Looking for a pair of cufflinks? Cufflinks.com might have just what you need. Here’s our review of their online shop.
When suiting up, it’s the little things that matter, how your suit fits, matching your shoes and belt, and making sure that any accessories you wear are tasteful and high-quality. If you’re wearing French cuffs, you’re going to need at least one pair of quality cufflinks.
While most men’s dress shirts have barrel cuffs these days (i.e., cuffs with buttons), French cuffs remain a popular option.
Recently, I tested out three pairs of cufflinks from cufflinks.com
Quick Take
Cufflinks offers classic, well-made cufflinks at an affordable price. However, you have to sort through a lot of gimmicky options to find the real gems.
The Carry Lots of Cufflinks
From $16,000 diamond encrusted cufflinks to $23 sports novelty cufflinks, cufflinks.com has over 1,000 options to choose from.
While they give you pages upon pages of wares that you could browse, I’d say that most of the options aren’t really a good option for guys interested in classic style.
I mean, unless you’d have too really like pork to wear “Pork Butcher Cuts Cufflinks,” and I don’t know why anyone would need a pair of 3D Watergun Cufflinks.
While I suppose you could use tchotchkes cufflinks to show your “quirky” side, but do you really want to wear your passion for smoked pork belly on your sleeve?
While there’s nothing wrong if you do, it’s just not appropriate in more formal settings. Since cufflinks are generally worn with more formal attire, you’ll get much more use out of classically styled cufflinks.
On cufflinks.com, you can search by material, price point, brand, and more.
This can help to cut down on how much time it’ll take to find what you’re looking for.
Ox & Bull Trading Company Cufflinks
I ordered three pairs of cufflinks on cufflinks.com, and they just so happened to all be from the same company, Ox & Bull Trading Company.
I chose pairs of cufflinks in classic styles, and one more adventurous pair, which I discovered has an unfortunate design (more on that in a minute).
I like the boxes the cufflinks came in. They are great for storage when traveling or at home, and for display.
In addition to Ox & Bull’s standard models, they have several pricier options for if you want to invest in heirloom-quality jewelry.
Silver and Onyx Cufflinks
I really like these silver and onyx cufflinks. They’re made from real onyx set in a rhodium-plated base metal. Like all three pairs, they have a bullet-back closure.
I really like these cufflinks. They have a nice weight to them (they are made from pretty substantial stones, after all), and they are just the right diameter at around three-quarters of an inch. The onyx forms a nice shallow dome shape over the setting.
These are probably the most formal style of cufflinks you can buy — excluding some made from precious metals or precious stones, like diamonds or rubies.
In fact, Ox & Bull sells these links as a set that includes onyx studs that you could wear with a tux. (Or, if you have the cash to spend, you could purchase a similar style of onyx cufflinks set in sterling silver along with studs).
Owing to their more formal nature (and because, being black, they’re harder to match), these cufflinks aren’t quite as versatile as the other two styles I tested.
I actually wear them quite a lot since I wear a suit with black oxfords several times a month.
While you could splurge for the sterling silver version, I don’t really think it’s worth it in this instance because the silver-colored setting is hardly visible when you’re wearing them.
Mother of Pearl and Lapis Blue Windmill Square Cufflinks
Next, another pair of cufflinks from Ox & Bull, their Mother of Pearl and lapis blue windmill square cufflinks (that’s a mouthful).
These cufflinks are simply stunning in person. They are really bright and eye-catching.
Unfortunately, they might be eye-catching for the wrong reason. The “windmill-blades-set against-a-bright-blue-sky” concept is pretty cool, except — well, you know — it kind of looks like something else…
The problem is that the sliver-plated base metal setting kind of blends in with the Mother of Pearl in a way that forms a crook in the arms of the windmill blades.
When I was ordering this pair, I thought, maybe it’s just me. However, when I was getting this photo taken, the photographer kind of had an incredulous “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” look on his face.
It’s a shame because it’s an otherwise really cool piece of jewelry that I probably won’t wear very much (if ever again). I just wish the silver-toned setting was more carefully designed.
I honestly don’t know how the people that designed these cufflinks didn’t see the setting as a problem.
It has a laminated construction. There’s a square metal setting, then a black middle layer, and finally, the Mother of Pearl and lapis top layer.
One of the links’ middle layer is starting to separate ever so slightly from its metal setting. It’s hard to see, but there is a tiny gap. It’s not a problem, but I think the separation may worsen over time. Besides that, these cufflinks are solidly built.
If you like the general design but don’t want to risk any awkward “windmill pattern misidentification conversations,” I’d choose these diagonal-striped patterned cufflinks instead.
Silver Textured Knot Cufflinks
Knot-styled metal cufflinks are classic. Out of the three pairs of cufflinks I tested, Ox & Bull’s silver textured knot cufflinks are probably my least favorite.
While each of the three incorporates a “silver-toned plated base metal” (whatever that means), for the other two pairs, the metal is just the setting and clasp, but these knots are entirely crafted out of this mysterious silver-toned plated base metal.
Still, especially from a distance, they look pretty good. However, up close, you can see some imperfections in the metal detailing.
Unlike the other two pairs that have straight “tails” (the part that connects the head from the back closure), these silver-textured knots have a tail that is slightly tilted at the end near the head of each cufflink. I’m not exactly sure why, but I imagine it helps them look more balanced when worn.
All in all, Ox & Bull’s silver textured knot cufflinks are definitely going to stay in rotation but might not see quite as much action as the other two options.
So, is Cufflinks.com any good?
Cufflinks.com is a good place to search for cufflinks online. Using the search functions makes it easier to sift through the vast amount of novelty cufflinks to find classically-styled options. Alternatively, you can select “classic cufflinks” on the toolbar for even easier browsing.
Personally, I liked Ox & Bull’s selection of cufflinks, and I’d recommend them to anyone looking for their first pair of cufflinks.
Do you own any cufflinks? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!
