SearchMiami Cuban Chains: Width, Weight, Solid or Hollow, Answered
From the counter at TraxNYC, 47th Street.
The short answer
- A Miami Cuban is a curb link made rounder and tighter. On our makes it weighs more than twice a plain curb per inch at 3 mm, and about three times at 7 mm.
- Most buyers pick a narrow one. About two in three of the gold Cubans we sold in the last 90 days were under 5 mm, though our wall runs from 1.9 mm to 37 mm.
- Solid is the norm. More than nine in ten of our gold Cuban listings that state a build say solid. A hollow one weighs a little over a third of a solid one at the same width.
- The weight is the check. A 14K solid Miami Cuban runs from 0.35 grams an inch at 2 mm to 10.86 at 12 mm on our makes. Set a listing's weight against the table below.
Choosing a width or a karat? Talk to a personal jeweler: call 212-872-9692 or text us, seven days.
On this page: Pick a width Weight by width Solid or hollow 10K, 14K or 18K Diamond Cubans How to tell a real one Questions
What is a Miami Cuban, and how is it different from a curb?
A Cuban chain is a curb link tightened and flattened until the links lock close together. "Miami Cuban" is a Miami name for that tightened curb, and the trade adopted it, so "Cuban link" and "Miami Cuban" name the same link.
Beside a plain curb of the same width, the Cuban's link is rounder and tighter, and it carries more gold. What our own 14K solid makes weigh, medians of our listings counted September 25, 2026:
| Width, 14K solid | Miami Cuban, grams an inch | Plain curb, grams an inch | The Cuban carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 mm | 0.83 | 0.32 | More than twice the gold |
| 7 mm | 3.65 | 1.17 | About three times the gold |
That extra gold is what you feel in the hand when you pick up a Cuban beside a curb. How gold weight turns into a price is in how a gold chain is priced; today's gold price is on our gold price page.
For the Cuban beside the Franco, the Figaro and the rest, see our guide to the classic chain styles.
Which width do buyers choose?
Our gold Miami Cuban listings run from 1.9 mm to 37 mm, with the middle at 12 mm. What buyers take home is much narrower:
Share of gold Miami Cuban chains sold by width, TraxNYC sales, 90 days to September 26, 2026. Width read from the listing title, else its width field.
About two in three buyers chose a Cuban under 5 mm, one in four 5 to 6.9 mm, and one in twenty 7 mm or wider. The wide chains are a few big purchases.
Our best-selling gold Cuban in those 90 days, by money and by count, was our 10K Cuban at 4.6 mm.
Pick a width
Real chains from our case, narrow to wide, each one sold in the last 90 days. A weight on a chip is the listing's own.
Want a width that is not here? See every Miami Cuban chain, or narrow it to solid gold chains only.
What does a Miami Cuban weigh at each width?
Weight tells you how much gold you are buying, and it is the easiest honest check you can make. Grams per inch of our 14K solid Miami Cubans, with the weight at 22 inches and about-weights at 20 and 24:
| Width | Grams an inch | About 20 in | 22 in | About 24 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 mm | 0.35 | 7.0 g | 7.8 g | 8.5 g |
| 2.5 mm | 0.50 | 10.0 g | 11.0 g | 12.0 g |
| 3 mm | 0.83 | 16.5 g | 18.2 g | 19.8 g |
| 4 mm | 1.25 | 25.0 g | 27.5 g | 30.0 g |
| 5 mm | 1.92 | 38.5 g | 42.3 g | 46.2 g |
| 6 mm | 2.76 | 55.2 g | 60.8 g | 66.3 g |
| 7 mm | 3.65 | 73.0 g | 80.3 g | 87.6 g |
| 8 mm | 5.37 | 107.3 g | 118.1 g | 128.8 g |
| 9 mm | 6.64 | 132.7 g | 146.0 g | 159.3 g |
| 10 mm | 8.36 | 167.2 g | 183.9 g | 200.6 g |
| 12 mm | 10.86 | 217.3 g | 239.0 g | 260.7 g |
14K solid Miami Cuban, medians of our makes, counted September 25, 2026. The same figures appear in our other chain guides, so the pages agree.
From 5 mm to 10 mm the width doubles, and the gold at 22 inches more than quadruples, from about 42 grams to about 184.
Grams at 22 inches, 14K solid Miami Cuban
Two chains above show how close a real listing sits: our 14K solid 5 mm at 22 inches lists 42.00 grams against the table's 42.3, and our 14K solid 7 mm at 24 inches lists 89.00 grams against about 87.6.
10K weighs a little less. The 14K weighs 7 to 15 percent more per inch because the alloy is denser, not because the link is bigger.
Grams per inch, 14K against 10K, our solid Miami Cuban makes
18K: we have not measured enough solid 18K Miami Cubans for a fair per-inch number. For an 18K chain, text 212-872-9692 with the link and ask for the grams. Weights for every other chain style are in how much a gold chain weighs.
Solid, hollow or semi-solid?
A solid Cuban is gold all the way through each link. A hollow Cuban is a gold tube shaped into the same link: as wide, for much less gold. Semi-solid is a trade word for a hollow-core link.
Cutting a gold Cuban. A Miami Cuban cut apart and made into gold Cuban rings. 50 million views.
Which weighs more? A bigger gold Cuban beside a 12 mm one: the bigger chain weighs less, because of the way its links are made. 22 million views.
View counts on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
Our gold Cuban listings by the build their titles state, counted September 26, 2026, beside what buyers took home in the last 90 days:
listed / sold
listed / sold
listed
Shares of our gold Miami Cuban chain listings that state a build in the title (nine in ten do), and of the gold Cubans sold in the 90 days to September 26, 2026 that state one.
Buyers lean a little more to hollow than the wall does. Hollow is nearly all 14K on our listings; every 18K listing that states a build says solid.
How much lighter is hollow? At 7, 9 and 12 mm our hollow 14K Cubans weigh a little over a third of a solid one at the same width. Read the hollow figures as a guide: a few listings each.
Grams per inch, solid against hollow, our 14K Miami Cubans
What you give up. A thin hollow Cuban is one of the two links we name for kinking, with the hollow rope. For the width on its own for less gold, hollow is a fair trade; to carry a pendant, go solid. More in hollow vs solid gold chains.
10K, 14K or 18K?
The karat is how much of the alloy is pure gold, and the stamp says which:
| Karat | Pure gold | Stamp |
|---|---|---|
| 10K | 41.7% | 417 |
| 14K | 58.3% | 585 |
| 18K | 75% | 750 |
By law, a karat stamp may overstate the gold by no more than three parts in a thousand, or seven for a piece assayed with its solder (see Sources).
Our gold Cuban chains by karat on the wall, counted September 26, 2026, and in the chains buyers took home in the last 90 days:
Gold Miami Cuban chains by karat: share of our listings (dark) and of the chains sold in the 90 days to September 26, 2026 (gold).
Buyers choose more plainly than the wall: 14K first, nearly all the rest 10K, and 18K under one in a hundred. Counting silver too, about half of the Cuban chains we sold in those 90 days, by count, were sterling silver; our silver chains sit in their own collection.
How to choose between them: 10K vs 14K vs 18K gold chains.
The lock and the clasp
The trade usually closes a Cuban with a box lock. Our listings rarely say which: fewer than one in fifty of our Cuban chain listings names its clasp, and the ones that do all name a box clasp, most of them a double-locking box. None names a lobster clasp.
A few of our Cuban chains are built around a custom lock as the centerpiece, one of them set with lab-grown diamonds, and lock pieces also list on their own.
If the clasp matters to you, text 212-872-9692 with the link and a personal jeweler will tell you what that chain closes with.
From the counter
“The weakest point on a chain is usually the lock. We carry a variety of locks, including diamond locks and custom locks for anyone who wants to upgrade. And some chains are made to pop: a small safety pin lets the chain come off if it gets caught on something, instead of choking you. That matters too.”
Diamond Cubans: natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds
An iced Cuban is the same link with diamonds set across it. About one in fourteen of our Cuban chain listings is set with diamonds, counted September 26, 2026, and about nine in ten of those are natural diamonds; the rest are lab-grown diamonds.
Both are diamonds. A lab-grown diamond is the same carbon crystal, grown in a laboratory, and it is priced very differently. How to tell them apart and how each is priced is in lab-grown vs natural diamonds.
Two from our case, one of each:
Both of these, and more, are in our diamond chains. Bigger ones list too: 22.00 carats of natural diamonds on a 14K 10 mm chain, and 27.91 carats of lab-grown diamonds on a 14K 12.5 mm chain. Each listing states its origin. Every stone is shown in person or on video before you decide.
What buyers say about their Cubans
★★★★★
“Not only was the bracelet beautiful and exactly what had been portrayed on the site, but the shipping was ridiculously fast… I got a full kit with authenticity card, very nice note from Maks, a full assessment of the item and it's value and the box is all thought out very nicely.”
★★★★★
“Very happy with the quality of the chain. The service provided by the staff was impeccable.”
★★★★★
“My first order from Trax Nyc chain is absolutely beautiful i couldn't be more happier.”
★★★★★
“I absolutely love the chain.. although due to my lack of attention to detail I ordered a chain that is almost a choker on me! But the quality and packaging plus the delivery was way more than expected. It came in a really nice box with an led light which was cool. I will be ordering more soon! Next time I'll get one my size!”
★★★★★
“Best experience i had buying jewelry, definitely will buying again soon!”
A few of the five-star reviews buyers left on our listings, chosen by us, quoted as written and trimmed only for length.
We have about 4,470 reviews on Google. How to check us before you buy: Is TraxNYC legit? Cuban bracelets to match a chain are in Miami Cuban bracelets.
Talk to a personal jeweler
Pick the width and the karat with a jeweler before you buy.
Our personal jewelers on 47th Street answer by phone and text seven days.
How to tell a real Miami Cuban
Three checks you can make yourself; the scale tells you the most. Our full guide is how to tell real gold from fake.
1. The stamp. Look in three places: the clasp or its tongue, the small tag beside the clasp, and the end link, and read the number against the karat table. But a stamp can be struck on anything, so the stamp is the first check, not the last.
2. The scale. This is where a Cuban gives itself away. Weigh the chain, divide by its length in inches, and set that against the weight table for its width: a 5 mm 14K solid Cuban should sit near 1.92 grams an inch. A solid chain far under the table for its width and karat is the one to question.
3. The magnet, told honestly. Gold does not pull to a magnet, and neither does a yellow 10K, 14K or 18K alloy. Put the magnet on the links, away from the clasp: the spring inside a lobster clasp is steel and pulls on a real chain.
Some white gold alloys pull a little. No pull proves nothing, because plated brass does not pull either. The magnet is a screen, not a verdict.
A good Cuban and a bad one. New Cuban chain and bracelet styles reviewed: what to look for in a Cuban, and what to stay away from. 610,000 views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
Every chain is weighed, stamp-checked and appraised at the counter, and every purchase comes with an official appraisal: carat and gram weights, diamond grade and color, current market value, and our corporate seal. Silver jewelry does not come with an appraisal.
And Trax's word on it: "If anything you bought from us ever tests under the metal it was sold as, a gold karat or sterling silver, you get your money back in full, with no time limit."
From the counter
“Hold a Cuban up by one end. A well-made one hangs straight down: the links do not spin, twist or curve. Getting that right comes down to who made the chain and how they made it.”
Which widths carry a pendant?
The rule we use at the counter: the chain should match or outweigh the pendant. From our pendant guide:
| Pendant weight | Solid link width |
|---|---|
| Under about 10 grams | 2.5 to 4 mm |
| 10 to 30 grams | 4 to 6 mm |
| Over 30 grams | 6 mm and up |
| Any pendant | A thin hollow link: not a pendant chain |
An example from our case: a 14K Jesus piece, about 33 grams on our listings, goes on a 6 mm solid Cuban at 24 inches, about 66 grams of chain, so it hangs straight.
Drop the chain through the bail: if it binds at the link's thickest point, the chain is too wide for that bail. More in which chain for a pendant.
Length and care
Length. Across all the chains we sold in the last twelve months, 24 and 22 inches, nearly tied, take more than half; 20 is next, and 18 is one in nine. Measure a chain you already wear before you order; Torey's review above is the lesson in one line. Our chain length guide shows where each length falls.
Care. How to clean one at home is in how to clean a gold chain. If a chain ever needs work, our shipping policy says it plainly: "Lifetime Support: Even after your warranty expires, TraxNYC will perform repairs at the minimum cost possible."
Every TraxNYC piece can come back to the counter and go toward your next one, whenever you're ready (see gold trade-in).
The biggest Cuban we have made
Busta Rhymes unveils the biggest Cuban ever made at TraxNYC, 2023. 850,000 views on YouTube, read September 26, 2026.
Our widest listed Cuban today is a handmade 37 mm solid chain at 28 inches. For anything past what is listed, talk to the desk: custom work takes weeks, not days.
Questions buyers ask about Miami Cuban chains
How much does a 5 mm 14K Cuban weigh?
On our solid makes, 1.92 grams an inch: about 38.5 grams at 20 inches, 42.3 at 22 and 46.2 at 24. A hollow one at the same width weighs far less.
Should I buy a solid or a hollow Cuban?
Solid if it will carry a pendant; about six in seven of the gold Cubans we sold that state a build were solid. Hollow gives you the width for about a third of the gold, but a thin hollow Cuban can kink and is not a pendant chain.
Is 10K good enough for a Cuban?
10K is real gold, 41.7 percent pure, stamped 417, and about two in five of the gold Cubans we sold in the last 90 days were 10K, including our best seller. At the same width, 14K weighs 7 to 15 percent more. See 10K vs 14K vs 18K.
What clasp does a Cuban chain have?
The trade usually closes a Cuban with a box lock. Our listings that name the clasp all name a box clasp, most a double-locking box, but most listings do not say. Text 212-872-9692 with the link and we will tell you.
Can I return a Cuban chain?
Our refund policy: "Eligible merchandise may be returned within fourteen (14) calendar days of confirmed delivery, as determined by the shipping carrier's delivery confirmation." Items must come back "in new, unworn, and unaltered condition," and "All approved returns are subject to a non-negotiable 5% restocking fee." Resizing and other alterations are done for you and are not returnable.
Keep reading
More answers from the counter: all TraxNYC buyer's guides.
Shop Miami Cuban chains
Our gold Miami Cubans are in one place: see every Miami Cuban chain. For solid links of every style, see solid gold chains, and for all of them, men's gold chains.
Or visit us at 64 W 47th St, Booth F-1, New York, on 47th Street since 2004 (plan a visit), and call or text 212-872-9692, seven days.
Sources
- Gold fineness tolerance: 15 U.S.C. 295, Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute.
- The word "diamond" and lab-grown diamond wording: the FTC Jewelry Guides, 16 CFR 23.12; the gold section, 16 CFR 23.3; the FTC's page for the Jewelry Guides.
- Our listings and sales: shares counted September 26, 2026 (sales for the 90 days to that date); grams per inch counted September 25, 2026; lengths from twelve months of paid orders; YouTube view counts read September 26, 2026.