Diamond Education and Videos
Choosing the perfect diamond doesn’t have to be an intimidating experience. Benefit from our 3 decades of in depth knowledge in the diamond and design trade and let us be your guide in showing you about all the different aspects of finding that perfect stone you will cherish for life. If you have any questions please get in touch or book a personal appointment to learn more about diamonds!
Contact us to book a free consultation call us at (204) 951-7040 to talk to an expert. The search for your dream ring ends here!
Why our Diamonds are Special
We carefully select each diamond specifically for your style and budget to ensure you will receive the absolute highest quality and largest stone within that price range. We specialize in diamonds that are graded by the Gemological institute of America (G.I.A) and the American Gem Society (A.G.S) . The G.I.A and A.G.S. are widely known as the gold standards in grading diamonds, as they offer the strictest possible grading of a given diamond.
Most importantly, we don’t own an inventory so that we can provide unbiased guidance and then source the absolute best stone for you through our lifelong relationships with some of the worlds largest diamond dealers.
Ethically Sourced Diamonds
We have a strict a zero tolerance policy towards conflict diamonds. We deal only with the industry’s largest and most respected diamond brokers who follow the Kimberly Process. The Kimberly Process is an international process adopted by the United Nations to track the flow of rough diamonds from the mine, assuring they are conflict free. The American and Canadian Custom Services actively enforce the Kimberly Process requirements.
How to choose a diamond
The 4C's
The quality of a diamond is evaluated based on 4 categories: colour, clarity, carat and cutCut: The source of fire and sparkle…
We believe that this is the most important of the 4 C’s, as it is most responsible for a diamonds sparkle, fire and brilliance. The cut of the diamond refers not to the diamonds shape but to the proportion and arrangement of its facets and the quality of workmanship.
Although the G.I.A. gives a single final cut grade to diamonds, this grade is actually made up of 3 categories: cut, polish and symmetry and the grading ranges from excellent to poor.
A diamond that receives excellent grades in all 3 categories is known as a triple excellent diamond. It is our professional opinion that you should settle for nothing short of excellent in all cutting categories as this will ensure that your diamond sparkles with absolute brilliance. Some diamond laboratories other than the G.I.A. use the terms Ideal Cut and Hearts and Arrow referring to their best cuts.
To substantiate the quality of the cut, we also review all of the proportional measurements of the diamond such as table size (as a percentage of the diameter), the depth, the girdle thickness, the crown and pavilion angle. These are all crucial factors in insuring that your diamond will look brilliant under all levels of light, not just those of the jewelry store!
Princess, cushion and other fancy cut diamond have different standards with symmetry and polish being graded as high as excellent. The G.I.A. does not grade fancy cut diamonds with an excellent cut grade.
Pro Tip:
We highly recommend that you choose a diamond that has the absolute highest quality cut within your budget and avoid the temptation to sacrifice the cut quality for the size. An expertly cut diamond will always shine brighter than a larger diamond with an average cut. Some diamonds offered at retail stores may have been deliberately cut too wide in order to create the impression they are larger. This compromises the proportions and angles required for maximum brilliance and can result in a dull looking diamond. Further, a diamond which has been cut properly can actually look larger than many of the typical stones which are offered at some retail stores, which may have been cut too shallow and deep in order to allow the diamond cutters to save weight.
Colour
Diamonds are evaluated based on their absence of colour. The less colour in the stone, the more desirable and valuable it is. Some of these differences are hard to see with the naked eye, but directly impact the quality and price of the stone. The rating begins with D representing colourless and goes down to Z as the presence of colour increases.
For maximum brilliance we recommend no less than near colourless (I and up) as anything lower may manifest to the naked eye as a visible tint.
Pro Tip: Watch out for fluorescence!
G.I.A. diamonds receive a fluorescence rating which refers to the amount of visible light a diamond will emit when under UV rays. Anything more than a fair grading will emit murkiness under certain lighting. Often times, buyers will be led into believing they are getting a good price on a diamond from certain online and retail outlets, when in fact the diamond has quite a bit of fluorescence, resulting in a diamond which appears more dull under certain lighting. We recommend any diamond you purchase has little to no fluorescence.
Clarity
A diamond’s clarity refers to the number and size of small particles, blemishes and impurities inside of a diamond (inclusions) that may impact its appearance. Grades range from ‘Flawless,’ with virtually no imperfections, to ‘Included,’ which contain a significant number of imperfections. We insure that our diamonds are totally “eye clean” so that you will not see any visible inclusions when viewing your diamond when worn on the hand.
We recommend diamonds with a clarity of SI2 and greater so long as there are not inclusions visible with your naked eye from the top.
Carat
This describes the weight of diamonds, not necessarily its diameter. Two diamonds may have the same carat weight but be cut with different proportions so that one appears wider and larger, however this may sacrifice the diamonds proportions making it sparkle much less. Our expert team is always sure to take the proportions and cut grading into account when selecting our fine diamonds.
Pro Tip: Larger is not always better…
Two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different quality and price when the other three Cs are considered. For instance, some retailers may offer larger stones which have been cut poorly and will not have anywhere near the brilliance and sparkle of a diamond which has been expertly cut and carefully selected based on it’s specific proportions and angels. This may result in a diamond which appears better only under the fancy lighting in the jewelry store. For this reason our expert team always takes special care to select diamonds based on all of the quality measurements to make sure you receive not only the largest but also the highest quality diamond that your budget will allow.
Pro Tip 2: Why our diamonds sparkle so much…
One very important thing to understand about searching for the perfect diamond is that for each cut, colour and clarity grade there are parameters. For example an excellent cut can be thought of broken down to 3 different levels. You can have an almost perfect excellent or ideal cut, a very good excellent or ideal cut and a lower excellent or ideal cut. Try to think in terms of getting an “A” in school. An “A” grade of 95 to 100 could be an” A+”, a 90 to 94 be an “A” and 80 to 89 an “A-“. With regards to diamonds, these small differences can have quite an impact on the sparkle and appearance of the stone. All are beautiful and much brighter then the next lower category “very good”. We make sure that you receive the absolute best and brightest that your budget allows.
