13 June 2026
How a stone is checked before it becomes a ring
A two-carat oval, bought loose and checked three times before it was set: once by the laboratory, once at the bench, and once by the buyer — using a number written on their own invoice.
This commission began with a stone, not a drawing: a two-carat oval, bought loose, weeks before a single prong was sketched. The order matters. A diamond can be weighed, measured and graded while it is loose; once it is in a setting, most of that is under metal. Everything anyone can check about this stone was established before the bench touched it.
Checked three times
The first check was not ours. The stone arrived with a report from an independent laboratory — GIA or HRD, over half a carat, always — written by graders who had never met us and had no stake in whether it sold. That report states shape, carat weight to the hundredth, colour, clarity, measurements, proportions, polish and symmetry. If you want to know what every field on it means, we have written that out separately.
There was no tray to choose from. We hold no stock, so a stone is not something we already own and would like to move — it is sourced against one specification, for one piece, and the specification comes from the person paying for it. That is slower. It is also the only arrangement in which our advice about a stone costs us nothing to give honestly.
The check at the bench
The second check is ours, and it is a comparison rather than an admiration. The weight on our scale must agree with the weight on the report to the hundredth of a carat. The measurements must agree in three dimensions. The inscription on the girdle, where the laboratory has made one, must agree with the report number. If any of the three disagrees, the stone goes back and another is sourced. That has happened. It will happen again.
One thing the report cannot decide is whether the stone suits the hand it is going on. A two-carat oval is a long stone. Length is what makes an oval flattering on a finger, and poor proportions are what make one look thin and glassy from above — and no colour or clarity grade says anything about either. That part is judgement, ours, offered out loud and open to argument. We would rather call it judgement than dress it up as a grade.
The number on your paperwork
The report number does not stay at the bench. It is written onto your quote and onto your invoice, in your own copies — which is what makes the third check yours. Both laboratories run a free lookup on their own websites: type the number in and read the grades back from an organisation that has never heard of us. Do it before you confirm, and again when the piece arrives. A claim you can only verify by asking us is not worth much.
The timings are what make that practical rather than theoretical. A quote comes back within 24 hours with a price and a sketch, and the stone's papers come with it — before anything is confirmed. After you confirm, you have a further 24 hours to cancel without penalty. No step in that sequence requires you to take our word for anything.
After it is set
The oval was set by hand at one bench in Istanbul, by the same pair of hands that drew it, and finished five days after confirmation — in time for the proposal it was made for.
The report travelled with the ring, in the same box. It is still the stone's report and not the ring's: nothing is re-graded once it is mounted, and we will not imply otherwise. What the buyer holds is a stone that an independent laboratory described before anyone here touched it, a number they can check without us, and a ring made by one pair of hands in this city.