This is our first ring unboxing video! Our rings are handcrafted in Hong Kong and gets shipped to our office in Singapore. Whenever a new shipment comes in, we get excited to see the final product of our ring creation.
For this shipment, we received 4 of our Signature cut rings (Octagon, Solasfera, Brellia and Super Ideal Cut). Check it out :)
Buying a diamond can be a very long and intimidating process. For most,
this will be one of your biggest purchases you will make in your lifetime. In this
guide, I will teach you how to select your first diamond ring.
There are many factors when buying a diamond. We can start with preference on the basic 4Cs – Cut, Carat, Color and
Clarity. In this guide, I will be mainly focusing on the Cut.
Cut is the
most important of all the basic 4Cs. It determines the brilliance of the
diamond. Hence, there is no point in
getting a high Color and Clarity grade diamond but poorly cut, as the diamond Light Return, Fire & Scintillation will be compromised.
So how do you analyze the Cut of the
diamond? You can follow these easy steps:
Step 1 – Check the
diamond’s proportions
Every vendor will have their own set of “Ideal proportions”.
While some may be of tighter criteria, most are not. An easy way to analyze
the proportions is by using the HCA Tool. It’s a pretty straightforward where you can key in the parameters listed on the certificate into the calculator and it will give your diamond a score.
We recommend a diamond to have a score of 0.4 - 1.4.
The HCA tool is fantastic for eliminating poorly cut diamonds but it should
not be used as a selection tool. There are several
limitations and it only takes into account 17 out of the 57 facets on a diamond. A poorly cut diamond will still be able to achieve a fantastic HCA score.
An analogy
to the HCA tool is similar to food poison checker. It is only able to identify poisonous
food (poorly cut diamonds), but it’s unable to tell you how delicious the food
is (well cut diamonds). Hence, we only recommend this tool to be used as an initial filtration method.
Note: The HCA tool can only be used on traditional cut 57/58 faceted round
diamonds. For other cuts, you will need to follow step 2 – 4.
Step 2 – Check the light performance
with the Ideal Scope
The Ideal Scope can be used to analyze the light performance by measuring how
much light is returning or leaking out.
Step 3 – Check the light performance
with the ASET Scope
The ASET (Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool) Scope works similarly to the Ideal
Cut, but its more of an advance version, where it breaks down the light return
of the diamond into ‘strong light return’ and ‘weak light return’. It can be
used to analyze a diamond’s Brightness & Contrast, Scintillation and Patterned
Scintillation.
Brightness & Contrast
Scintillation
Patterned Scintillation
Step 4 – Check the symmetry with the Hearts & Arrows Scope The Hearts & Arrows scope is to analyze the symmetry of the diamond.
Hearts
- 8 equal uniformed symmetrical hearts.
- 8 distinct symmetrical Hearts that separate from the
Arrowheads above. If above is correct check the following.
- Check if the hearts are split, measure length of
heart then the length of the split.
- Calculate the % of the length split, if it is
greater than 8% and there are more than 2 of them, it fails.
Arrows
- Each arrow (8) must be clearly visible with a
shaft and a arrow head.
- The 8 arrows shafts as well as heads have to be
straight and in the right position.
- The 8 arrow points must
meet the girdle.
- There must be total uniformity and balance.
Once you have found a diamond that manages to pass these 4 steps,
congratulations! You have found yourself a truly brilliant diamond. The next step will be choosing a ring design
in your style to complement your extraordinary diamond.
Victorian designs started in the early 1800's where each Victorian ring would have a distinct style to represent its time. People who appreciate vintage and antique designs, would most often seek styles during the Victorian period.
Victorian designs would often have features, such as filigrees, halo, hearts, and multiple side stones. There has been many iconic Victorian designs, which are still sought after.
When Derrick approached us, he immediately knew that he wanted a Victorian design. He brought several ring photos of the designs that he liked and wanted to create.
He highlighted his fancy for engraving patterning at the side of the ring, where it gave the ring a more intricate and vintage look.
After discussions, we came up with our first 3D render based on the images he provided.
Concept 1 was a mock up based on his desire to have a vintage and intricate looking ring.There was several more adjustments based on concept 1.
However, we all agreed that the engraving may come across strong and a little too "messy".
We decided to tone it down and further developed it to concept 7. Between concepts 1-7, several adjustments were made to his preference.
In concept 7, all the engravings were replaced with the cut out of the band and filigree.
We retained the millgrain patterning which we both really liked, but changed the side profile to give it a more clean look.
However, in we further developed concept 7 with a few more iterations, to make it an even more outstanding ring.
Finally, this was what we came up with! Viola!
A ring with millgrain surrounding on all edges which creates the Victorian look and micro pave side diamonds. The side diamonds are individually picked to have a small to large diamonds array throughout the ring, giving it a majestic flow.
This is a very prominent feature in most antique rings. Often, vintage designs looks very cluttered and messy with many side diamonds clustering around the main diamond. We managed to achieve a design that looks vintage, but yet something clean and simple.
Once the 3D renders were approved by Derrick, we proceeded to craft a wax mold of his design.
HCA is the short abbreviation for The
Holloway Cut Advisor (U.S. Patent 7,251,619), invented by Garry Holloway. The HCA
is used to estimate a round diamond’s appeal based on its potential Light
Return, Fire, Scintillation and Spread, in other words, to estimate the
effectiveness of light return from a diamond’s cut. This tool is wonderful not
just because it can estimate a diamond’s appeal but because it is also a free! :) (http://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca)
The HCA is designed to aid a novice
consumer or an experienced trade buyer in selecting diamonds they have not seen.
To get a diamond’s HCA score, you need to input the figures for Total Depth %,
Table %, the diamond’s Crown degree angle/% and Pavilion degree angle/%.
It is best to input Crown and Pavilion
angles than percentages because percentages are often rounded; for example, a
13.3% can be rounded off to 13%. Likewise, some certificates list less accurate
rounded Crown percentages and Pavilion percentages, therefore if you want to be
sure that the diamond has excellent light return, you may ask the vendor to get
you a Helium, Sarin or Ogi report to give you better accuracy with the
specifications of the diamond.
After inputting the diamond
specifications in the formulae provided, you will receive a HCA Score. A score under
2 (Excellent) means you have eliminated known poor performers, which is more
than 95% of all diamonds. Most people prefer diamonds that rate 1-2 on the
scale where: 0-2 Excellent, 2-4 Very Good, 4-6 Good, 6-8 Fair, and 8-10 Poor.
Zero is almost impossible because of conflicting factors; your personal
preference may be for a diamond with an HCA score of 1.5 than one with a lower HCA
score of 0.5.
The Ideal range of diamonds is 1% of the
worlds’ diamond supply and here at JANNPAUL, all diamonds go through a
stringent process of filtration. To ensure and maintain this standard of
quality to customers, we only accept and stock diamonds with a HCA score of 1.4 and below, which is equivalent to
less than 0.01% of the worlds’ diamond supply.
Although the HCA is wonderful for calculating
the effectiveness of light return in a diamond, we must stress that there are
limitations to the HCA as well. Keep an eye out for our next entry, where we
will describe the limitations of the HCA and why it should only be used as an elimination tool and not solely as a quality
measurement.
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