The Essential 4C's
Clarity: The Diamond's Unique Imperfections
During the diamond growth process, microscopic impurities or imperfections become present within the diamond. These imperfections are known as diamond inclusions.
Inclusions are extremely common within diamonds and are essentially birthmarks that give every diamond uniqueness. The inclusions cummulatively make up the diamond's clarity. This clarity is measured by gemologists and graded on a scale. Diamonds range in clarity from FL - I3. Inclusions are examined at 10x magnification.
The grading scale starts from Flawless / Internally Flawless (FL/IF), Very Very Slightly Included (VVS1/VVS2), Very Slightly Included (VS1/VS2), Slightly Included (SI1/SI2) to Included (I1, I2 and I3). Generally, diamonds below a VS2 grading are likely to have visible inclusions to the naked eye however this is on a stone by stone basis.
Internationally Flawless: These rare high clarity diamonds are 100% flawless inside the diamond with no blemishes or inclusions.
Very Very Slightly Included 1: There will be one minor inclusion within a diamond of this grade but only visible under 20x magnification or more.
Very Very Slightly Included 2: There will be minor inclusions within a diamond of this grade but only visible under 20x magnification or more.
Very Slightly Included 1: Diamonds of this clarity will have several inclusions that are only visible with magnification of 10x but remain clean to the naked eye.
Very Slightly Included 2: Diamonds of this clarity will have several groups of inclusion that are only visible with magnification of 10x. A small percentage of these are not eye clean.
Slightly Included 1: Only 50% of diamonds of this clarity have no visible inclusions so it is important your selected diamond is eye clean.
Slightly Included : 85% of diamonds of this clarity have some form of visible inclusion or blemish to the naked eye.
Included 1: Due to the high level of inclusions here, we do not recommended this clarity grade for diamond jewellery.