Diamond carat measures the weight of a diamond. It is often mistaken with the visual size of the diamond itself. But in actual, it is not possible to determine carat based off its visual appearance due to difference in diamond cuts.
Carat Weight Measurement
A jeweller may describe a diamond below one carat using pointers as the unit of measurement.
- 0.5 Carat = 50 pointers
- 1 Carat = 100 pointers
- 5 Carat = 500 pointers
Carat weight plays an important role in buyer decision however, it is only as prominent to the buyer as they want it to be. There is no universally best carat weight because it is subjective to the buyer.
Visual representation of different carats
Carat Impact on Price
The general rule is that as the carat weight of a diamond increases, so does the diamond price. Larger diamonds are definitely more pricey as compared to smaller ones because they are discovered in the nature less frequently. Due to this, the diamonds are not priced linearly according to their size. A single 1 Carat may cost more then two 0.5 carat diamonds given the same quality.
The most popular ones are often the 1 carats and 1.25 carats. The diamond cut on a smaller diamond can also help make the diamond appear larger even when it has a smaller carat.