Round cut Engagement ring

Round

The round diamond, otherwise known as the brilliant cut diamond, is by far the most popular diamond shape, especially for engagement rings. Round diamonds will usually provide more flexibility when it comes to balancing cut, colour, and clarity grades while still benefiting from outstanding beauty.

Featuring 58 facets throughout the stone, the round diamond's precise symmetry offers a high level of scintillation. The round cut also complements a broad selection of precious metals and settings, from a simple classic ring to more ornate, vintage designs.

Browse the Nova Diamonds range of iconic and exceptional round diamonds.

What You Need to Know About Round Diamonds

The round brilliant is the most popular diamond shape, representing almost 75% of diamonds sold in the engagement ring market. A round brilliant cut diamond has more fire and sparkle than any other cut, as it’s been mathematically developed to deliver exceptional brilliance.

Just like a wedding band, the round diamond symbolises eternal love and renewal. Its seamless shape also evokes thoughts of the sun—a symbol of life, clarity and strength.

Round diamond engagement rings have become an iconic choice for many due to their intrinsic relationship with marriage proposals. It’s versatile circular shape suits all styles and metals too.

History and Origins of Round Diamonds

For several years, the technology or machinery did not exist for the round cut diamond. However, the invention of the bruting machine towards the end of the 1800s made the brilliant round diamond cut a possibility. Before this, cushion cut diamonds were the most popular choice in Europe.

Another advance came in 1919 with the publication of Marcel Tolkowsky's thesis "Diamond Design: A Study of the Reflection and Refraction of Light in Diamond". Tolkowsky's work described the ideal proportions of a round cut diamond for maximising light return ( brilliance) and dispersion (fire).

His original specifications for a round cut diamond - 53% table, 59.3% depth, 34.50 crown angle, visible culet - have been adopted and improved upon over time. Today, round cut diamonds are as close to perfection as you can get.

A Guide to the Cut, Colour and Clarity of Round Diamonds

Cut

Cut is the single most important factor when purchasing a round. This is because how well your diamond is cut determines how sparkly and bright the stone is. For symmetry and polish, look for grades ideal, excellent and very good.

Colour

Round diamonds with colour grades D, E, and F are “colourless.” Grades G-Z show increasing amounts of warmth. Keep in mind that larger diamonds tend to show colour more readily than smaller diamonds. However, the difference between colour grade ranges is often difficult to perceive in round diamonds, especially to the naked eye.

Clarity

The crown is the top part of the diamond between the girdle and the table.

Round Diamond Ring Settings

Almost all engagement rings are originally designed for round diamonds, so the majority of settings will look amazing with this shape of stone. Options include

Solitaire

This setting holds the girdle of the stone from beneath. Prongs hold the stone over the band to show off the size of the diamond while maximising sparkle.

Cathedral

This setting gets its name from the support arches found in churches and places of worship. It is a prong setting with slopes on either side of the diamond, which allow the stone to be visible.

Bezel

Chic and contemporary, metal completely surrounds the stone giving the diamond’s girdle maximum protection. An ideal choice for those with active lifestyles.

Tension

The stone is held in place by pressure from two opposing pieces of platinum or gold, which creates the illusion that the stone is floating.

Tips for Buying Round Diamonds

A cut grade is exclusively given to round diamonds and is the most important factor to consider when choosing a round shape.
When searching for a round cut diamond, make sure to maximise measurements within your ideally cut diamond.
To maximise the brilliance of a traditional round diamond, choose an ideal cut with excellent polish and symmetry.

4C Of Diamond

Diamond Color

GIA developed the definitive diamond color scale or chart in the early 1950s, a time when there were a lot of different and subjective terms in the marketplace for describing a diamond’s color: white, blue white, AAAA, for example.

The GIA scale begins with the letter D, representing colorlessness, and continues with increasing presence of color to the letter Z, representing light yellow, light brown or light gray. The 23 color grades on the GIA Color Scale (or diamond color chart) are subdivided into five subcategories, which are: colorless (D-F); near colorless (G-J); faint (K-M); very light (N-R); and light (S-Z).

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Diamond Clarity

Diamond Clarity refers to the inclusions and blimishes.

To understand diamond clarity, we must first understand how diamonds are created. Natural diamonds are the result of carbon exposed to tremendous heat and pressure deep in the earth. This process can result in a variety of internal characteristics called ‘inclusions’ and external characteristics called ‘blemishes.’

Evaluating diamond clarity involves determining the number, size, relief, nature, and position of these characteristics, as well as how these affect the overall appearance of the stone. If you are trying to determine what is the best clarity for a diamond, remember that no diamond is perfectly pure. But the closer it comes to purity, the better its clarity

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Diamond Cut

Achieving the best cut for a diamond reflects in the stone’s final beauty and value.

Diamonds are renowned for their ability to transmit light and sparkle so intensely. We often think of a diamond’s cut as shape (round, heart, oval, marquise, pear), but what diamond cut actually does mean how well a diamond’s facets interact with light. Precise artistry and workmanship are required to fashion a stone so its proportions, symmetry and polish deliver the magnificent return of light only possible in a diamond.

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Carat Weight

Diamond carat weight measures Diamonds Apparent size.

To put it simply, diamond carat weight measures how much a diamond weighs.

A metric “carat” is defined as 200 milligrams. Each carat is subdivided into 100 ‘points.’ This allows very precise measurements to the hundredth decimal place. A jeweler may describe the weight of a diamond below one carat by its ‘points’ alone. For instance, the jeweler may refer to a diamond that weighs 0.25 carats as a ‘twenty-five pointer.’ Diamond weights greater than one carat are expressed in carats and decimals. A 1.08 carat stone would be described as ‘one point oh eight carats.’

All else being equal, diamond price increases with diamond carat weight because larger diamonds are rarer and more desirable. However, two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different values (and prices) depending on three other factors of the diamond 4Cs : Color , Clarity , and Cut

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