Carat
Carat (abbreviated as “cts”) is a small unit to measure diamonds weight and other gemstones instead of kilos and grams.
1 carat = 0.200 gram; hence 5 cts would equal 1 gram.
Each carat is subdivided into 100 "points." which enables diamonds weight to be measured to the hundredth decimal place. Accordingly, a diamond's weight below one carat can be described by its "points." For example, a 0.48 carat diamond would be referred to as a "48 pointer" or “point 48 carats”
Helpful Tips:
- Don't get the terms "Carats" and "Karat" mixed up. Karat refers to the purity of gold, while carats refer to the weight of the diamond.
- As the weight increases, the size increases; however, two diamonds of the same carat might appear different in size due to cut proportions.
- So when comparing two diamonds look at the measurement (length x width) and choose the one with broader measurements to obtain wider surface that appear bigger visually for the same value.
- Diamonds of different shapes and equal carats weight tend to show difference in size. 1ct oval or marquise for example, tend to be viewed larger than 1ct round because of their mm measurement difference. (look at our size guide to have a better understanding of size difference between different shapes)
- Considering all other 4c factors are same the value of diamonds increases, as the carat size increases because larger stones are rarer.
- At 0.50ct, 0.75ct and 1.00ct the value of diamonds increase dramatically as these are the most popular sizes. Accordingly, 0.95ct would have better value than 1.03ct for a barely visible difference in size.
- Therefore, if you are looking to maximize your budget seek diamonds that are under these boundaries to avoid the difference in price.