Understanding the 4 Cs

Every diamond is as unique as a snowflake, and it’s the cut, colour, clarity and carat that defines every stone’s true quality.

Cut

The cut directly affects the sparkle of a diamond

We hold the cut in the highest regard because it has the greatest influence on a diamond’s sparkle. Only a well cut diamond will demonstrate a diamond’s true fire, brilliance and scintillation, ensuring the light reflects back through the crown and creates breathtaking sparkle.

Even if a diamond has a large carat weight, perfect clarity and colour grade, if it has a poor cut the diamond will appear dull with minimal sparkle.

A diamond cut too shallow won't reflect light through the crown.

A diamond cut too deep won't reflect light through the crown.

A well cut diamond will reflect the ideal light, creating breathtaking sparkle. Only the most beautiful diamonds become Beaverbrooks diamonds.

We choose our diamonds with our eyes and hearts, searching for fire, brilliance and scintillation to ensure you fall in love with its breathtaking sparkle.

Table

The large facet in the centre and on the top of the diamond. The table plays a vital role in sparkle and can vary in size depending on the diamond’s cut.

Crown

The upper part of a diamond between the girdle and the table, made up of star facets, bezel facets and the upper girdle.

Star

The star facets are found around the table. They let a multitude of light through and shine in different directions to create more brilliance.

Bezel

Bezel facets sit next to the star facets around the diamond table. A round brilliant diamond has eight bezel facets that are ‘kite’ shaped and help to form the crown.

Upper Girdle

These are diamond facets that sit above the girdle, leading on to the bezel facets. They help to reflect fire and brilliance.

Girdle

The girdle is the thin perimeter that divides the crown from the pavilion. Round brilliant diamonds have faceted girdles to give greater transparency of the diamond.

Lower Girdle

Lower girdle facets sit just below the girdle and next to the pavilion. They help to reflect light into a multitude of directions.

Pavilion

The pavilion is the bottom half of a diamond. The facets within the pavilion help light bounce, enter and reflect through a diamond.

Culet

Found on the bottom of a diamond, the culet is the flat face at the base of the pavilion where the facets of the pavilion meet.

We believe the cut is the most important of the 4 Cs because it has the greatest influence on the sparkle and brilliance of your diamond.

Colour

The measure of how colourless or “white” a diamond is

A chemically pure and structurally perfect diamond will have no colour, and will therefore be rarer and more valuable.

The Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) grades diamond colour on a scale of D (colourless) to Z (light yellow or brown).

We only hand select exceptional diamonds in the near colourless range (D-G) for our core range, meaning your Beaverbrooks diamond will have no visible colour, appearing bright and white.

D - E

F - G

I - J

Clarity

Inclusions and blemishes in a diamond

Formed deep under the earth, diamonds are exposed to huge heat and pressure which results in unique internal characteristics called inclusions and external characteristics called blemishes.

All diamonds have inclusions; it’s what makes them unique, like a fingerprint. We choose diamonds with no inclusions visible to the naked eye for our core range, ensuring there are no inclusions that disrupt the passage of light, and therefore the sparkle of the diamond.

Diamond Clarity Chart

VVS1 - VVS2

Very, very small inclusions

VS1 - VS2

Very small inclusions

SI1

Small inclusions not visible to the naked eye
Beaverbrooks Diamonds

I1

Visible inclusions

I2

Notable inclusions

I3

Prounounced inclusions

Carat

How much a diamond weighs

The carat is a unit of weight, not size. One carat is divided into 100 points, so a diamond of 50 points is described as half a carat or 0.50ct.

0.5ct

1ct

1.5ct

2ct

It’s important to remember that two stones of equal carat weight can differ in value depending on the other 4 Cs: clarity, colour and most important of all, cut.