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Cartier Cut

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WestSideStory

Rough_Rock
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Mar 12, 2007
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I have been researching diamonds and reading this board for quite a while. The information presented here is fabulous, definitely the place to check out if you want to learn about diamonds. I have been trying to decide between a Cartier and Tiffany ring. There is not much information on this board about Cartier, so I want to relay some of my experience for the people who will be looking in the future.

In trying to decide between a Cartier and Tiffany ring, I got the GIA certificates for both, both round brilliants. The Tiffany diamond was all Excellents, and scored within AGS zero on the calculator on this site. I always assumed that Cartier would have the same quality of diamonds as Tiffany and was surprised when the certificate came back with a Very Good rating and it did not score well on the cut advisor. I know there are beautiful Very Good cut stones out there, but for the markup involved at Cartier I did not expect a stone with a less than Excellent or Ideal rating. Make no mistake, the rings there are gorgeous and the 1895 setting iin particular is spectacular.

Maybe Tiffany is more of a "diamond dealer" since they take such pride in their stones and providing education. Regarding Cartier, customers need to be aware that if they are concerned about the cut being ideal then they need to double check the certification.
 

egs1

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 2, 2006
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30
Are you sure that the report from Tiffany is GIA? Or is it a Tiffany report?

Also, don''t think that all of Tiffany''s diamonds score all ''Excellents'', because they don''t. However if you want a diamond with particular specs just get Tiffany or Cartier to search their inventory for you.

Cartier is also European so they may prefer a slightly different cut...not sure.

I agree that the cut should be excellent, ideal etc for the mark up though.
 

nycDR

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
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3
I'm glad you brought this up as I'm in the same boat in many respects. First of all I'd like to echo the original poster's sentiments on how informative PS has been in my search for an engagement ring.

As for the topic itself, I too did an extensive comparison between Tiffany and Cartier diamonds. Although I don't know how many diamonds WestSideStory looked at, I would have to say that no sweeping generalization can be made about who has better cuts. Without getting into the whole online vs. BM issue or whether it's worth it to purchase as these particular retailers, I would say that just by comparing a single diamond from each retailer would not provide an adequate representation of their products.

For example, at Tiffany, I got the specific numbers for several of the half dozen or so diamonds in the price/quality range I wanted and was surprised with the results. One was a 1.52 G VS1 with excellent cut, symmetry, and polish and was priced in the $26K range. This diamond did very well on the HCA getting a score around 1. As for the more expensive alternative which was about $30K, it was a 1.52 F VVS2 with excellent cut, VG symmetry and VG polish. This more expensive stone faired considerably worse on the HCA, getting something in the neighborhood of 4.

Similarly, I had narrowed it down at Cartier to a handful of stones. Without getting into details (as I realize my post is getting long), some of the diamonds did very well on the HCA while others did poorly despite being deemed excellent by GIA cut standards.

Having shopped both stores, I would say that both offer beautiful diamonds but like many other retailers, they offer varying degrees of cut quality. For anybody interested in purchasing from either, make sure you let the SA know that cut is important to you and they can help you find what you want. I wouldn't say Tiffany is better than Cartier in terms of cut or vice versa. It really depends on the particular stone. Beyond that, the choice could very well be a matter of taste. Hope this helps.
 
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