Buying a Cuban Link Chain in the Netherlands: 2026 Guide

Buying a Cuban Link Chain in the Netherlands

Search for a cuban link chain in Dutch and you get three different words for the same thing, prices from nine euros to nine hundred, and product titles that mention millimetres without telling you what they measure. None of that is dishonest. It is just a category where the vocabulary drifted and the spec line rarely made it onto the page.

This guide fixes both. First the words, so you know what you are looking at. Then the materials, because that is the single line that decides whether the chain still looks gold next summer. Then widths, lengths, and where to buy in the Netherlands by buyer profile.

Disclosure up front: we run Monrich, and we sell cuban chains. We are one option on the list below, with our limits stated in the same sentence as our claims. Everything about the other shops comes from their own public pages at the time of writing.

What a cuban link actually is

A cuban link is a chain of oval links, each one twisted and then flattened, so the chain lies flat against the skin and reflects light in a continuous line instead of in scattered points.

In Dutch it carries three names, often on the same webshop: gourmet schakel, curb link, and Cubaanse schakel. Aramat Jewels, for example, lists it exactly that way, with all three terms in one product description. That matters for your search: if a shop only uses "gourmet", a search for "cuban link" may never surface it, and you will miss half the market.

What separates it from its neighbours:

• Jasseron is a fine, round, flexible chain, usually thin and worn with a pendant.
• Rope twists strands into a spiral: more sparkle, less flat surface.
• Tennis is a line of set stones, not a metal weave at all.
• Cuban is the flat, dense one, the chain that reads as a chain from across a room.

Our own range sits in the cuban chain collection, and the full cuban chain guide goes deeper on link geometry.

Materials: the line that decides everything

Two chains that photograph identically can live very different lives. The difference is the base metal and what sits on top of it, and that is the one thing worth reading before you pay.

The four constructions you will meet

The millimetre trap

Dutch product titles often read like "stainless steel goldplated schakelketting 1mm". That millimetre is the width of the chain, not the thickness of the gold. Plating is measured in microns, a thousandth of a millimetre, and it is a different number entirely. A shop can be completely honest and still never publish it, because almost nobody in the category does.

So the practical test is simple: does the page name the base metal, the plating process, and a thickness? Three out of three is rare. Two out of three is good. Zero out of three tells you to treat it as the cheapest tier, whatever the price says.

Width and length

Width sets the register of the piece before anything else does. Length decides where it sits, and that depends on your build more than on fashion.

Width

• 3-4mm: everyday and quiet. Works under a shirt, layers well, reads as jewellery rather than as a statement.
• 5-7mm: the balance point. Clear presence without shouting, and the most common choice for a first serious cuban.
• 8mm and up: full statement. Wear it alone with a clean neckline; above 10mm you are firmly in occasion territory.

Length

• 45cm sits at the base of the neck, close to a choker on larger builds.
• 50cm is the safe default: just below the collarbone on most men.
• 55cm lands mid-chest and is the most versatile for layering.
• 60cm and beyond drops onto the chest and needs a wider link to stay in proportion.

Broader builds carry longer and wider combinations comfortably; slimmer builds usually look better short and fine. If you are between two sizes, our size guide converts the measurements.

Where to buy

Five routes, each genuinely better than the others for a specific buyer. Prices are indicative and taken from public pages at the time of writing.

1. Monrich, if you want the spec written down

This is us, so read it with that in mind. We only make one construction: 316L stainless steel with 18K gold PVD, published at 1-2 microns on every product page, backed by a written 12-month anti-tarnish guarantee, with tracked delivery to the Netherlands and 30-day returns. Buy one get one free runs permanently rather than as a seasonal sale. The honest limit: we have no sterling silver and no solid gold line, and our catalogue is deliberately short. If you want a precious metal, one of the options below is the better answer.

2. Lucardi, if you want to see it in a shop first

The largest jewellery chain in the country, with physical stores across the Netherlands and a men's section covering stainless steel, silver, and 9, 14 and 18 karat gold. Prices run from roughly €15 to €600, so the range covers both a first chain and a serious one. Product pages use wording like "goldplated" without naming a process or a micron figure, which is normal for retail: the trade-off for breadth and for being able to try it on.

3. Buddha to Buddha, if you want recycled sterling and a name

The Amsterdam house that is probably the best-known Dutch jewellery brand abroad. Recycled 925 sterling silver, handmade, roughly €59 to €699 and above, with gold plating on selected pieces. Worth being precise: the range is designed as gender-neutral rather than as a men's cuban collection, so you are buying into a design language more than into a chain category. No plating question on the solid silver pieces, but silver patinas and wants care.

4. Aramat Jewels, if you want it local and affordable

Based in Utrecht, stock held in the Netherlands, and one of the few Dutch shops that names the link properly: gourmet schakel, curb link, Cubaanse schakel, all three. Stainless steel, 925 and titanium, described as low-nickel, from roughly €25 to €38 on featured pieces. No plating process or thickness published, same as most of the category.

5. Sem Lewis, if the design is the point

A Dutch design brand now sold mainly through retailers such as Brandfield rather than from its own webshop. Stainless steel and leather, in the €30-70 range, with a look built around the London Underground theme. Our full Sem Lewis review covers what changed and what it means for buyers.

And the marketplaces

A large share of Dutch cuban link searches land on marketplace listings, and some of those are perfectly fine. The problem is not the channel, it is that the material line varies enormously from listing to listing and is sometimes missing altogether. Before you buy on one, check four things: is the base metal named, is a plating process named, is there a thickness figure, and is there a stated warranty. If none of them appear, price the chain as a short-term piece and buy it happily on that basis.

How to choose

Four questions settle almost every cuban link purchase in the Netherlands.

How often will you actually wear it? Daily wear, including showers and the gym, is the case where a declared PVD thickness or solid silver earns its money. For occasional wear, the cheaper tiers are a sensible choice rather than a compromise.

Coated metal or precious metal? A coating buys you the look at a fraction of the price and needs no maintenance. A precious metal costs more, patinas rather than wears through, and can be polished back. Neither is better in the abstract.

Does the page tell you what you are buying? Base metal, process, thickness, warranty. Count how many of the four appear before you compare prices, because a €90 chain with all four and a €90 chain with none are not the same purchase.

What happens if it is wrong? Return window, who pays the return shipping, and whether the warranty covers plating wear or only manufacturing faults. Most warranties in this category exclude normal wear, which is exactly the thing you were worried about.

Get those four right and the chain itself becomes an easy choice. Our current line-up is in the cuban chains collection.