Carat Weight

It’s simple: carat refers to the weight of a diamond, not its size.

During the cutting process, up to two-thirds of the original rough diamond can be lost in order to achieve the best possible cut. That’s why two diamonds with the same carat weight can look very different. A well-cut diamond will often appear larger and more brilliant than a poorly cut diamond of the exact same weight.

Larger, high-quality rough diamonds are also much rarer than smaller ones. As a result, a single 2-carat diamond is often worth significantly more than two 1-carat diamonds of similar quality.

It's also important to know that a diamond's size doesn't increase proportionally with its weight. For example, a well-cut 1-carat round diamond measures approximately 6.5 mm in diameter, while a well-cut 2-carat round diamond measures around 8.3 mm. Although the weight has doubled, the visible diameter only increases by about 27%.