The oldest method of plating jewelry (Glavanic) was more miss than hit. Low-voltage/heat caused plating to not fill some of the small crevices common to jewelry. There was also the fact that any compromised surface integrity caused the plating to not adhere to the base metal. Sometimes, merely having oil from fingerprints can cause a low adherence of the plating to the base metal.
Ionic Plating is a high-voltage/heat method that creates a far better bond between the base metal and the plating materiel. Seldom are crevices small enough to prevent ionic plating to reach all the surface of the piece being plated. The bottom line is that the plating on our rings just lasts longer in the world of harsh chemicals and hand sanitizers.
