Carat Weight

Carat weight is probably the easiest and first thing people look at when purchasing a diamond. Diamonds are weighted in carats (ct) of which there are 100 points in one carat and in modern scales one carat equals 0.2 grams. It is an ancient weighing system where 100 carob seeds which are a consistent weight were used to balance measure these very small and very expensive quantities with great accuracy.

Choosing Your Diamond Size

Everybody has their own idea of how big a diamond they would like and this will set the tone for all of the other qualities when choosing a diamond. Unfortunately a rough diamond crystal only yields one large diamond and the larger the diamond the rarer they are to find and the more expensive they become. Unlike many other precious commodities diamonds do not have a linear price and increase exponentially as they get larger. Diamonds also jump significantly in price at the most popular weight points (0.75ct, 1.0ct, 1.5ct, 2.0ct ect) which often means that once you look further into your decisions of the 4 C’s you will find that your budget will only fall into one weight category. We find that people often get stuck on very small weight differences when trying to choose a stone but in reality the visual difference between diamonds actually requires between 0.1-0.2ct to actually be able to make a significant upgrade in visual size. There is certainly a stigma associated to certain size diamonds and as you will find with all of the 4 C’S it is really up to your own personal preferences as to what quality diamond you feel will suit your emotional requirements best and your budget.

How to Choose Your Carat Weight

Generally for an engagement ring we suggest starting at a minimum carat weight of 0.50ct which will make for a fine looking solitaire or multi stone ring. However a 0.60-0.75ct diamond does have a carat weight that is a lot more appealing in size that is not a great deal more expensive than the half carat.

We find that the most popular and sought after size diamond is always the 1ct diamond, at this carat weight it is quite a significant size diamond which causes quite large variations in the price depending on the quality. For those people wanting a 1 carat diamond but do not quite have the budget, once they have viewed a 0.80-0.90ct weight diamond this is often a great choice. The visual size difference between 0.80ct (6mm) and a 1ct (6.5mm) is very small but when you drop just below the 1ct mark the price drops significantly and the margin between each quality grade also narrows.

Diamonds 1.25 and 1.5 carat are both that little bit above the standard large diamond and are what is now considered the exclusive range for an engagement ring. Once into the 2ct plus these are very large diamonds at a very exclusive price level but still very wearable on any hand as any everyday ring.

At the end of the purchasing process the greatest importance is that you are happy with the diamond size and quality that you have selected and that you have made a well informed decision about the choice that you have made.