Diamond Engagement Rings

The science of diamonds

Formed deep beneath the earth’s surface and comprised of one single element, carbon, diamonds are created under high pressure and temperature conditions. Eventually, the diamonds are ejected towards the earth’s surface to be unearthed by miners. It is then cleaved, cut, and polished to its perfect state ready to be sold.

The 4 Cs of diamond quality

Diamond quality is measured by four quality characteristics named the 4 Cs–cut, clarity, color and carat weight.

Cut

Cut grades are given only to round diamonds and refers to the balance of proportions achieved by the diamond cutter, not the diamond’s shape, as is commonly mistaken.

Ranging from excellent to poor, a cut grade combines three types of reflections–brilliance, fire and scintillation. For the greatest brilliance and fire, we recommend (and typically only offer) ‘very good’ and ‘excellent’ cut grades for round diamonds, which essentially guarantees a sparkly appearance.

Over 92% of our customers choose an excellent cut grade round diamond.

Clarity

While they’re forming in the earth, diamonds develop natural birthmarks – slight irregularities and features that are visible to a skilled grader under magnification. These are often refered to as ‘clarity characteristics’. These may or may not be visible to the naked eye depending on size, quantity, placement or color.

To ensure the brilliance and fire that makes diamonds so enchanting, we offer ‘SI1” clarity grades or higher. Each diamond is inspected to ensure that any clarity characteristics shouldn’t be visible to the naked eye and your diamond will achieve the greatest light performance and brightest sparkle.

The most frequently selected clarity grade is VS1, closely followed by VVS2, VS2 and VVS1. Each of these clarity grades are excellent choices that are eye clean, meaning they won’t have inclusions visible to the naked eye.