Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Cufflinks

Cufflinks come in many different shapes, sizes, styles, and materials. They are an ornamental option if you don’t want a shirt with plain old buttons on the cuff, and they are an essential item if you have a shirt with French cuffs which doesn’t have any buttons in the first place.

The most common type of cufflinks are the ones that have a face which goes on the outside of the cuff. This is attached to a post which goes through the holes and at the other end has a toggle which can be turned through 90°. To slide it through the holes you turn the toggle so that it is parallel with the post, slip it through, then turn the toggle back 90° again and that stops the cufflink from falling out.

There is the bullet back type of closure where the toggle is in the shape of a bullet and sits between what are in effect two posts, and there is the whaleback design where the toggle is in the shape of a whale’s tail and sits at the end of a single post. Both work in the same way.

Then there are chain link cufflinks which have two heads which are normally identical and are connected by a short chain. Stud, or button style, cufflinks have no moving parts but have the face on one end of a straight post with a smaller head on the other end. The smaller head is wangled through the cuff holes and secures them together. Ball return cufflinks are similar but have a curved post with a small heavy ball on the end opposite the face.

Locking dual-action cufflinks use a hinge mechanism similar to the closure of a metal watchband. The entire post is the hinge: the cufflink swings open, the smaller end is slipped through the opening, and then the cufflink is swung shut once more, clipping the sides of the cuff together underneath the head.

Knot cufflinks have two heads like a knot connected by a short flexible length and are usually made of silk, although they can be of other materials.

Cufflinks can consist of many different materials, the most common being platinum, silver, and gold, but they can also be made of carbon fibre, titanium, gunmetal, copper, brass, rose gold – which is an alloy of gold and copper and has reddish tint – and stainless steel.

Cufflinks can also contain many other materials in the design including gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. However, they may also make use of mother of pearl, glass, crystal, enamel, citrine, opal, onyx, and more.

When do you wear cufflinks? Well, of course, any time that you are wearing a double cuff shirt, but there are some guidelines as to the type of design that you should wear under certain conditions. For instance, you can buy unique designer cufflinks for men that are in understated styles which are the sort of design that you would wear for very formal occasions such as black tie for a dinner.

You can also buy many cufflinks in “jokey” styles such as a skull, a racing car, an anchor, the inside of a watch mechanism, the head of a steer, US dollar symbols, and so on, which may be great fun on some occasions, but not what you would choose for a formal dinner. The same thing applies to business attire: you don’t want to be seen by the boss wearing anything overly ostentatious. Furthermore, if you are wearing a tie clip you should make sure that the metal of your cufflinks matches it.

Another way of wearing your cufflinks is contrast matching. So, for example, if you are wearing a blue suit and shirt, why not try a pair of red cufflinks?

If you are thinking of buying cufflinks as a gift for a man, at Wimbledon Cufflink Company we have plenty of different choices. Check the colour of his watch. If it is a gold watch then, gold-tone cufflinks are the answer. If it is silver watch or stainless steel, silver-tone cufflinks would be better. You could also opt to have cufflinks engraved with a special message, as well.