Cuban Link Width Guide: mm Sizes Explained

Lay one link flat and measure the short way across its face, from edge to edge. Do not measure the gap inside the link, and do not measure how tall the chain stands off the skin. Those are different numbers, and sellers who mix them up will sell you a thinner chain than you think you bought.

Millimeters are small. One millimeter is about the thickness of a credit card stacked once, more or less, but the useful comparison is chain against chain. A 1.5 mm Cuban and an 8.5 mm Cuban are not "a little different." The wide one is more than five times the face width. That is why photos without a ruler, a coin, or a neck in the frame are a bad way to shop.

Two chains can share a millimeter and still look unrelated. The Flat Miami Cuban Chain 5mm is pressed low. The Miami Cuban Chain 5mm has fuller, rounder links and is described as solid gold. Both are honestly 5 mm. One costs $1,880 and the other $4,260. If you only remember one thing from this page, remember that pair.

This is the quiet end of the style. From a few feet away, a 1.5 mm chain can read as a curb or a trace unless the light hits the flat face of the links. It is still a Cuban. It is just not a loud one.

The only chain we list in this band is the Miami Cuban Link Chain 1.50mm at $495, in 18 and 20 inches, yellow or white gold. The description calls it solid gold. At that price and width, it is the piece we would hand someone who wants a real Cuban to hold a small pendant, or a first gold chain that does not announce itself.

We do not list a 2 mm, 2.5 mm, or 3 mm Cuban. The next Cuban up is 3.7 mm. If you need something in between for a pendant bail, look at the non-Cuban chains: the Curb Chain 1.5mm is $300, and the Flat Curb Chain 4mm is $1,410. A bail has to pass over the chain and over the clasp. A 4 mm curb is often easier to pair with a ready-made pendant than a tight Cuban. More on that fit is in the pendant and Cuban guide.

This is the working range. A 4 mm to 6 mm Cuban is wide enough to catch light and narrow enough to wear with a t-shirt without it becoming the outfit.

Chain	Width	Build	Lengths	Price
Flat Miami Cuban Chain 3.7mm	3.7 mm	Flat, not labeled hollow	16 to 24 in	$1,355
Flat Miami Cuban Chain 5mm	5 mm	Flat, not labeled hollow	16 to 24 in	$1,880
Flat Miami Cuban Chain 5.8mm	5.8 mm	Flat, not labeled hollow	16 to 24 in	$2,060
Hollow Cuban Chain 6mm	6 mm	Hollow	16 to 24 in	$2,090
Miami Cuban Chain 5mm	5 mm	Solid round	16 to 26 in	$4,260

Read the 5.8 mm flat and the 6 mm hollow as a pair. They are $2,060 and $2,090. Thirty dollars apart. One is a flat link a hair under 6 mm. The other is a hollow link at 6 mm. You are not choosing a price. You are choosing a build. The flat link sits closer to the body. The hollow link looks rounder and weighs less than a solid chain of that width would.

The 3.7 mm flat at $1,355 is the smallest chain on the site that still reads as a Cuban from across a table. For a lot of first-time buyers, that is the one. If you already know you want the classic look, step to 5 mm and then decide flat or solid, not "somewhere around 5."

Past 7 mm, a Cuban stops being jewelry you forget you are wearing. It is a piece people comment on. We list two chains there, and both say Hollow in the name.

• Hollow Cuban Chain 7.5mm: $2,870, 16 to 26 inches, yellow or white gold.
• Hollow Cuban Chain 8.5mm: $4,870, 16 to 26 inches, yellow or white gold.

There is no solid 8 mm Cuban on the site. A solid chain at that width would be a different weight of gold and a different price, and we are not going to invent that number. If you want it solid, the path is custom: your width, then a design and an exact price, and nothing is made until you agree.

Hollow at this width is a deliberate trade. You get the face of a big chain. You do not get the mass, and you do not get the same resistance to a crush or a dent. Take the chain off for the gym, for a crowded club where it can get yanked, and for sleep. That is ordinary advice for any hollow link, not a special rule we made up for these two.

Search results love 10 mm, 12 mm, and 14 mm Cubans. Those widths exist in the trade. They are not on this site. Treating a celebrity photo as a size chart is how people order a chain that looks wrong on their frame. A phone photo shoots from below, the chain is often hollow, and the lens widens whatever is closest to it. A 10 mm chain on a 6-foot-4-inch frame does not tell you what 10 mm does on your neck.

Use your own collarbone as the test. A chain should not be wider than the flat of the bone if you want it to look worn-in rather than borrowed. That is a fitting rule of thumb, not a law. Broader chests carry 8 mm more easily than narrow ones. The 8.5 mm hollow is the widest test we can put in your hand from current stock.

If you are comparing our 8.5 mm with a 14 mm chain from another shop, compare grams and build too, or the comparison is fake. Our weight chart explains why we will not print another store's gram table as if we weighed those chains.

A pendant changes the width you need. The chain has to be strong enough for the pendant and narrow enough for the bail to pass. A light gold cross, like our Gold Cross Pendant at $430, can live on the 1.5 mm Cuban or on a plain curb. A heavy diamond pendant cannot. Our natural diamond pendants run into the thousands, including a mixed natural diamond pendant at $9,500. That piece needs a real chain under it, not the thinnest link on the wall.

Width also changes length, visually. An 8.5 mm chain covers more chest than a 1.5 mm chain of the same inch count, so the wide one looks shorter and higher. If you are between 20 and 22 inches, pick the longer size when the chain is 6 mm or wider.

Layering works better when the widths are clearly different. A 1.5 mm chain at $495 under a 5 mm flat at $1,880 reads as two chains. Two 5 mm chains on top of each other read as a tangle. The layering guide covers spacing. For the Cuban family alone, stay inside gold Cuban link chains until you know the millimeter you want.

1. Under $1,000 and you want the real pattern: 1.5 mm at $495.
2. First Cuban you will wear alone: flat 3.7 mm at $1,355 or flat 5 mm at $1,880.
3. You want the link to feel dense at 5 mm: solid Miami Cuban at $4,260. Try it against the flat 5 mm so you can feel the difference instead of trusting the photo.
4. You want width over mass: hollow 6 mm at $2,090, hollow 7.5 mm at $2,870, or hollow 8.5 mm at $4,870.
5. You want 10 mm or anything in 14K: it is not listed. Get a price in writing through custom before any gold is cut.

The buying order, including clasp and karat, sits in the Cuban link buying guide. Insured shipping goes out with every order. Manufacturing defects can be reported for 7 days. After that, the sale is final.

A millimeter is a small step on a ruler and a large step in the hand once the link is solid. If you can stand in front of two widths, do it. The showroom is at 7900 NW 27th Ave, Unit 506, Miami FL 33147. Call 954-504-5640 and name the millimeters you want to see, because not every width is on a bust every day.