The cut is one of the most important criteria when it comes to buying a diamond. A well-cut diamond reflects the light many times more than a poorly-cut diamond and a good cut can also make the diamond look more brilliant and impressive.
The Diamond Cut Scale for brilliant diamonds has five grades: excellent, very good, good, fair and poor.
Excellent
A diamond with an excellent cut ensures maximum light reflection and unforgettable radiance. Only about three percent of all diamonds can be cut so perfectly.
Very good
A diamond with a very good cut allows very good light reflection and comes very close to the theoretical ideal.
Good
A diamond with a good cut ensures good reflection of light.
Fair
Even a layman would see the difference between this cut and a perfectly cut diamond. A lot of light reflection and sparkle is lost here.
Poor
Diamonds with poor light reflection, which are usually available at a lower price.
A brilliant is a round diamond with 56 or 57 facets. Smaller diamonds, often incorrectly called diamond chips, usually have only 8 facets (octagon) or 16 facets (16/16). The brilliance and sparkle of a cut diamond are based on a complex relationship between light and light reflection. The quality and quantity of the light reflection are decisive for its brilliance. A diamond cut should ensure that the light, after hitting the surface of the diamond, is maximally reflected and refracted inside it. This is how the diamond’s magical sparkle is created.
This phenomenon is determined by three factors:
- Brightness, which is the total white light reflected from a diamond.
- Fire (or scintillation) is the dispersion of a beam of light into the colours of the spectrum on exiting the diamond, and the play of colours thus created.
- Brilliance and reflections that the viewer sees, especially when the diamond or the light source moves.
One thing is certain: the beauty of a cut diamond depends significantly on light reflections and thus on the proportions of its cut. Only with a perfect surface, the highest possible symmetry and well-matched proportions can the incident light optimally reveal this brilliance, as well as the fire and the sparkle from movement.
