GUIDE · DIAMONDS

Lab-grown or natural diamond: the differences

A laboratory-grown diamond is a real diamond: it has the same chemical composition and the same physical and optical properties as a natural diamond. What changes is the origin and the price.

Vanni Pesciallo, a GIA-trained gemmologist, explains it with the diamonds we work with every day in our atelier.

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HOW THEY FORM

Billions of years or a few weeks

Natural diamonds formed deep inside the Earth, most of them between one and three and a half billion years ago.

Lab-grown diamonds grow in a few weeks, with two methods: high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapour deposition (CVD).

DIAMONDS AND METALS

Engagement rings

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Aura ring in 18kt rose gold with white diamond
Aura ring in 18kt yellow gold with white diamond
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Aura

Price range: CHF 7’800 through CHF 29’000
Enlace Trio ring in 18kt white gold
Enlace Trio ring in 18kt white gold
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Enlace Trio

Price range: CHF 3’700 through CHF 6’900
Moon ring in 18kt white gold
Moon ring in 18kt rose gold
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Moon

Price range: CHF 3’200 through CHF 4’800
Voltige Solo, round brilliant cut ring in 18kt white gold
Voltige Solo, round brilliant cut ring in 18kt rose gold
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Voltige Solo, round brilliant cut

Price range: CHF 1’790 through CHF 3’590

    HOW TO TELL THEM APART

    To the naked eye they look the same

    To the naked eye, and even with a loupe, a lab-grown and a natural diamond cannot be told apart: it takes the instruments of a gemmological laboratory.

    That is why each of our diamonds comes with a GIA or IGI certificate stating its origin.

    SEE THE ENGAGEMENT RINGS

    The questions we are asked most often about natural and lab-grown diamonds. For prices, read the guide how much does an engagement ring cost.

    THE DIFFERENCES

    Yes: it is crystallised carbon like a natural diamond, with the same chemical, physical and optical properties.

    Yes, it has the same hardness: 10 on the Mohs scale.

    No, neither with the naked eye nor with a loupe: it takes laboratory instruments.

    PRICES AND CERTIFICATES

    With us, for a 0.50 ct solitaire: CHF 1’790 with a lab-grown diamond instead of CHF 3’590 with a natural diamond.

    Every diamond comes with a GIA or IGI certificate stating its origin.

    Yes, with reports dedicated to laboratory-grown diamonds.

    CHOOSING

    It depends on what matters most to you: a larger diamond for the same budget, or a diamond formed in nature. In the atelier we show them to you side by side.

    Yes: our rings can be made with a natural or a lab-grown diamond.

    In the atelier in Balerna or in the boutique in Locarno, by appointment. Or in an online consultation.