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Jan 08, 2021
Diamonds
The essentials you must know when choosing Diamond cuts
One of the most important of the 4C, the diamond Cuts, not only radically affects the way it looks but also plays a large part in determining its price. Therefore, to ensure you make the right choice and one that you will always love, it is imperative that you understand the basics of the Cut grade. To aid you, we have listed everything you need to know when it comes to a diamond cuts. To keep our summary concise and easy to refer back to later, we have divided it into two distinct parts, one for round diamonds and one for all the other shapes.
 
Part 1: Round diamonds
Officially, only round diamonds are given a Cut grade in their lab certificates. Diamond certifiers, like IGI, awards the grades, from the highest, Ideal then Excellent, Very good, good and so on depending on how closely they match to the established dimensions for that specific ct size. Round Diamonds are the only Cut where all the dimensions can be compared against a set of perfect measurements. 
 
WHAT DOES DIAMOND CUT MEAN?
Although differentiating between an “ideal cut” and an “excellent cut” ,or from an “excellent cut” to a “very good cut” is very difficult with a naked eye, the difference in sparkle will start to become more noticeable when comparing, side by side, the top and bottom grades, “ideal cut” and a “very good cut”. In essence, the Cut is the prime indicator of how well a diamond absorbs and then scatters light with lower cut grades instead of leaking some of the light from the side and lowering its overall sparkle.
 
As you might have noticed, price increases slightly as you go up the cut grades. However, when it comes down to staying within your budget, going for a bigger ct stone by sacrificing a cut grade is generally recommended since the size is clearly visible to the naked eye. In contrast, the sparkle has to be compared with other stones for the difference to be visible.
If you are operating under a budget constraint, consider going for a “very good cut”, which will allow you to get a good size stone instead. Otherwise, sticking to an “excellent cut” stone is recommended if you want to obtain a sparkling diamond for a great deal.
 
Consider coming to our Singapore showroom by booking an appointment to see the differences in cuts for yourself.

PART 2. ALL OTHER SHAPES

Diamond shapes other than Round diamonds have no standard dimensions to compare against since dimensions and size of 'fancy shapes' can vary wildly. For instance, some Oval diamonds are more elongated while others are more rounded, or a Cushion diamond can either be squarish or more rectangular. This holds true for all shapes except rounds. Diamond certifiers, therefore, don't award "cut grading" to any shapes other than Round diamonds.  


SO HOW CAN YOU KNOW IF WHAT YOU ARE BUYING IS GOOD?

We know that customers value a cut grading because having one goes a long way towards determining if a specific diamond is suitable for them or not. Although your choice of diamond that is not round will not officially have a cut grade in the certificate, our gemmologists at NOVITA DIAMONDS have developed a set of standards for every other shape for the benefit of our customers. With our bespoke grading system, each stone’s “cut grade” can be found when you search via our site.

 

Since we can only grade diamonds that we personally have access to, only our showroom stones will be awarded a 'cut' grade by us. Unfortunately, we just don't have the resources to award similar cut grades to overseas diamonds. However, if you are interested in a stone that is not round and unavailable in the showroom and would like to know about the Cut, we will be happy to assist you; contact us and one of our gemmologists will get back to you with more information.

Here are some search terms suggestions for related articles: diamond cuts, what does diamond cut mean, diamond cut good vs very good. Don’t forget to check about lab grown diamonds.

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