What size pearls for a pearl bracelet?

My wife loves pearls and has many pearl necklaces passed down from her grandmother. I am not sure the sizes of pearls, and many need to be restrung. I got my wife a pair of pearl hoop earrings last year and she loves them. They have pearls between 6-6.5mm. I would like to get her a pearl bracelet this year and have found some very pretty Akoya pearl bracelets online. I am struggling on choosing a size for the pearls and am leaning between 6.5-7.0mm and 7.0-7.5mm. Any thoughts on this? Thank you!

I will leave it to others to recommend size, as I don't wear pearl bracelets. I will just say that if her wrist is small, then the smaller pearls may be preferable as they will fit her wrist better. There isn't room for many pearls in a bracelet, and there is also the clasp that takes up space. The larger the pearls, the fewer pearls the bracelet can have and still fit.

But as to the restringing of the necklaces passed down from her grandmother, if your wife (or you) wish to save money on restringing and learn a useful skill, we have instructions on how to restring your own pearls on our Lowly Beaders Club forum. It isn't hard-- many of us do it. In fact I am just about to go to my craft table to restring my baroque akoya necklace with a new clasp.

Here is the tutorial I wrote on how to restring, with photos; others have posted videos:

I like bracelets and have a fairly slim wrist. I wear anything from a dainty 22k bracelet to whole cuffs of smaller bracelets or a super chunky gold or silver one. A good thing about smaller size pearls is that you can always stack them - like with some bigger ones in time So the size is less important than the thought - and the luster. Get all the luster you can afford.

My only thought is larger pearls will take up more space so you will need to adjust the length to compensate, but you aren't lookin g at 9mm pearl bracelets ... I digress. Yes, get the best luster.

Thank you all! I will go with the 6.5-7.0 Akoya because then I can afford AAA quality.

One other question, how should I measure her wrist? Can I measure the watch that fits her wrist perfectly and get that exact size bracelet or do I need to add a little extra to her wrist measurements?

The pearl bracelet will have to be longer to accomodate the size of the pearls. How much longer depends on the diameter of the pearls and also how tight or loose she likes it. The larger the pearls, the longer the bracelet has to be to leave room for the pearls.

The thread through the drill hole passes through the center of the pearls, as you can see in this diagram. That is the length of the finished bracelet, and we can calculate it. All we need to know is the comfortable length of the bracelet as measured with a tape measure on her wrist and the size of the pearls.

I can calculate the length she would need for a 6.5-7.0mm bracelet if you measure the wrist she would wear it on (our wrists are larger on our dominant hand side).
Don't hold the tape measure snugly against the wrist-- instead, hold it at whatever degree of looseness she would want the bracelet to be-- her "comfortable" length.

Note that you have to convert inches to centimeters or millimeters be consistent here.

See my example in the next post.

For example:
Let's say, just for purposes of this example, that her perfect length of the bracelet, taking into consideration how loose she wants it to be, is 7"
Let's convert that to centimeters. 7" x 2.54 cm/inch = 17.78 cm.
That is "Circumference B" on my diagram.
Using c (circumference B) = 2πr, 17.78 = 2πr. π is 3.14, so 2 π = 6.28
17.78 = 6.28r
r = 17.78 ÷ 6.28 = 2.83. This is "radius B" on my diagram.
The average pearl diameter in a 6.5-7.0m strand is 6.75mm or 0.675cm, and the radius is half of that. So pearl radius A is 0.338 cm.
Pearl radius A (0.338) + comfortable radius B (2.83) = 3.17. This is Radius C on my diagram.
Now I multiply radius C (3.17) x 2π (which is 6.28) = 19.91 cm. That is the finished length of the bracelet.
Converting that back to inches, 19.91 ÷ 2.54 = 7.84 inches.

So if her comfortable length (how loose she'd like it) is 7", the finished length of a bracelet of 6.5-7.0mm pearls would be about 7.8 inches long.
A bit snugger would be about 7 and 3/4". A bit looser would be 8".

But everyone's wrists are a different size, and our dominant side wrist is usually larger than our non-dominant side, so you have to measure to find her perfect length, measuring the wrist she will actually wear it on.

I know this looks complicated but if you don't do the math, you're just guessing.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you! Do you see any issue with measuring her watch or a bracelet that already fits her well instead of measuring her wrist? I was hoping to keep this a surprise.

How thick is her watch band? Can you measure it? I'm asking because just as the pearl radius affects length of finished bracelet, so does the thickness of the watch band determine how long her band needs to be to fit the way she wants it.
The radius of the average 6.75mm pearl would be about 1/8th". Is her band about that thick?

Does she wear the watch loosely or snugly? I wear my watch snugly but I wear my (non-pearl) bracelets looser.
Does she have any other bracelets she wears? Does she like them loose or snug?

Also-- would she wear the pearl bracelet on the wrist she wears her watch on, in place of the watch? I'm right handed so I'd wear my wristwatch on my left wrist (non dominant side)-- but a bracelet on my right (dominant) which is larger.

This seems very fussy but a poorly fitted bracelet can be annoying to wear.

I suppose you could measure another bracelet she wears, it it's very flat (call that her 'comfortable circumference"), and add a little bit to accommodate the thickness of the pearls.
There is probably a range of lengths she would find ok.

Yes, the more I think of it, the more sense it makes to go by the length of her other bracelets rather than the watch. Since she would probably wear the pearl bracelet on the same wrist she wears her other bracelets on. But you'd still have to add a bit of length if they are quite flat.

Her watch is just about 1/8 inch thick but you are right, she will wear her bracelets on the other wrist. I will find one of her regular bracelets (flattest one possible) to get a measurement. I really appreciate your help through all of this!

If you find the bracelet and tell me the length, I can do the math for you, if you like.

Your wife should wear approximately 7 inches bracelet which is medium. A good size for her pearls should be approximately 6.00 - 6.50 mm and should be in proportion of her size. Just remember, watches are more snug on your wrist unless she wears is slightly loose.

We don't know what size bracelet the wife wears. Not all women wear a 7 inch bracelet. I don't.