Initial Bracelets

Yours or your children's. A bracelet sits in your own eyeline all day, which makes it the natural place for letters that mean something to you rather than a message aimed outward. A partner's initial on a wrist is more visible than on a necklace, and reads accordingly.

Three or four spaced along a chain before it starts to look crowded. Unlike a necklace, a bracelet curves — letters spaced too closely bunch on the inside of the curve and read badly. Fewer, further apart, works better here than it does on a chain.

About one finger between the chain and your wrist. Too loose and the letters rotate underneath where you can't see them, which defeats the point. Slightly snugger than a plain chain keeps them facing up.

Yes, and it's the usual way to wear one. Keep the initial as the finest chain in the stack so the letter isn't competing with a wider band beside it. Two or three bracelets of varying widths reads better than three of the same.

Wrists abrade more than necks — desks, sleeves, hand cream. At 3.0 microns of gold over solid sterling silver ours hold up considerably better than the 0.5 micron plating typical elsewhere, but the raised faces of letters are always where plating thins first on any bracelet.

Among the safest — one letter, no size to get exactly right, no spelling to check beyond a single character. If she already owns an initial necklace, the bracelet doesn't duplicate it.