GOBLOW // JOURNAL
What Is PVD Coating? The Complete Guide for Jewellery Buyers
What PVD actually is
PVD stands for Physical Vapour Deposition. It's a coating process — but not in the way most people picture coatings. Nothing is sprayed, dipped, painted, or brushed on. The process happens inside a vacuum chamber, at the molecular level, and what comes out is a finish that's bonded to the base metal in a way ordinary plating can't replicate.
Built for this? See our our materials page for the full breakdown.
This guide is for jewellery buyers — anyone trying to work out whether the piece they're looking at is real PVD, real plating, or marketing spin.
How PVD works
The process, in order:
- Base metal piece (usually stainless steel) is cleaned and placed inside a vacuum chamber
- Air is pumped out — the chamber runs at near-vacuum to eliminate contamination
- A target metal (the coating material — gold, titanium nitride, chromium, etc.) is vaporised by high-energy bombardment
- The vaporised metal atoms travel across the chamber and land on the base piece
- They bond at the molecular level, forming a thin, dense, hard layer that's chemically and mechanically integrated with the surface
The end result is a coating measured in microns — typically 0.25–4 microns thick — that's harder than the base metal underneath and won't separate the way plating eventually does.
What PVD produces
Three things matter:
- Hardness — PVD coatings are typically 2–4 times harder than the base metal. The piece resists scratches better than the underlying steel.
- Colour stability — won't peel, won't flake, won't change tone over time
- Thin layer — adds essentially no dimension. The piece's tolerances stay intact.
A real PVD finish on stainless steel is, for practical purposes, permanent. Years of daily wear, weather, sweat, salt water — the colour stays.
Real PVD vs electroplating
This is where most jewellery buyers get burned. Electroplating is the cheap alternative — a thin layer of decorative metal applied via electrochemistry, sitting on top of the base piece in a way that eventually wears, peels, or oxidises through.
How to tell them apart on a product page:
- Real PVD — stated explicitly. "PVD coating", "PVD finish", "physical vapour deposition". Brand names back it.
- Electroplate — language like "gold-coated", "gold-plated", "gold finish", "ion-plated" without the PVD word
- Vague — if a brand says "premium gold finish" without specifying the process, assume electroplate
Real PVD costs money to apply. Brands that pay for it say so.
What PVD can do
Standard jewellery finishes available via PVD:
- Gold — titanium nitride or zirconium nitride bases. Warm yellow tone.
- Rose gold — titanium with copper alloying. Pink-warm tone.
- Black — typically titanium aluminium nitride or DLC (diamond-like carbon). Deep matte to satin black.
- Gunmetal / dark grey — chromium-based PVD
All of these read as solid coloured finishes — uniform across the surface.
What PVD can't replicate
Interference colours. The "rainbow" or "anodised titanium" finish — where the surface shows blues, purples, magentas, greens shifting by angle — is not PVD. It's a different process entirely: titanium oxide grown directly out of the metal by controlled heat. The colour comes from light interference in the oxide layer, not from a coating.
If you see a piece advertised as "PVD rainbow" or "PVD anodised", that's a misuse of the term. Real interference colour requires titanium and oxide growth — not a vapour-deposited coating.
Safety
PVD is one of the safest finishing processes for jewellery worn against skin.
- Hypoallergenic — the coating is chemically inert
- Used in medical implants, premium hardware, dental work
- No leaching, no oxidation against skin, no known allergic reactions
- Safe for sensitive skin where electroplated nickel finishes commonly cause reactions
If skin reactions are a concern, real PVD is the finish to look for.
How GoBlow uses PVD
GoBlow Black, Gold, and Rose Gold all use real PVD on a machined stainless steel base.
- Black — titanium-based PVD, deep matte-to-satin finish
- Gold — warm yellow PVD, sits closer to a yellow gold than a brass tone
- Rose Gold — copper-warm PVD, pink-warm tone
Steel is uncoated — brushed and polished machined stainless steel. Rainbow uses TiO2 oxide growth, not PVD.
The buyer's checklist
Before buying any "gold" or "black" piece of jewellery, check:
- Does the brand say PVD explicitly?
- What's the base metal — machined stainless steel, titanium, or cheaper steel?
- Is there a warranty against finish wear?
- Is the price consistent with PVD application costs (a $20 piece can't afford real PVD)?
If the answers line up — explicit PVD, machined stainless steel base, finish warranty, sensible price — the piece is what it claims. If they don't, it's plating dressed up as something more.
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