r/labgrowndiamondsindia

Hello Again! I feel like I need to clear some air. I am a reddit newbie, and I wanted to create this subreddit to become a genuine portal for Indian and global (Mostly indian) consumers to discuss, learn and showcase about lab grown diamonds and jewellery made with lab grown diamonds. I think this has got vast potential in India and this subreddit might help that community.

But I believe I got off from a wrong foot. The truth is, I am a vendor for lab grown diamond jewellery based in New Delhi. Initially, when I was uploading content on this subreddit which talked about lab grown diamond topics - it was hardly picking up any pace, until I started uploading some of the jewellery I have made for my personal clientele.

But I don't believe that sat well with people as many think/thought that I was a vendor (which I am) posing as a consumer. Maybe I was actually doing that.

This is not the image I want to present for this subreddit, and I don't want to blatantly promote my brand through this subreddit too. I want this to become a genuine community.

Moving forward, every post I make or upload I will clearly mention that I am a vendor and try to keep my post as non - promotional as possible. Only try and discuss certain designs and maybe even showcase jewellery which has actually been SOLD. I will also not discuss what brand I am representing until only someone specifically asks for it.

If you are a vendor also posing as a consumer on this page, I will highly discourage that. Vendor posting will be tolerated, but blatant name dropping won't until you are specifically asked for it by the community.

If you are a consumer or just a general visitor who has got nothing to do with jewellery, I welcome you. I will try my absolute best to become a better moderator by contributing genuine - non advertising content and education. I highly encourage people to share their genuine thoughts, questions and opinions on this subreddit regarding lab grown diamonds and jewellery. Feel free to upload what have you got made for yourself!

So, I am in the market to buy a 2ct marquise diamond ring for myself. I have checked with a bunch of jewellers to get an idea about pricing, and now I am more confused than before I started looking lol.

I have been quoted as low as 50K all the way to 1.2L for apparently the same bloody thing. Help me! What should I do? What should I look for?!

Just as a disclaimer, I am no scientist but I have done thorough research to study and understand what CVD and HPHT grown Lab Grown Diamonds are.

I have many people coming to me to ask what is the difference between the two and if one better than the other... Let's get some facts out there first!

#1
CVD - Chemical Vapour Deposition and HPHT - High Pressure High Temperature are growth methods. As an analogy, the objective is simple - to bake a cake (Diamond) but how you can bake a cake can differ. You can use different methodologies to get to the same outcome. Each method of growing diamonds has its own pros and cons, so lets now discuss them.

HPHT grown diamonds use vast machines that mimic the environment deep within the Earth to create diamonds from Carbon. As the name suggests, massive heat and pressure is applied to a diamond "seed" (this might be a separate post for itself entirely) within a metal flux which distributes the energy evenly and slowly but surely more carbon atoms bond with the original diamond seed and grow it. Over a period of roughly 3 - 4 weeks of constant pressure and energy the diamonds come out of the chambers. The diamond rough looks kind of similar to what diamond roughs are found in nature due to the mimicking of the earths environment to make them.

CVD Grown Diamonds use an entirely different method. Scientists were able to figure out that there is a tiny gold locks zone between pressure and heat where carbon atoms can bond to form diamonds which are stable, i.e. they don't fail and become graphite. This zone is far below the heat and temperature required in nature to form diamonds. So how do they do it?

Think of a high tech microwave. Inside the microwave, scientists place small "Diamond seeds" that look like diamond chips - thin slivers of actual diamond. The microwave is then sealed, pressurised and inoculated with a mixture of inert gases and METHANE. Once the microwave is turned on the methane gas ionises and the gas splits into its atomic constituents which are Carbon and Hydrogen. Hydrogen is a waste gas in this process. Carbon on the other hand, drifts down towards the diamond seeds and atom by atom bonds to the seed in the Diamond Molecular Pattern. In a span of 3 - 4 weeks the seed becomes a full diamond rough. But oddly, because of its growth method - Visibly, the rough is almost non identical to a natural diamond rough and comes in like a rectangular/cube form.

There are far more processes after this which we wont get to in this post.

Now that you understand how these 2 are made lets see what are some similarities amongst them. This might sound stupid, but let's make it clear that both of the growth method produce real diamonds. Both of them will be chemically, optically and physically identical to natural diamonds.

#2

But hey, what are the differences? That is why I am reading this?! Okay, okay... So the first major difference is that all CVD Grown diamonds are TYPE 2A Diamonds which is not the case for HPHT. This means that there are no measurable impurities (elements other than carbon) in the carbon structure of the diamond. Only 2% of all diamonds mined are type 2a, so you may argue that it is rare in nature. Type 2a although does not mean that the diamond will not have any clarity defects.

HPHT diamonds on the other require little to no treatment to enhance beauty. Because of certain "cook times" a lot of manufacturers tune their "recipe" in a way that produces diamonds quicker at a cost of poorer colour and clarity characteristics, these diamonds are then treated with HPHT to enhance their colour and clarity. You may notice that some of the CVD diamond when compared with HPHT Diamond with a similar colour grade (Other than D of course) may appear to be a little greyish - Brown. That is mainly due to the quicker cook time.

So one can argue that HPHT diamonds may appear "Whiter" than CVD diamonds.

Also, it is important to know that HPHT diamonds are easier to identify them as "lab grown" than CVD mostly because of 2 reasons. Some HPHT diamonds may trap some of the metal flux inside them as they are growing. The metal flux being ferrous makes them attract to a magnet. If the "impurity" is big enough some diamonds may be attracted to magnets because of this. Mind you that it is not the actual diamond being magnetic, just the trapped metal flux inside it.

This is not a cause for concern though, once mounted - nothing is moving out of place as the magnetic attraction is fairly weak, the only thing to be mindful of is that you should know it in the first place.

Also, there have been some HPHT diamond known to have a lot of boron impurities. I dont know exactly how that works, but because of those purities some diamonds (extremely rare now) may show phosphorescence! Think of glow in the dark paint. They capture energy and emit a faint - strong glow under dim lighting conditions. Again, this has been mostly fixed because of better diamond recipes, so it should not be as prevalent now as it once was.

My hot take is simple, both are diamonds. Both are relatively priced equally. When purchasing a diamond, instead of looking at CVD vs HPHT, you should actually look at the diamond and assess its inherent beauty. The more beautiful a diamond looks to you, the more likely you should buy that!

I hope this essay was of some use to you. I would love to know your thoughts in the comment section!

Is it worth?