Just how big is a one carat round diamond?

“Okay, obviously I’m able to figure out that the average outside diameter of this 1.048 carat, G-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond is 6.52 millimeters; but I don’t know how that size compares to objects in the real world that I am more likely to be familiar with. Will it look that much larger than this 0.941 carat, G-color, VS-1 clarity, BGD round signature diamond that costs more than $2k less?”

A one carat round diamond measures 6.5 mm in diameter:

The average round brilliant ideal cut diamond measures approximately 6.5 mm in diameter, with slight variations due to the exact carat weight, and proportions of the diamond.

The reason why I chose to start this blog post out with a picture of a pencil eraser eliminating questions, is because the average diameter of a Standard #2 yellow pencil, is also 6.5 millimeters; thus you should have an example of what a one carat round diamond looks like in real life, sitting right on your desk… somewhere.

The average diameter of the 0.941 carat, G-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond is 6.28 millimeters; and in my experience, most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a round brilliant cut diamond measuring 6.28 mm in diameter, and one measuring 6.52 millimeters from across the dinner table, especially on a moving target, such as a hand.

But what I imagine you are really asking, is whether it is worth it to pay the extra $2k± for the 1.048 carat, G-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond; is it worth the extra money to be able to present your girlfriend with a one carat diamond? From a visual perspective, you’re not going to gain that much in terms of visible outside diameter; but from a mental perspective, there just seems to be something special about a one carat diamond; and it’s obviously not that a 1.00 carat diamond is going to look that much larger than a 0.95 carat diamond.

What’s so special about a one carat diamond?

While there might not be much of a visual difference between a one carat round diamond, and one which falls just short of the 1.00 carat mark, and weighs in between 0.90 – 0.99 carats; but there definitely seems to be a mental difference created by being able to say “it’s a one carat diamond” in response to the question “So how big is it?”

And perhaps this is why diamond prices increase substantially at specific “magic marks” of carat weight, such as between the 0.99 and 1.00 carat marks; which is an important concept to understand by the way, because according to the Federal Trade Commission, a “one carat diamond” can weigh between 0.98 – 1.02 carats, thus being within two points of the mark, but there is a significant price difference between a 0.98 carat diamond, and an actual 1.00 carat diamond; thus if you’re buying a one carat diamond, you might want to be sure that you’re actually getting a diamond that weighs more than 1.00 carats.

But at the end of the day, if we’re only talking about the visual difference between a 0.95 carat round brilliant ideal cut diamond, and a 1.00 carat, round brilliant ideal cut diamond, that are both cut to the production requirements of Brian Gavin Diamonds, then the visual difference between the visible surface area of the two diamonds from a top-down perspective is going to be extremely slight, and it isn’t going to be that noticeable to anybody who is not scrutinizing the two diamonds.

In which case, you might want to go for the less expensive diamond, and perhaps spend the difference on a more elaborate wedding ring, such as the Anita halo setting from Brian Gavin, which is going to add some extra sparkle to the outside of the diamond, thereby increasing the visual outside diameter in a different way, which is far more affordable than buying a diamond of the same diameter that the total circumference of sparkle created by the halo of diamonds and center stone will be; the price of the ring is actually about the same as the difference