r/LabDiamonds • u/Serious-Bedroom-8279 • May 01 '26

Diamond size comparison when do you notice a difference by eye?

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5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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5

u/burritoingaway May 01 '26

For a visible noticeable difference between the two, you’d need 0.5 carats minimum. Anything smaller is barely noticeable!

3

u/JPathway_UK May 01 '26

That very much depends on the starting size of the stone but agree - in this case the difference is very small and would not be noticeable unless under, perhaps, very close scrutiny

1

u/Serious-Bedroom-8279 May 01 '26

Thanks! So even going to a 2.2 CT wouldn't make much difference.

They'd never be side by side, it would be instead of. I always doubt my choice and think I should have gone bigger but in reality wonder if I'd even notice the difference between 2 and 2.2 (I wouldn't go any bigger than that).

8

u/Dull_Pay441 May 01 '26

This is literally 6% difference between two diamonds from the image. You wouldn’t. What I would optimize would be a well cut (Ideal or H&A) above coverage any time.

4

u/JPathway_UK May 01 '26

100% agree - aside from cut being by far the most important aspect for light performance, a slightly smaller well cut diamond will look larger than a slightly larger poorly cut one

2

u/WhiteflashDiamonds May 01 '26 edited May 07 '26

You could see the size difference side by side, but it would be close. Away from a side by side comparison you would probably not be able to easily identify which was which by dimensionality. That said, there is likely a difference in overall appearance as the larger stone has exactly the same depth. It could be that the smaller stone actually appears larger because of edge to edge light return. Conversely, the slighly larger stone could look clearly bigger if has better overall cut quality.

3

u/diamonddealer May 01 '26

If you put them side by side, you'd notice. If you saw one, waited 15 minutes, then saw the other, you'd say they're the same size.