Carat of a Diamond

Carat is a measurement of weight for diamonds, not size as is sometimes mistakenly believed. Carat weight affects the price of a diamond more than any other of the 4 C’s. The greater the weight of the diamond the greater its value.

One carat is the equivalent of 0.2 grams. Carat is measured in cts or points. A carat is divided up into 100 points. Therefore a diamond that is 0.5cts is equivalent to 50 points.

Diamond Carat Weight Scale

While the diamonds shown above are not actual size, the increase in proportion between each is to scale.
As you can see, a 1.00ct stone is not twice the size of a 0.50ct stone.

A diamond that is twice the size of another can be as much as 4 times the price. Larger diamonds are discovered less often than smaller diamonds, which means large diamonds are more rare and therefore have greater value.

We’ve prepared some tips below to help choose which carat diamond to purchase. These tips cover budget, weight/quality of diamond and the finger size of whom will be wearing the diamond.

Tip 1: Your Budget

Decide your budget based on how much you are comfortable with spending. It’s not true that you must spend 2-3 months salary, as is often recommended. According to some surveys the average engagement ring spend is around £1,500.

We are always happy to help guide you with ways you can maximise your budget, we got rings for every budget and taste, have a look at our unmatched full rose gold eternity rings collection. Deciding your budget will make picking a diamond much easier and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how far your budget goes with us.

Tip 2: Carat Weight vs Quality

If your partner prefers larger items of jewellery, and you are working with a budget, you can purchase a larger diamond that is graded slightly lower in terms of clarity and colour.

For example, a 0.50ct D VVS1 will be more expensive than a 0.70ct G SI1, even though the 0.50ct is smaller. Opt for the 0.70ct if you think your partner would prefer a larger carat weight over colour and clarity.

Tip 3: Finger Size

Slender fingers make smaller diamonds appear larger.

A 1.00ct diamond will seem proportionately larger if worn by someone with very slim fingers.

A little something to remember… do not confuse ‘carat weight’ with ‘carat/karat’ which is the method of determining the purity of gold (e.g. 18ct white gold, 18ct yellow gold for yellow gold half eternity ring).