Why Buy A Lab Grown Diamond?

Our customers below the age of forty buy over 70% of the lab created diamonds we sell.

Approximately 80% of this demographic buy lab created diamonds, even if they initially come to us intent on buying an earth mined diamond.

Our customers over sixty buy 15% of our lab diamonds by volume.

This represents just 20% of their diamond expenditure.

Interestingly, the proportion of lab diamond sales in both these two groups has increased markedly over the past 18 months, albeit more significantly among the younger demographic.

As perception is wholly subjective, experience and opinions shape each individual's view on lab diamonds. To some, an earth mined diamond is the only option. The fact that it has evolved over several thousand years and is what their parents and grandparents understand as being a "real diamond" understandibly looms large.

In this regard the price and other aspects are largely irrelevant.

Converseley, many people regard lab created diamonds as the only acceptable choice, based primarily upon what they perceive as their inherent "green" credentials.

From our experience, knowledge plays a material role in each customer's purchasing decision.

Younger people are, typically, more au fait with (and more inclined to search) online resources for as much objective information as possible before progressing their decision making process.

As premium grade lab diamonds have become more widely available and the variety of shapes and carat sizes blossomed, so too has the breadth and depth of educational resources available online. Just like this one!

Creating a lab diamond, unlike an earth diamond, does not involve the disruption and excavation of the land directly nor the use of heavy plant and machinery.

Diamond laboratories do however consume energy which does come with some environmental cost. In overall terms though, per diamond carat created, the environmental impact is quantifiably lower.

As lab techniques become more efficient, this carbon footprint is diminishing further.

For example, we are now seeing the emergence of solar powered production facilities which should significantly enhance the lab diamond's ethical credentials.

To many of our customers, the relative affordability of lab diamonds is an attraction, although by no means the only one.

To others, the fact that earth mined diamonds are proportionately more expensive may well be part of their appeal, for reasons of exclusivity.

Earth mined diamonds, especially high grade large carat stones, are limited in supply at any given time.

While the supply of these diamonds is to some degree "managed" by the major diamond producers, their scarcity - perceived or otherwise - has a substantial positive influence upon their value.

Conversely, many people believe high grade lab diamonds can be created on demand.

However, this is not strictly true. A lab created diamond evolves naturally, albeit under man made conditions, in to a rough, opaque uncut stone, much the same as an earth diamond.

Colour and clarity variances are just as evident, such that the rough stone will be "chopped" in to multiple smaller stones, then cut, polished and graded.

In this respect, larger carat, high grade triple excellent cut lab diamonds also retain rarity value.

Will the value of a lab diamond perform as well as an earth mined diamond over time? This is a question we are often asked by our customers.

The honest answer is that no one knows.

There are multiple factors determining wholesale diamond prices; demand trends in carat weight, shape, colour and clarity.

For example, a rare earth diamond of several carat weight with exceptional cut and clarity may appreciate significantly over time.

A similar stone of a shape which is temporarily out of vogue may fall in value.

Premium grade lab diamonds reflect similar characteristics in price fluctuations. The big difference being that on a comparative basis, they are initially much more affordable.

In any event, we strongly advise buying a diamond which you truly love and can afford. Buying diamonds as an investment is best left to specialist diamond dealers (who don't always get it right!).

Because lab grown diamonds are seemingly a recent phenomenon within the jewellery trade, some people have reservations about their ability to stand the test of time.

In fact, diamonds have been created under laboratory conditions since 1952. In those early days, they were mainly yellow or brown in colour and used primarily for industrial purposes.

As the manufacturing processes and techniques improved, so too did the quality of the diamonds, such that they gradually became suitable for use in fine jewellery.

Decades later, those same diamonds look and feel exactly the same as when they were first created, cut and polished. As they share the same physical structure as earth diamonds, they will display the same visual beauty for generations to come.

There is perhaps some truth to the notion that high street jewellers would rather sell you an earth mined diamond due to the higher price point.

The higher the price, the higher the profit, at least in absolute terms.

Yet a bigger driver may be that, by displaying earth mined and lab grown diamonds together, it's harder to explain the significant differences in price. 

Not to mention the fact that large operators with plenty of mined diamonds in stock are under pressure to sell their existing inventory and not to confuse the customer with alternatives.

At Pobjoy Diamonds, we are just as thrilled to sell you a lab grown as a natural earth mined diamond, whatever it's size and value.

And our uniquely responsive business model allows us to be entirely objective in meeting the wishes of our customers.

With access to over one million certified diamonds from around the world, we will find you the stone to meet your precise requirements and budget.

So we can ensure you get exactly what you have been dreaming of.