1 Carat Emerald Cut Diamonds

A one carat emerald cut looks smaller on the finger than a one carat round — the step cut carries more of its weight in depth — but it looks longer, and the open table gives it a calm, architectural quality that no brilliant can imitate.

Clarity is the whole decision here. Those long parallel facets act as windows: an inclusion that disappears inside a round brilliant of the same grade can sit in plain view inside an emerald cut. Start at VS2, and if you are considering SI1, look at the stone rather than the letter.

Colour follows the same logic. Warmth reads more strongly through a step cut, so where an H round looks white, an H emerald may show a faint body tint against a white metal setting. F to G is the comfortable range at one carat. Ratios between 1.30 and 1.50 give the classic rectangle; below 1.25 the stone starts to read as an Asscher.