Quick and Easy Buying Guide
Carat weight: 1 carat = 200 milligrams = 6.5 mm diameter. Doubling weight doesn't double diameter.
Diamond clarity: FL/IF/VVS/VS = super expensive, near perfect. SI = best value if you can check a photo for obvious inclusions (defects).
Color: D-G = colorless, expensive, only if you have money to burn. H-J = best value. Can go lower in gold metal settings than white metal.
Cut: Better cut ratings let more light into a diamond, making it sparkle more. Very important property, don't skimp here.
Set a budget and minimum cut (Premium). Go J color for gold and I/H for white metals. Go searching for SI1/SI2 clarity diamonds at James Allen. Pick a diamond with small/no inclusions. Choose a ring setting and buy it risk-free (60-day returns).
1.24 Carat Diamonds
This average width of 7.02 mm for a 1.24 carat diamond only tells some of the story, because this width is variable depending on how deep or shallow the diamond shape is.
Sponsored Links
Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way in the world, without them it is like a great rough diamond, very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value; but most prized when polished. Lord Chesterfield .
A way of using numbers to help you compare diamonds is to calculate the cost per carat of diamond. God forbid that this should be a problem for anyone, but it may be that the diamond, once it actually put on the fiance's hand, may appear to be too big and unwieldy. Make sure to take this into account when you're shopping around.
Some unethical store assistants will talk about average diamond size in trying to pressure couples into buying a diamond ring more expensive than they can afford - even though the average is around half carat, you should be buying a diamond based on what you can afford, and what you as a couple would feel comfortable buying. You can trade carat size for diamond rarity by doing something like choosing a pink diamond. If you do this, perhaps you'd like to consider putting in a bid for the darya-ye noor diamond which is the largest pink diamond the world, or 182 carats of it. To get it, you'd have to go to iran however..
There are two tricks to avoid when comparing total diamond weight with the weight of an individual diamond - individual smaller diamonds are cheaper even if they add up to the same total weight as the single diamond, and smaller diamonds are often of poorer quality.
A large diamond which has a huge crack down the middle, or alternatively a big yucky looking inclusion, is not a good look - it looks like someone has gone for size and sacrificed all the other desirable properties of the diamond. Clarity, for example, can be just as important in picking a diamond.