- Joined
- Jul 12, 2004
- Messages
- 4,034
Earlier I had posted the beginning of my journey of ordering a custom Cut-to-Order CBI diamond.
The link to that story is here:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ordered-a-custom-crafted-by-infinity-diamond.206471/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ordered-a-custom-crafted-by-infinity-diamond.206471/[/URL]
The journey continues …
Throughout the “process” as Paul calls it, there were no status reports. Paul has a strict policy of not discussing any diamond “in-process”, period. That was very difficult for me because I like to know the status of things that impact me. I was told multiple times that Paul and Lieve were totally in control of this diamond, that they know it better than anyone, and that they will craft a diamond to CBI standards. Of course I would call Wink multiple times a week and ask for status to which he replied “I don’t know”. I think he was ready to strangle me.
Early in November there was a conference call with Paul, John, and myself. I was told that the diamond was finished but that they had discovered a nick on the girdle. To completely remove it, they had to re-polish the girdle facets and all the crown and pavilion facets which caused the finished weight of the diamond to drop to 2.21 carats instead of the original estimate of 2.30 or more. Paul could have left the nick in the girdle, and it still would have been an AGS0, F-SI1, but that is not Paul. His extremely exacting standards for all CBI diamonds are above that even if it caused a reduction in weight.
Expecting a diamond of at least 2.30 carats, I was initially very disappointed at the outcome so I emailed Paul and John to find out more. Their response was:
“Our crafting goal has to do with virtual facet crispness and visibility. Not just rubbing out a blemish. That means than any fine-tuning we do to a single facet indeed has implications across the diamond in a 3D sense. It's to the benefit of all of our diamonds, but now you can clearly see why we talk about (a) more time to our crafting process (b) more sophisticated tools (c) more skill from the team and (d) ultimately a greater loss of weight.
In fact, it's positive to me that you're a party to this: As a technical person you can now appreciate the detail and degree to which we commit in our process. You could have received a heavier finished diamond. But would you really want it then, knowing that it was somewhat close to being perfectly tuned, but not quite there?
This is something most diamond enthusiasts (and many Jewelers) are not even aware-of. CBI could easily have stopped your project at a higher carat weight, preserving the printed 2D parameters and a nice level of 3D precision, but we did NOT stop until it truly became a Crafted by Infinity diamond, as part of our vision and mission. It's why you chose us... I think it's a perfect fit that you're with the team who will go that extra distance for you.”
At this point I had to step back and be 100% completely honest with myself. I had originally wanted a 2 ct F-SI1. Paul presented two candidates, a 2.15 and 2.30. I chose the larger one because it had the stronger “F” color. That caused 2.30+ cts and 8.5 mm to become the new goal in my mind. The question now was would I have been interested if I saw a 2.21 F-SI1 on Wink’s HPD website. After much soul searching, the answer was yes, I would have asked Wink to call it in.
As promised, because the predicted weight was not achieved, Paul refunded the appropriate amount of money that I applied towards my ring mountings. I was also assured that it was a very strong “F” color and a solid eye-clean SI1 clarity.
My lovely diamond, still unseen by me, was then shipped off to the AGSL to be graded with more waiting on my part. AGSL graded it ASG0 F-SI1 as expected.
What I have learned from this journey is that diamond cutting is not guaranteed and unforeseen circumstances can and do happen. Per John “A diamond crystal is the hardest natural known substance in the universe. It does not want to be shaped. It does not want to be polished. It wants to remain the hardest and most inalterable natural substance. It resists. It fools you with graining. It produces unexpected challenges… It’s like taming a wild stallion.”
Most importantly, a lesson for me personally is that one must remain flexible, have patience, and to trust the process.
So here I present my 2.21 ct F-SI1 Cut-to-Order Crafted by Infinity diamond:
The link to that story is here:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ordered-a-custom-crafted-by-infinity-diamond.206471/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ordered-a-custom-crafted-by-infinity-diamond.206471/[/URL]
The journey continues …
Throughout the “process” as Paul calls it, there were no status reports. Paul has a strict policy of not discussing any diamond “in-process”, period. That was very difficult for me because I like to know the status of things that impact me. I was told multiple times that Paul and Lieve were totally in control of this diamond, that they know it better than anyone, and that they will craft a diamond to CBI standards. Of course I would call Wink multiple times a week and ask for status to which he replied “I don’t know”. I think he was ready to strangle me.
Early in November there was a conference call with Paul, John, and myself. I was told that the diamond was finished but that they had discovered a nick on the girdle. To completely remove it, they had to re-polish the girdle facets and all the crown and pavilion facets which caused the finished weight of the diamond to drop to 2.21 carats instead of the original estimate of 2.30 or more. Paul could have left the nick in the girdle, and it still would have been an AGS0, F-SI1, but that is not Paul. His extremely exacting standards for all CBI diamonds are above that even if it caused a reduction in weight.
Expecting a diamond of at least 2.30 carats, I was initially very disappointed at the outcome so I emailed Paul and John to find out more. Their response was:
“Our crafting goal has to do with virtual facet crispness and visibility. Not just rubbing out a blemish. That means than any fine-tuning we do to a single facet indeed has implications across the diamond in a 3D sense. It's to the benefit of all of our diamonds, but now you can clearly see why we talk about (a) more time to our crafting process (b) more sophisticated tools (c) more skill from the team and (d) ultimately a greater loss of weight.
In fact, it's positive to me that you're a party to this: As a technical person you can now appreciate the detail and degree to which we commit in our process. You could have received a heavier finished diamond. But would you really want it then, knowing that it was somewhat close to being perfectly tuned, but not quite there?
This is something most diamond enthusiasts (and many Jewelers) are not even aware-of. CBI could easily have stopped your project at a higher carat weight, preserving the printed 2D parameters and a nice level of 3D precision, but we did NOT stop until it truly became a Crafted by Infinity diamond, as part of our vision and mission. It's why you chose us... I think it's a perfect fit that you're with the team who will go that extra distance for you.”
At this point I had to step back and be 100% completely honest with myself. I had originally wanted a 2 ct F-SI1. Paul presented two candidates, a 2.15 and 2.30. I chose the larger one because it had the stronger “F” color. That caused 2.30+ cts and 8.5 mm to become the new goal in my mind. The question now was would I have been interested if I saw a 2.21 F-SI1 on Wink’s HPD website. After much soul searching, the answer was yes, I would have asked Wink to call it in.
As promised, because the predicted weight was not achieved, Paul refunded the appropriate amount of money that I applied towards my ring mountings. I was also assured that it was a very strong “F” color and a solid eye-clean SI1 clarity.
My lovely diamond, still unseen by me, was then shipped off to the AGSL to be graded with more waiting on my part. AGSL graded it ASG0 F-SI1 as expected.
What I have learned from this journey is that diamond cutting is not guaranteed and unforeseen circumstances can and do happen. Per John “A diamond crystal is the hardest natural known substance in the universe. It does not want to be shaped. It does not want to be polished. It wants to remain the hardest and most inalterable natural substance. It resists. It fools you with graining. It produces unexpected challenges… It’s like taming a wild stallion.”
Most importantly, a lesson for me personally is that one must remain flexible, have patience, and to trust the process.
So here I present my 2.21 ct F-SI1 Cut-to-Order Crafted by Infinity diamond:
Yes, some people don't understand that cutting diamonds to a high level of perfection is a very time consuming process that takes talent and skill on the part of the cutter. I remember Yoram saying he remembered cutting my diamond! I guess they are like babies to great cutters who labor over them! It is NOT like they are put in a machine and cut automatically! I honestly think some people think that!
I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it!
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