Watches and Jewelry Guide

It seems quite acceptable for royalty and celebrities to wear replica jewelry, providing the have the originals back home in their vault.  Why shouldn’t we too be fashionable without risking loss of money, life and limb.

Diamonds are the ultimate prestige gem, in part due to it’s beauty and in part for it’s rarity and cost.

Before the purest complain about the synthetic’s dilution of the diamond value. They should consider that the popularity and rarity of diamonds are in themselves  man made products of the De Beers propaganda campaigns and monopolistic control of the mining and distribution of diamonds.

The Rise and Fall of Diamonds is out of print, but may be read online.

Several man made Diamond substitutes have been engineered with various degrees of success, including the ultimate, true laboratory grown diamonds.

Two popular man made alternatives to the Diamond may be found in the market place. The broadly sourced Cubic Zirconium and the relatively new, single sourced Moissanite. Both are said to indistinguishable from Diamonds by typical the naked eyed observer.

Cubic Zirconium, a crystal structure similar to Diamonds were originally produced in Russia, they are now also mass produced in Asia, their cost is almost negligible, compared to Diamonds. CZs don’t quite sparkle like a Diamond, but their lack of color and flaws are only matched by the best grade Diamonds.

Moissanite were not known to exist before minute crystals were discovered by Nobel Prize winning French scientist Dr. Henri Moissan,  in 1893 in the Canyon Diablo meteor crater in Arizona. No gem sized Moissanites have been found to occur naturally, a patented process to synthesize Moissanites was developed. A Moissanite’s crystal structure is different than a Diamonds it sparkle more, with twice the rainbow color “Fire”. Some object to the Moissanites color which can be greenish-gray under some lighting conditions.

Note the higher Fire for Moissanite and CZ compared to Diamond.

Compared to the Diamond, Moissanite in particular has higher Brilliance, Luster and particularly Fire, making Moissanite (sometimes rerfered to as having a disco ball look) the ultimate bling bling gem.

Detecting a Diamond substitute: As I was writing this, an episode of NCIS came on TV, in which they detected a Cubic Zirconium engagement ring with the breath condensation test. Diamonds have a high thermal conductivity (higher than copper) condensation will disappear from a Diamond muck more quickly than from a CZ.  a more precise thermal conductivity meter has been a standard tool used by jewelers to detect Cubic Zirconiums. Jewelers were at first baffled by Moissanites, with a brightness they were not accustomed to seeing in Diamonds, the Jeweler’s conductivity meter would show it to be a Diamond.  These days a more finely tuned instrument can properly identify Moissanites, as well as visual inspection under x10 magnification, rod shaped inclusions can be seen, as well as moissanite’s double reflection.   The weight to diameter ratio of a loose stone will identify a CZ which is much heavier than Diamonds. As the above chart indicates, Cubic Zirconium can be scratched by the harder Sapphire while a Moissanite won’t scratch. The softer Cubic Zirconium can exhibit rounder facet edges.

Another synthetic worth mentioning, which is a favorite of many is the hybrid Cubic Zirconium with a grown on diamond coating, one brand the Asha has, like the Moissanite, optical properties superior to a diamond (according to the emex Brilliancescope system test) but without the Moissanite sometimes greenish tint. The best Asha prices are direct from the manufacturer.

Real Made Made Diamonds

Several companies are now manufacturing genuine diamonds the are indistinguishable from natural ones, except by elaborate laboratory equipment. The process used by all but one company don’t easily produce colorless diamonds, colors that exist rarely in diamonds are routinely produced by these companies. The selling price for these “Cultured Diamonds” is 30% to 85% of the price for a natural counterpart.

One manufacturer,  Apollo Diamonds uses a different process chemical-vapor-deposition that allows them to consistently produce colorless or near colorless        diamonds, the first of which were shipped in 2006, you can see that their their direct sales offerings are small, quality diamonds up to .31 carets.

According to the Gemesis process, Superman would need to apply 50,000 atmospheres at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Smithsonian Magazine article on the science of synthetic diamonds, with a visit to Apollo Diamonds.

You can also read a Detailed Wired Magazine article on the Gemesis co. origins and their encounter with De Beer.

Apolo Cultured  near colorless and  salmon , champaign colored Diamonds. Produced with chemical vapour deposition.