How laboratories distinguish a laboratory-grown diamond from a natural diamond

Someone hands you a bright, clean one-carat round stone. Natural or laboratory-grown? You cannot reliably identify its origin by sight alone. Appropriate gemological testing is required.

Two ways a diamond is grown

High pressure, high temperature growth copies the conditions deep in the earth. Chemical vapour deposition builds a crystal layer by layer from carbon gas, a bit like frost forming on a window.

Both methods are used to produce laboratory-grown diamonds. These stones are sold openly around the world, including in the UAE.

What the lab looks for

• Growth patterns that differ from natural crystals.
• Tiny metallic traces left behind by high pressure growth.
• Fluorescence and phosphorescence behaviour under specialised light.
• Laser inscriptions on the girdle that name the stone as laboratory-grown.

This is instrument work, not loupe work. So the paperwork matters more than your eyesight ever will.

Disclosure, in plain words

A laboratory-grown diamond should always be clearly described as laboratory-grown. The qualifier should immediately precede the word “diamond” and appear in the product description, invoice and laboratory documentation.

"Full disclosure of treatments and laboratory-grown origin builds trust with every customer."

— GIA, Colored Stone Essentials

What we do before a stone reaches you

Every center stone we set arrives with a report from a respected laboratory. We check the inscription with a loupe, then we match it to the report number. Two minutes of care, years of peace of mind.

Have a stone you want checked before you set it? Bring it in. We will read the report with you at the Dubai atelier, and explain every line.