The Tiffany Guide to Diamonds

Cut

At Tiffany, we cut our own diamonds. We take the world’s highest quality rough diamonds and put them in the hands of the world’s best stonecutters. These skilled artisans craft the best-proportioned diamonds instead of the heaviest diamonds, ensuring that each and every stone’s full potential is unlocked. They ensure the precise positioning, shape and angle of each of the diamond’s facets to maximize brilliance and fire.

Tiffany diamond cutters refuse to compromise. When the choice is size or beauty, we always choose beauty, so that we outshine all others.

Tiffany’s diamonds are brighter and more vibrant because we craft them that way. And only the most perfectly cut diamonds earn the right to be placed in the legendary Tiffany Blue Box.

In fact, we are so confident in the superb quality of our diamonds that we stand behind them with a lifetime warranty.

Clarity

Diamond clarity is a measure of the purity and rarity of the stone, graded by the visibility of these characteristics under 10-power magnification. A stone is graded as flawless if, under 10-power magnification, no inclusions (internal flaws) and no blemishes (external imperfections) are visible. Absolutely flawless diamonds are exceedingly rare and priced accordingly.

Tiffany’s strict diamond grading standards are executed with expertise, integrity and accuracy. When Tiffany believes that a diamond’s clarity is on the borderline between two grades, Tiffany will always assign the stone a lower grade—never falsely inflating a diamond’s clarity grade.

Tiffany rejects any diamond with noticeable imperfections to the unaided eye.

Color

Color refers to the tint of the diamond. In nature, most diamonds have a slight tint of yellow or brown color. The closer to being “colorless” a diamond is, the rarer it is. The industry standard for grading color is to evaluate each stone against a “master set” and assign a letter grade from “D” (colorless) to “Z” (light yellow).

Tiffany only accepts diamonds in the “colorless” and “near colorless” range on a diamond color scale.

Borderline diamond color classifications are automatically given the more conservative grade. Additionally, the Tiffany Gemological Laboratory will not accept stones exhibiting strong or excessive fluorescence, which, in natural lighting, can give diamonds a milky appearance.

Diamond Color Chart

Tiffany Quality

Carat Weight

Tiffany diamonds are always cut to maximize brilliance, not carat weight. “Carat” denotes the weight of a diamond.

One carat equals .20 grams. Tiffany measures diamonds to 1/1000th of a carat. Taken by itself, carat weight does not determine a diamond’s value. For example, two one-carat stones can vary widely in price when clarity, color and cut are taken into consideration. When that is understood, it is clear that large diamonds of peerless quality are rare and priced accordingly.