The factors that determine diamond quality is cut, color, clarity, and the carat weight or what is known as the 4 Cs. From our previous blog post, we covered the cut, clarity, and color of a diamond and how these factors affect diamond value. We are now at the 4th C of the Diamond’s quality factor, the carat weight.

Carat

Carat weight establishes the weight of a diamond. Each carat can be divided into 100 'points.' This allows very specific measurements to the hundredth decimal place.

Some diamond cuts appear bigger than others, regardless if they have the same weight. For instance, a round brilliant-cut diamond will always appear bigger than the emerald cut because most of the diamond weight is spread transversely to its wide top plane.

How to compute carat weight?

To compute the diamond carat weight, simply weigh the stone in grams. Divide that number by 0.2 to get the carat weight of the diamond. For instance, if a diamond weighs 0.1 grams, then divide this number by 0.2 results to 0.5. This means that the weight of the stone is half a carat.

Diamonds are priced base on their carat weight. The price immensely increases when carat weight increases. For instance, the price of a 2-carat diamond is more than twice greater than the price of a 1-carat diamond of the same quality.

Diamond Size and Carat Weight Chart