind of like a
• 13:00 - 13:30 cheat in a way and that's more than likely why there's Nickel in here because they they flash plated this this isn't true plating like you would see on like you know high-end jewelry like let's say for instance a Movado my bottle sells plated watches and Movado does the old school way of plating this is more like this is just gonna last you you know a couple of months of use or whatever of course you see a little bit of au in there which is gold which is The Flash plate that's what you see on top so they use a combination of nickel plus uh they played the gold on top so
• 13:30 - 14:00 it's kind of a kind of a I want to say a cheap way of doing it but it is the unique the more inexpensive way of doing it so view so now we know what it's made out of uh we know the weight we know the aesthetic look to it again off RIP just looking at it doesn't look bad it is spaced out um if you were to put it on my neck you could actually see what it looks like when it's worn on so that's what I'm gonna do right now it doesn't look bad it doesn't look bad like for for I think the person who's gonna buy this or the person that's interested in this would be let's say for instance a younger type
• 14:00 - 14:30 of cat uh maybe doesn't necessarily want to spend the thousands of dollars on a solid one just wants it for like an outfit that they may have I think that this is an awesome buy for that it's going to give you everything you want it's gonna give you a gold look from a distance it does give you the Cuban Link pattern on there um the only thing is that of course if you know about Cuban links or you really want it to look 100 authentic this isn't it right this isn't look like the real deal so this is actual solid gold what
• 14:30 - 15:00 I'm about to put on there and I'm gonna put both of them on there so you can see the comparison between the two and you could see what is a real one and what one that looks or is trying to look like one so my overall experience customer service 10 out of 10. packaging 10 out of 10. uh quality of the materials used I would give it a 5 out of 10 because I don't like obviously iron or I don't like chromium I don't like nickel being in here the weight is really low and the construction of this is just machine
• 15:00 - 15:30 made so it's kind of run in the middle there's nothing really nice about it but the beauty about this and the reason why I still give it my thumbs up and approval and tell you to go out there and get it is because the price point on this is just too good right it's 150 bucks if you're gonna go out on the weekend and you just want something to slap on there and nobody's really going to be going out there and be like oh that that's out of Miami Cuban like nobody does that bro right so you can go out there you can put this on and then throw it away if you get lost if you get banged up and you lose it who cares it's
• 15:30 - 16:00 150 bucks right and you wear it every once in a while cool but now if you're trying to get something that is going to be a direct replacement of this and you do want it to look 100 authentic this isn't the route to go to this is more like costume so uh without further Ado this is my review if you guys have anything else that you want me to review put it in the comment below I may do it again I don't want to make this about like I'm bashing another company to build mines up that's not what this is about I want to give you my honest reviews from an actual Junior's perspective so that you can get
• 16:00 - 16:30 a better idea of what a Miami Cuban Link is supposed to be what the other companies are doing and if it fits you if it's you and if it doesn't it doesn't and I'll let you guys know if it's awesome this awesome buy if you're a younger cat and want something with the look and don't want necessarily want to spend the bread this is it this is this is the this is a really good option for you until next time I'll catch you guys in the next video [Music] all right I'll see you later