Diamond Pendants

On a multi-stone design the quoted total carat weight covers every diamond in the piece, including all the accents in a halo or a cluster.

Where a design has a distinct centre stone, its individual weight is usually stated separately - and that is the figure describing what anyone will actually notice.

Two pendants can quote the same total weight and look nothing alike. Comparing centre weights or millimetre dimensions is far more informative than comparing totals.

No, and that is normal rather than a gap in the information. The small stones in a halo, cluster or pavé surround are specified as a group, selected to a consistent range of colour and clarity.

Grading twenty stones of a fraction of a carat each individually would tell you very little, since no one looks at them individually either.

What matters in accent stones is that they match each other and sit well against the centre. That is a question of selection rather than of certificates.

Because the small stones sit immediately against the centre with almost no metal showing between them, so the eye stops resolving them as separate objects and reads the whole cluster as one bright form.

The effect is optical rather than decorative, and it is why a halo presents considerably larger than its centre stone alone would.

The trade is more setting to maintain - many small stones held by small beads of metal - and a look that is recognisably a halo rather than a single stone.

Yes, and usefully so. A white metal contributes no colour of its own and shows the diamond's own grade honestly.

Yellow gold reflects warmth into the stone and masks a slightly warmer colour grade, so a diamond one or two grades down the scale can look completely white in a yellow setting.

If the wearer prefers yellow gold anyway, that is a genuine saving rather than a compromise. Some designs use a white metal head on a yellow chain to get both effects together.

It depends on the piece. Independent laboratory reports are standard practice for larger centre stones and are what allow two diamonds to be compared meaningfully.

They are not issued for the small accent stones in a halo or cluster, which are specified as a matched group instead.

If a report matters to you for a particular pendant, ask about that specific piece - practice varies with the size of the centre stone rather than being uniform across the category.

Almost certainly a film of grease rather than any damage to the stone. Diamonds attract oils, and a pendant worn continuously against skin and under clothing picks up more than any other piece.

Light stops entering the stone cleanly, so it reads flat. Nothing has changed about the diamond itself.

Warm water, a little mild soap and a soft brush behind the setting - where the film sits out of sight - restores it completely. Every few weeks is enough.

Round is the most familiar and the most forgiving, and it is what most halo designs are built around.

Oval and pear read as longer and give a pendant a little more presence at the same weight, since elongated shapes spread more surface upward.

Cushion reads softer and more antique. Pointed shapes such as pear have vulnerable tips, which is one reason bezel and halo settings are common for them - both cover exactly the part most likely to be knocked.

Both appear across the range, and each listing states which a particular pendant uses.

A laboratory-grown diamond is the same material as a mined one - the same carbon structure, the same hardness of 10, graded on the same scales. It is not a simulant.

The practical differences are price and rarity. Lab-grown stones generally cost less for a given specification; natural stones carry geological rarity and an established resale market.

Not usually, because a pendant is seen at conversational distance rather than examined closely. Brightness registers at that range; sheer size registers less than people expect.

A well-cut modest stone in a secure setting also gets worn far more than a large one that feels like an occasion piece - and a pendant that is worn is worth more than one that is admired in a box.

Where scale is the goal, a halo achieves it at a given total weight more efficiently than a single larger stone does.

Once a year is sensible for a pendant worn continuously, and a halo or pavé design benefits from it more than a solitaire does.

The small beads of metal holding accent stones are what loosen over time, and a loose stone is far cheaper to tighten than to replace.

Between checks, the useful habits are simple: put the pendant on after perfume and lotion, take it off before swimming, and clean it every few weeks.