{"id":7702,"date":"2018-10-29T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=7702"},"modified":"2018-10-29T09:46:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T13:46:30","slug":"whats-the-millimeter-size-of-your-diamond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/whats-the-millimeter-size-of-your-diamond\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT’S THE MILLIMETER SIZE OF YOUR DIAMOND?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What's<\/div>\n

A lady comes into the jewelry store looking to upgrade her diamond engagement ring<\/strong> because it was “dull and didn’t sparkle”.<\/p>\n

\nThe appraisal she got with the ring said her diamond was a round brilliant cut, 1.00 carat, SI1 clarity, G color<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Not too bad really…!<\/h2>\n

\nSo I start showing her better quality 1 carats and bigger (up to 1.25). All certified, round brilliant cut, VVS, VS, E-F color… Just outstanding stones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nRight away she notices one thing. Her 1.00 carat diamond looked really small when compared to them<\/strong>. Our 1.25 carat diamond didn’t just look a little bigger<\/strong> than hers did, ut it actually looked twice as big.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It didn’t make her happy<\/h2>\n

\nShe started to get really curious about diamonds and started to compare her stone to the one carat solitaires<\/strong> we had in the showcase.<\/p>\n

\nHer diamond looked visibly smaller<\/strong> than all of them. She started to panic thinking she got ripped off<\/strong>, “Mine was supposed to be a 1 carat!”, and that the jeweler must have lied about the weight and scammed her. To her it looked like a 3\/4 carat diamond instead<\/strong> of a full carat.<\/p>\n

\nI looked at her diamond appraisal<\/strong>, which was just a typed piece of paper on the jeweler’s letterhead<\/strong>. And of course… it’s not certified.<\/strong> The appraisal clearly stated that her diamond was in fact 1.01 carats<\/strong>. Hmmm, interesting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nI can tell the customer is about to have a nervous breakdown<\/strong>. She’s thinking maybe they switched her diamond<\/strong> during sizing, or that the jeweler lied about the diamond’s size during purchase. She was upset and scared, and it was up to me to calm the customer down.<\/p>\n

So I measure her diamond:<\/h2>\n

\nI get the millimeter gauge<\/a> (This is a diamond gauge that jewelers use to measure the width of diamonds<\/strong> and gemstones), and measure her 1.00 carat diamond. It comes up smaller than a normal 1.00 carat, of course.<\/p>\n

\nThe gauge reads 6.0 MM<\/strong> instead of 6.5 MM. But I can’t get a great reading of the entire diamond because it’s buried deep in the mounting<\/strong>. And if you can’t see the bottom of the diamond, you can’t truly measure it<\/strong>. Without seeing the culet (the point of the diamond), there’s no true way to measure the depth<\/strong> of the stone, which is needed for approximating carat weight.<\/p>\n

\nThe depth of the diamond, which on a good cut should be about 3.97 MM<\/strong>. This info isn’t listed on the appraisal either (But I already knew that<\/strong>). Usually only certified diamonds list that type of detailed information<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So what’s up?<\/h2>\n

\nI suspect a couple things are wrong with the cut<\/strong> of the diamond because the crown sits up high and it’s chunky<\/strong>. Plus the diamond’s girdle is extremely thick to very thick (wavy) all the way around. I would guess from these two indications, that her diamond is what they call a “deep stone<\/strong> (or a nail head<\/strong>)”.<\/p>\n

\nI explain this to the customer. I tell her that the only way to truly get the carat weight<\/strong> of her diamond, other than approximating<\/strong>, is to have her stone physically removed from the mounting<\/strong> and weighed on a precision jeweler’s diamond scale<\/a>. That’s the only way to be exact.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what does the customer do?<\/h2>\n

\nShe tells us to go ahead, remove it, and weigh it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

She wants the truth!<\/h2>\n

\nSo we have the jewelers in the shop pull back a couple of prongs and out comes the diamond<\/strong>. And as suspected, the diamond is very thick and deep.<\/p>\n

\nIt is then put on our diamond scale and is weighed<\/strong>. We do this entire procedure in front of the customer just to make her feel at ease<\/strong>. The diamond turned out to be 1.01 carats on the dot!<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The appraisal was correct.<\/h2>\n

\nHer diamond was just a tad bit over<\/strong> one full carat.<\/p>\n

Shocker?<\/h2>\n

\nNope, not really!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe valuable lesson to point out here is: all diamonds are not cut the same<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nYou really have to watch out for proportions and cut<\/strong>. It’s like 2 people that both weight 150 lbs<\/strong>. One person could be short and squat, while the other could be tall and skinny. Both could weight the same, but look entirely different<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\nYou can’t tell carat weight by looks alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nHer stone was very deep and the girdle was thick<\/strong> (a lower make stone often sold to keep the cost down). From the top down, her diamond looked like a much smaller diamond<\/strong>. Her MM was only 6.0 MM. This is why it’s so important to not forget about cut in the 4C’s. Cut makes a huge difference in appearance and beauty.<\/strong> Cut, depth and MM size can affect your diamond greatly.<\/p>\n

You can also lose brilliance and sparkle too!<\/h2>\n

\nCut is all that… For you could buy a diamond with great color, you could get an awesome clarity, but if that diamond is not cut right<\/strong>, if it’s too shallow or too deep, then that diamond will not only lose light and brilliance and sparkle, but it will also look different than all other 1 carats.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe customer ended up trading in her 1.01 carat mini-me diamond<\/strong> and was extremely happy with her upgrade (that looked twice as big<\/strong>). Her new 1.25 carat was simply stunning<\/a> (And correctly cut and GIA certified<\/strong> too).<\/p>\n

\nNow I’m not saying that the jeweler who sold her that smaller-looking diamond did anything wrong<\/strong>. They sold her the proper carat weight, color and clarity that she wanted<\/strong>. They just happened to hold back some crucial diamond information: CUT.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They ended up losing a customer<\/h2>\n

\nBy not explaining to her that the stone was deep (hence the low price), and that it lost light and lacked sparkle, they ultimately lost a customer for life<\/strong>. They didn’t realize that by explaining to the customer that the reason the diamond was such a great deal<\/strong> was because of the poor cut<\/strong>. They actually hurt themselves. They could have talked her into not only a better diamond, but more than likely a bigger diamond as well<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nShe learned a valuable lesson and so should you<\/strong>. Color and clarity isn’t everything…<\/p>\n

You must look at cut.<\/h2>\n

\nCut does not mean ‘round<\/strong>‘ (that’s the shape!<\/strong>). Cut means the actual angles and proportions and depth and percentages and millimeter size.<\/p>\n

\nRead more about diamond cut here<\/a>. Study the diagrams<\/strong>. Become informed. Cut affects the life, light and beauty of a diamond more than any of the other 4 C’s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember:<\/h2>\n

\nThe proper MM size for a 1.00 carat round diamond is 6.5 MM wide and 3.97 MM deep<\/strong> (Give or take a MM or two, there will always be a little leeway<\/strong>.) <\/p>\n

\nLook at the Diamond’s girdle<\/a> also. The girdle should be thin-medium<\/strong> in thickness and consistent all the way around the diamond’s edge. <\/p>\n

Lastly… Buy certified!<\/h2>\n

\nTake the easy way when it comes to buying diamonds… Just buy a one carat GIA certified diamond<\/a> instead. <\/p>\n

Why GIA certified?<\/h2>\n

\nBecause jewelers will normally only get a diamond certified by GIA<\/strong> if it’s worth it. Which means, chances are good that the diamond will have a good cut, good color and good clarity (look at the cut grades, you’ll want to see “excellent<\/strong>” or “very good<\/strong>” at the least). Now this is not always the case<\/strong>, but jewelers usually don’t certify crappy diamonds.<\/strong> (Again we’re talking GIA here, not IGI or EGL<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\nLearning about the cut and depth of a diamond will help you buy better looking diamonds. <\/p>\n

\nPlus, it can also stop jewelers from selling you poorly cut stones<\/strong> that look small and lose light. <\/p>\n

\nInferior cuts of diamond may be cheaper<\/strong>, but you won’t be happy with the results.<\/p>\n

\nChoose a great cut (“EXCELLENT” GRADES ALL THE WAY BABY<\/strong>), or get stuck with a bad stone… <\/p>\n

It’s your choice.<\/h2>\n

Choose wisely.<\/p>\n

\nCheers! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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