Light Performance is the diamond’s ability to play with light. The BrillinanceScope Analyzer measures a diamond for its white light return, color light return and scintillation.

Diamonds have traditionally been graded using the 4 C’s. Carat weight is simply the weight of a diamond. Color and clarity are important when determining the rarity of a diamond. Cut is the C that helps determine the Light Performance of a diamond.

The first C: Color
This factor is often sold as a critical part of a diamond’s beauty. Diamond experts would never attempt to verify a diamond’s color in a setting, and would insist on a certified color comparison before attempting to make a fair evaluation, confirming how difficult differences in color grades are to see. Extremely subtle color differences can be very important to determine rarity of a diamond, but are never a critical factor in beauty.

The second C: Clarity
The traditional clarity scale has 11 grades. The highest 8 grades have no flaws that the naked eye can see. The differences can only be distinguished with a 10X microscope. In other words, a flawless diamond is no more beautiful to the unaided human eye than a grade in the middle of the scale. Once again, extremely subtle differences in clarity are very important to determine rarity, but only affect beauty when in the very low end of the scale.

The third C: Carat Weight
While the weight of a diamond is important, it doesn’t necessarily provide the “perceived size” of a diamond. A shallow cut diamond will have a greater diameter, and will therefore look larger. A diamond with superior Light Performance™ will also look significantly larger than its actual size. An effective analogy would be to compare the low and high beams on an auto headlight. Though generated from the same bulb, the high beam appears to be a much larger bulb.

The fourth C: Cut
Cut is sometimes explained in terms of “ideal” or “superior” using proportions and angles. Proportions and angles help predict the light performance of a diamond. The BrillianceScope Analyzer measures the light performance of a diamond. The results of that measurement are shown on the GemEx Light Performance Report.