Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmithing, goldsmithing, stone setting, engraving, fabrication, wax carving, lost-wax casting, electroplating, forging, & polishing.

[1][2] In general, an original design is made and sold using processes such as molding, casting, stamping and similar techniques.

When a production piece is contemplated, it may go through a design process that can range from one person with an idea to a full-scale planning stage involving teams of artists and marketing professionals.

In this context, the bench jeweler (often known simply as a goldsmith) is responsible for all of the main work involved in turning a raw casting into a piece of jewelry - filing it, straightening it, assembling parts or adding settings for stones, repairing any problems that might have occurred, and preparing it for stone setting and polishing.

[8] The plan to transform the Seybold Building into a jeweler's hub had a helping hand from the Cuban revolution.

Very often both model making and special order involve gemstones, and thus the pieces must be designed and made to properly hold those.

If it is a manufacturing workshop, likely it will begin with the casting room, then to the bench jewelers or goldsmiths, perhaps to the polishing department and maybe to stonesetting.

For a long time throughout history the model was as described above under "Anatomy of a Jewelry Shop", with a fairly strict delineation of responsibilities.

In the modern day, there are a great many jewelers who do it all, from design to stone setting to finishing with fair ability.