Buying Guide
Diamonds, plainly explained
Four properties decide what a diamond costs. Only one of them decides what it looks like across a room.
The four Cs
CutSpend here first. A well-cut stone returns light; a poorly cut one looks dull at any size.
ColourD–F is colourless, G–J near-colourless and usually indistinguishable once set in yellow gold.
ClarityVS2 and above is eye-clean in almost every case. Paying for VVS buys a report, not a look.
CaratWeight, not size. Prices step up sharply at round numbers — 1.90 ct looks like 2.00 ct and costs less.
Natural or lab-grown
A lab-grown diamond is a diamond. The difference is origin, rarity and resale, not material. At the same specification a lab-grown stone typically costs 60–80% less, which many clients use to buy a larger or better-cut stone.