1.40 ct tw D VVS2 Lab Diamond Studs

1.40 carat total weight, D VVS2, 18K white gold

A pair of IGI-certified lab-grown brilliants totalling 1.40 carat, colour D, clarity VVS2, in four-claw studs. Report LG819620616.

What “1.40 ct tw” actually tells you

Two letters do a lot of quiet work in that figure. tw stands for total weight — the two stones added together. Each stone here weighs 0.70 ct, not 1.40.

That matters, because 1.40 ct on a ring and 1.40 ct tw on a pair of studs describe very different things, and the gap is larger than halving suggests:

• One brilliant of 1.40 ct measures about 7.2 mm.
• A brilliant of 0.70 ct measures about 5.75 mm.

So each stone in this pair is roughly 20% narrower than the solitaire carrying the same carat figure. The weight halves, the width does not — diameter grows with the cube root of weight. That is why splitting a carat figure across two stones costs you less size than the arithmetic first suggests, and why studs give more visible diamond per euro than one stone of the same total weight.

If you are comparing studs between jewellers, check whether the figure quoted is per stone or total. Both conventions are in use, and the difference is a factor of two.

D VVS2 at 0.70 per ear

Colour D is the top of the scale. VVS2 means a grader can locate the inclusion from the crown under ten times magnification, but that it takes trained eyes and good light to do so — two steps above VS1 and well beyond the reach of the naked eye.

On an ear, at 5.75 mm, neither grade is visible as a grade. What they buy is something else: the certainty that both stones come from the same specification. On a pair that is the only quality marker anyone actually notices — two stones either side of a face are compared involuntarily, and a pair that does not match is obvious to everyone, including people who know nothing about diamond.

Specification

• Stones: two lab-grown diamonds, brilliant cut, 1.40 ct total (0.70 ct each)
• Colour: D    Clarity: VVS2
• Certificate: IGI LG819620616
• Setting: four-claw studs, 18K white gold

Lab grown, certified by IGI

The stones are diamond in every physical and chemical respect; they were grown rather than mined. When one of our lab-grown diamonds is certified, it is always with an IGI report — we do not offer GIA-certified lab-grown diamonds.

The rest of the size range

Smaller: the 0.64 ct tw D VVS2 studs, 0.32 ct per ear, and the 1.06 ct tw D VS1. Larger, in the same white gold: the 2.18 ct tw D VVS1. The full range is under lab grown diamond earrings.

Buying in Antwerp

In stock in our workshop in the Antwerp diamond district. Sent insured, in a case, with the IGI report.