How to measure your wrist at home

This takes two minutes and saves the most common reason jewellery goes back.

With a soft tape

1. Wrap the tape around your wrist just below the wrist bone — where a watch sits, not further up the forearm.
2. Pull it snug, not tight. You should be able to slip a fingertip underneath.
3. Read the number in centimetres.

Without one

1. Cut a strip of paper about a centimetre wide and long enough to go round.
2. Wrap it the same way, snug, and mark where the end overlaps.
3. Lay it flat against a ruler and read the mark.

The mistake people make

Measuring too high up the arm. The forearm thickens quickly above the wrist bone, and a centimetre up can be a centimetre bigger — which is a whole size. Find the bone, sit just below it.

The second mistake is pulling tight to get a flattering number. The bracelet has to go around a wrist, not into one.

Turning a wrist measurement into a bracelet size

Your wrist measurement is not the bracelet length. The bracelet is longer, because it sits around the wrist with room to move. Our sizing guide has the full table, but as a rough rule a 15.5–16.5 cm wrist takes a 7 inch bracelet, which is the size most adult women wear.

If you are between two, take the larger. A slightly loose tennis bracelet still looks right. A tight one does not, and it strains the clasp.