A friend asked me if I could repair this old and sentimental bracelet. The engraved strip has popped out of the “bezel.” The clasp is functional, but to soften the engraved strip, do I need to anneal it? It is very stiff and I’m concerned about the heat. On the inside it says: 14GF FG.CO
I’m assuming that means 14K gold filled.
Just my 2 cents, This looks like a job where I would not anneal it, but would slowly pull it down bit by bit into the channel it was in, and spot laser weld it every mm or so. Then burnish the bezel that is still up over the edges. I would not anneal it.
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Thank you. Since I am a novice and have never spot laser welded anything (do not have the laser weld equipment) should I suggest she send it to a good local store to have it fixed? I definitely considered laying the strip back down and burnishing the bezel over the metal. I guess I could try that first. Thanks again for your thoughts.
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In my experience, if it popped out of the bezel once, it probably will again. I would pass on this repair and have her take it to someone with the tools that can do the job without a huge amount of heat on the gold fill. It is a wonderful looking item. I hope she brings it back to you to show it after it gets fixed.
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Thank you. I appreciate your wisdom!
Jane
Yeah, laser welding would work so perfectly on this! However, you may be able to fix it without a laser. I don’t think it is a “bezel” setting. I don’t think there is any slot for it to be held in place. Had they built it that way it probably would have never failed. So, what I’d do is remove the solder that is there. Looks like about 15 mm of solder on each side. I’d apply a solder mask to the area that the spring clasp inserts into to hopefully keep the solder out of there. Then I’d go with a paste solder and extend the solder to say 30 mm on each side. I’d then clamp it and apply the heat. I wouldn’t worry about the stiffness and I’d be sure not to get any heat on the spring clasp.
It may have failed cuz the solder they used was too soft. I think I see some grey in the residual solder beads, if so then they didn’t bother using 14k gold solder and they just used something like plain old electronics solder. If you do see grey solder, make sure you remove all of it. To remove it, and to clean out the spring clasp slot should you get any of your solder in there, you’ll need a 15 to 20 power inspection microscope and a rotory tool that you can turn on with a foot switch. UNLESS YOU HAVE REALLY GOOD EYES! HAHA! 
You’d use diamond point bur like one of these.
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Thanks!
Jane