How to Buy a Diamond Ring – Diamond Buying Guide

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. 

The Octavia Cut information sites are finally out!

The Octavia Cut information sites are finally out!

The Octavia diamond brings step cut diamonds to a whole new level.

Unlike traditional step cut diamonds like the Asscher or Emerald cut, the Octavia achieves a superior brightness and contrast.

Its improved faceting structure gives it a stronger light return while maintaining a balanced contrast to optimize the fire and sparkle. 

The unique step cut faceting gives the diamond a more dimensional appearance.

Any slight movement will create strong bursts of fire rippling throughout the diamond.

The Octavia is the most brilliant and unparalleled step cut diamond in the world.

Find out more about this amazing step cut diamond at,
Octavia Website
Octavia Blog

Do like and share its facebook page,

Octavia Facebook

JannPaul SME's Asia Award 2013/2014

JannPaul is proud to receive the SMEs Asia Award 2013/2014.

THANK YOU! for nominating us! 

JP : Diamond Size Comparison

Ever wondered which diamond size to choose for your partner? Have a look at this video for a better idea!

Ring Tracking: Derrick Wee

Derrick Wee's The Super Ideal Solitaire

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.

                  

Below are his actual ring photos:

                  

                  

                  

                  

Holloway Cut Advisor (HCA): PART 1

Holloway Cut Advisor (HCA): PART 1

The ABC's of HCA SCORE!

   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.

Find out your score today!

JP Wedding Bands: James Phua

JP Wedding Bands: James Phua

We would like to introduce JANNPAUL’s semi-customized wedding bands! 

All marriages hope for an eternal love and not surprisingly, the eternity ring, set with a continuous line of identically cut gemstones or diamonds, started off as a marketing ploy directed to symbolize never-ending love from a husband to wife. Due to the discomfort of a “full-eternity”, from the abrasion of stones on the inner fingers and palm, the design has evolved to be more comfortable with a “half-eternity”, where a line of continuous stones cover the face of band only.

The beauty of JANNPAUL’s is illustrated in James Phua’s wedding bands. Both wedding bands are set in 18K white gold, customized to each respective ring size. 

Wedding bands come in pairs and are usually similar in design to emphasize union. As seen, James Phua’s band design has two tracks on the surface, almost as though to show how his partner’s eternity ring is part of his band, strengthening a sense of togetherness; the diameter of the diamond of his partner’s band is mirrored to the width of the tracks on James Phua’s band.

As the usual Chinese saying goes, all good things come in pairs... Congratulations to James Phua! We hope you enjoy your wedding bands!