mehr als gold

mehr als gold is a two-person goldsmith and fine-casting workshop in Winterthur, run by Laura and Florian Becker as a business built almost entirely around one job: designing and making the pair of rings a couple will wear for the rest of a marriage. The homepage puts Trauringe (wedding rings) ahead of everything else the workshop does, and describes every ring as a one-off, made "im Dialog mit den Menschen, die ihn später tragen" (in dialogue with the people who will later wear it) rather than pulled off a shelf and resized to fit.

This isn't a general jewellery retailer with wedding rings as one line among many. The site frames the small selection of ready pieces it keeps in the atelier, called Kollektionen, as something for a spontaneous purchase or for inspiration before commissioning your own design, not as the main draw. Florian Becker describes his own professional focus the same way on his LinkedIn profile: goldsmith work centred on Trauringe and Feinguss (fine casting) service. Both sources point the same direction, a workshop that treats bespoke wedding rings as the core of the business rather than a category on a bigger price list.

What you get

Going by the workshop's own description, the process is genuinely in-house rather than outsourced in stages. mehr als gold say everything happens "aus einer Hand" (from one pair of hands, under one roof): from the first sketch, through Feinguss, casting each ring from an individual model rather than filing a factory blank down to size, to the final engraving. That matters for a commissioned wedding ring specifically, because it means the same two people who talk through the design with you are the ones shaping the metal, not a design consultant handing the job to a separate production line.

Beyond new commissions, the workshop also takes on repairs and what the site calls turning "liebgewonnene Schmuckstücke" (jewellery you've grown attached to) into new pieces, remounting old gold or stones into something wearable again rather than letting it sit in a drawer. For anyone who inherits jewellery or has an old ring they no longer wear, that's a genuinely useful adjacent service, though the site gives no indication of price or turnaround for it, so treat it as an offer worth asking about rather than a service you can budget for in advance.

Where and how you'll actually meet them

One thing the site itself doesn't spell out, but is easy to confirm from Winterthur's own street register, is exactly where the workshop sits. Hobelwerkweg 43 is Haus D of Hobelwerk, a cooperative housing development in the Oberwinterthur district built by mehr als wohnen, whose own material describes the project as built out between 2018 and 2023 on the site of a former factory. Hobelwerk's own rental information names Haus D at Hobelwerkweg 43 specifically as containing "Clusterwohnungen und Wohnateliers", live-work studio apartments built for people in creative and craft trades, and a separate architecture write-up on the project puts that final building's completion in November 2023. In other words, this is a genuinely new address, purpose-built with working studios on the ground floor, not a shopfront on a commercial street.

That explains the tone of the website: there's no retail language anywhere on it, no "visit our showroom", just a single repeated call to action, "Termin vereinbaren" (arrange an appointment). If you're picturing a boutique window somewhere central, recalibrate. This is closer to visiting a maker in their own studio than browsing a jewellery counter, and a first contact should be treated that way, an introduction and a conversation about what you want, rather than a drop-in.

How it's organised

The workshop presents its work in three parts. Trauringe is the custom strand: rings designed and made to order for a specific couple, which is the part of the business both the homepage and Florian Becker's own description lead with. Kollektionen is the small ready-made selection kept on site, positioned for spontaneous buys or as a starting point for ideas rather than a full retail counter. Workshops is the most unusual of the three, hands-on classes where a visitor makes their own piece under supervision, covering sawing, filing, soldering and wax carving, the same techniques the Beckers use on paid commissions. Offering public workshops alongside bridal commissions is not common among the goldsmiths on this list, and it says something about how the business sees itself: less a shop that also repairs jewellery, more a working atelier that happens to sell what comes out of it.

Contact runs through email and Instagram rather than a phone number or an online booking calendar, at least based on what's published on the site. That fits an appointment-only model but means a first message from abroad is likely to be written correspondence rather than a quick call, worth knowing if you'd rather talk something through than type it.

How it compares

Set against the bigger Trauringe specialists in central Zürich, the ones running 3D configurators or displaying full bridal collections behind glass, mehr als gold is a different scale of business entirely: two people rather than a sales team, an atelier rather than a showroom. What you gain from that is direct access to the person actually cutting the wax model and running the torch, with no handoff between the person who sold you the ring and the person who made it. What you give up is the ability to browse a wall of finished rings before deciding what you want, or to walk in without an appointment. That trade only makes sense if a genuinely made-to-measure pair, designed in conversation with the makers, is the actual point of the exercise rather than buying something recognisable off a shelf.

For an international buyer based in Zürich

The site operates entirely in German. There's no English version, and nothing in the navigation, the impressum or the contact details mentions consultations available in English. If German isn't comfortable for you, it's worth writing ahead in English before booking an appointment rather than assuming the conversation will happen in a language you're confident in; plenty of Swiss craftspeople are happy to work in English once asked, but this business doesn't say either way on its own pages, so ask first.

The practical numbers a first-time visitor usually wants before committing, prices, a typical lead time for a commissioned pair, published hours, and whether a finished ring can be sent abroad if you later leave Switzerland, aren't published anywhere on the site. That's consistent with a small, appointment-only workshop rather than a retail operation with a price list to publish, but it does mean the first contact is a fact-finding exchange as much as a design conversation. Get budget, timeline and any shipping question answered directly before you commit to a design, rather than assuming it will match what a bigger jeweller down the road quotes.

Geography is also worth being clear-eyed about. Winterthur is its own city, not a Zürich suburb, so a visit means an actual trip rather than a walk from the centre. The two cities are well connected, though: the fastest direct trains cover the 20 km between Zürich HB and Winterthur in as little as 19 minutes, and a rental listing for the same building at Hobelwerkweg 43 puts public transport about 7 minutes away on foot. For someone based in central Zürich, that makes an appointment in Oberwinterthur a workable half-day errand rather than a genuine expedition.

Who it suits

This fits a couple who wants a wedding ring nobody else will have, who's happy to make first contact in written German or simply ask upfront whether English works, and who doesn't mind travelling out to Winterthur for what is clearly meant to be an unhurried, appointment-based conversation rather than a quick transaction. It's a better match for someone motivated by process, watching or even taking part in how the ring gets made, than for someone who wants to compare a published catalogue and price list from home before ever making contact. It's less of a fit for anyone who wants a same-day purchase, a large in-stock selection to try on, or firm pricing before the first message is sent.

The verdict

mehr als gold reads as a credible, hands-on choice for a couple who want a genuinely custom wedding ring: a real married-couple workshop with an in-house process running from first sketch through casting to engraving, working out of a newly built studio space rather than a converted shopfront, with a sideline in jewellery-making workshops that few competitors on this list bother to offer. The gap for an international buyer is entirely one of published information rather than substance, no prices, hours, lead times or shipping terms on the site, so budget an email exchange in German or English to get those answers before booking the first appointment. That's a minor friction for someone used to comparing options at a glance online, not a reason to skip a workshop that's easy enough to reach from central Zürich and clearly serious about the one thing it sets out to do.