If you are an admirer of the brilliance of the round cut but want to deviate a bit from the traditional style that a round cut is, you could confidently go ahead with an oval cut. The classy cut fits rings, pendants and drop earrings equally well and the buzz around this fancy cut has been increasing recently.
The oval cut is more a mix of round brilliant shape and pear shape but it lacks the pointed corners of a pear shape. The cut has equal number of facets as that of a round cut and this explains why the cut is also called modified round brilliant cut.
What Is The Ideal Length To Width Ratio
As there is no standard oval shape, you have the freedom to choose a length to width ratio that decides whether the oval cut will look narrow or broad. The ratio choice is completely personal and the classic length to width ratio falls between 1.4 and 1.3. When the ratio falls below 1.3, the diamond will lack a recognizable oval shape and as the ratio increases beyond 1.5, the diamond will look long and narrow.
The ratio choice depends on the type of jewelry with narrow cuts going well with drop earrings whereas traditional oval cut being the ideal one for being the center stone in diamond rings. If you have plans of using oval cuts as the side stones of diamond rings, you could better go with a wider oval cut.
How To Identify The Bow Tie Effect
Bow tie refers to a dark area in the shape of a bow tie inside a diamond and it is one of the shortfalls of elongated diamond cuts. Misalignment of facets and poor quality cutting are the possible reasons of bow tie effect and it dampens the light performance of the diamond.
The best way to identify a bow tie is to inspect it closely by eye because the grading reports do not give information about the effect. So you have to purchase diamonds by looking at actual images and videos of the diamond and not blindly trust the sample stock images.
What Is The Importance Of Symmetry
Symmetry is crucial in deciding the performance of an oval cut. The diamond has to have perfectly rounded edges and identical sides because even a minute disproportion can be noticed easily.
A professional expert is required to cut out a perfect oval shape and getting an excellent oval cut is worth the effort it takes to find one.
Cut Quality Grading
To our disappointment, GIA does not grade the cut quality of a majority of fancy cuts indicating that evaluating the cut quality is our job. The parameters for oval cut are:
- Table-53% to 63%
- Depth-57% to 62%
- Girdle- Very thin to slightly thick
How To Select Color Grade
The brilliant faceting pattern of oval cuts confers it the ability to hide color so well and dropping down by a few ranks in color grade will not compromise its aesthetic appeal. Color grades range from D to Z, and on moving towards Z grade diamonds turn from colored to colorless.
Selecting color grades between D and G is recommended as they have less color when compared with grades beyond G. The metal of the setting also influences the choice of color grade. If silver hued metals are used as diamond setting, you could go for H color or better whereas with rose gold or yellow gold setting, dropping the color grade down to K or I will not produce any visibly negative impact on the diamond’s look.
Take a note of the fact that even though two adjacent grades do not look very different in appearance, there will be a clear price difference between adjacent color grades.
Clarity
The oval cut has the ability to hide blemishes and flaws in the diamond, especially around its edges and you do not have to be adamant about picking the highest clarity grade. As you go up the clarity scale, the price of diamonds increase and if you want the purchase to be within your budget, you could go for diamonds of medium clarity.
How eye-clean the diamond is decides its clarity and always ensure this by carefully inspecting the diamond.
How To Select The Right Setting
The oval cut does not have pointed edges making it less vulnerable than cuts like pear and marquise with characteristic pointed edges. For the best light performance, choose a prong setting that maximizes the rate of light reflection and increases the visibility of diamond.
You can choose a 4 prong, 6 prong or 8 prong setting depending on the size of the diamond. Higher number of prongs promises better security of diamonds but the visibility will be compromised.
Paying attention to the smallest of details while you purchase an oval cut diamond ring is important to ensure that you get the highest value diamond.