The 4C's Diamond Buying Guide - Clarity
A diamond doesn't have to be flawless to be stunning!
Much is made of a diamond's clarity, but of The Four Cs, it is the easiest to understand, and, according to many experts, generally has the least impact on a diamond's appearance.
Clarity essentially refers to the tiny natural imperfections that occur in all but the rarest diamonds. The technical term for these imperfections is inclusions, and the more inclusions a diamond has, the lower it's clarity grading.
However, keep in mind that most inclusions are so small they cannot be seen with a naked eye, and therefore do not affect a diamond's beauty in any discernible way.
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Diamond Clarity |
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FL, IF |
Flawless, Internally Flawless: No internal or external imperfections. Internally Flawless: No internal imperfections. Very rare. |
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VVS1, |
Very, Very Slightly Included: Very difficult to see imperfections under 10x magnification. An excellent quality diamond. |
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VS1, |
Very Slightly Included: Imperfections are not typically visible to the unaided eye. Less expensive than the VVS1 or VVS2 grades. |
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SI1, |
Slightly Included: Imperfections are visible under 10x magnification, and may be visible with the unaided eye. A good diamond value. |
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I1, I2, I3 |
Included (three grades): Inclusions visible under 10x magnification AS WELL AS to the human eye. We do not recommend buying diamonds in any of these grades. |
So how will you know which clarity grade is best for you? We advise that if you want an "eye-clean" diamond - one that has no imperfections visible to the naked eye, you should choose a V VS or a VS. They can be very competitively priced and represent excellent value.
Furthermore, diamonds of this clarity are much less expensive than flawless (FL) or internally flawless (IF) diamonds, which are extremely rare and therefore expensive. You often find that imperfections in diamonds graded slightly included (SI) are not visible to the naked eye, again making them excellent value.
Whichever diamond you choose, our priniciple of transparency means we are more than happy to let you view your choice of diamond through our Jeweller's eye glass to make sure it's clarity perfectly matches your diamond aspirations.
We hope that you now have a better understanding of how clarity means when choosing your perfect diamond, so we'd now like to tell you about the last 'C', carat weight.
Please also take a look at our Engagement & Wedding rings page to see how we help and support our customers when they're making this important decision.
Or if you feel you've read enough and would prefer to see what we're talking about with your own eyes, please call into our showroom at 1 Lands Lane, Leeds and view our range of loose diamonds.
