Diamond Cutting Service
Rough diamonds cut through to finished stones, and finished stones recut, repaired and repolished, in our own facility in Sri Lanka, for clients in the United States, Europe and Australia. Before any work begins, you receive the full cutting plan: projected finished weight, projected spread, and the proportions we intend to reach. If the numbers do not earn your approval, the stone returns exactly as it arrived.
Most diamonds are cut for weight, not for light
A cutter paid on finished carats has one incentive: leave the stone heavy. The pavilion goes deep, the girdle stays thick, the table opens up. The diamond keeps its weight on the invoice, and quietly gives up its light.
The eye alone will not catch it. It becomes obvious the moment a properly cut stone of the same weight sits beside it. One is alive. The other is merely clear.
We learned this at the bench. For years, customers sent their own diamonds to be set into jewelry we were making for them. Stone after stone read well on paper, sat correctly in the mount, and did not perform. The color was there. The clarity was there. The light was not.
Our diamond cutting department exists because we were no longer willing to set dull stones and say nothing.
The full suite, from rough to finished stone
Rough or polished, natural or lab grown. The discipline at the wheel is the same in every case.
Rough cutting and custom shapes
Sawn or cleaved rough taken through planning, cutting and polish to finished stones. Rounds, fancies, calibrated sizes, and shapes cut to a drawing where one exists.
Recutting to modern proportions
Old European, old mine, transitional cuts, or a modern stone cut heavy. Proportions brought into fine-make territory, as far as the individual stone allows. This is the work that changes how a diamond reads across a room.
Chip and damage repair
A chip or a bruised girdle removed with the least weight the stone will surrender. Sometimes the right answer is a repair that preserves the original character. Sometimes it is a full recut. Occasionally it is a protective setting and no cutting at all. We tell you which before you commit to anything.
Melee, baguettes and calibrated parcels
Matched parcels for pavé and channel work, baguettes and tapered baguettes, small stones held to close tolerance. Small-stone work is the least forgiving discipline in cutting. On a stone under two millimeters there is nowhere for an error to hide.
Nothing happens until you have seen the arithmetic
A recut is a one-way decision. It should be made with figures in front of you, not a promise.
Arrival
Your stone is weighed, measured, photographed under magnification and logged against its report number or laser inscription. Those records reach you the day it lands.
Assessment
We map the present proportions and show you where the light is being lost. Table, depth, crown angle, pavilion angle, girdle, culet.
The plan
In writing, with figures. Projected finished weight, projected millimeter spread, the proportions we intend to reach, what improves, and what it costs in weight.
Your decision
Approve it, ask us to aim differently, or ask for the stone back. Decline, and it ships home exactly as it came. You owe nothing beyond the return shipping.
Anyone can promise a beautiful result. We would rather show you the arithmetic and let you decide.
Master cutters, in our own facility
We did not improvise a diamond department. It was planned over years, and staffed by master diamond cutters with long experience cutting abroad before they joined us. They work in our own in-house facility in Sri Lanka, a Kimberley Process country, not at a subcontractor’s bench we cannot see.
Behind them stands the discipline this business was built on. For 26 years we have cut precision colored stones to American and European standards for clients overseas, work where a fraction of a degree on a facet decides whether a stone performs or merely exists. That habit of exactness does not loosen when the material becomes the hardest one there is.
The reason to send us a diamond is not only the bench. It is a business that has been trusted with strangers’ property across borders for a quarter of a century, by clients who had never met us and had only our word and our record to go on. That record is public, in our reviews, and it is the asset we protect above everything else.
How your diamond is handled
Insured in both directions. You declare the value, it is insured to that value, in transit each way and while it is with us. Shipping is tracked door to door with signature on delivery.
Documented on arrival. Weight, measurements, photographs and the report or inscription number, sent to you before any work is scheduled.
Handled one stone at a time. Your diamond is never mixed into a parcel of other material. It is logged, sealed and worked individually.
The same stone comes home. Report numbers and laser inscriptions are recorded the moment the package is opened, so the identity of your stone is documented from first contact to final shipment.
Certification after cutting. On request, the finished stone can go to an independent laboratory for a new report before it ships home, so the improvement is on paper, not just in hand.
Customs, handled. We ship to and from the US, EU and Australia every week, and we will tell you exactly how to declare the outbound shipment so the return clears without delay.
The sentence other cutters bury. Diamond cutting carries a small, real risk of breakage. Every cutter in the world holds this in their terms, usually as one cold line at the bottom of a page. We prefer to say it plainly: a stone with an inclusion near the surface, or an existing fracture, can behave badly on the wheel. Our answer is to assess for that risk before quoting, to tell you when a stone is a poor candidate, and to decline work we do not trust the odds on.
Quoted with the plan, not from a table
Every diamond quotes differently. The price depends on whether the stone arrives as rough or polished, the work it needs, the weight it must give up, and the risk in the material, which is why our quotation arrives attached to your cutting plan, where the figures mean something. The assessment and the plan cost nothing. You pay only when you approve the work.
Jewelers, dealers and manufacturers sending regular parcels may request our trade rate sheet.
Sometimes the honest answer is leave it alone
We will say so, without being asked, when:
The stone is small enough that the workmanship would cost more than the improvement returns.
Clearing the damage would drop the stone below a weight threshold that matters to its value.
The stone is already cutting well and the gain would be marginal.
The damage is minor and a protective setting solves it for a fraction of the cost. We make jewelry, so we can simply do that instead.
An inclusion sits where we do not like the odds.
Declining a stone costs us one job. Persuading someone into a recut they come to regret costs us the next twenty.
Who sends us diamonds
Private owners
Inherited stones, old European and old mine cuts, chipped engagement diamonds, stones that never quite looked right.
Jewelers and dealers
Inventory that will not move because the make is poor. Damaged stock, trade-ins, estate parcels bought well because of the cut.
Manufacturers
Calibrated melee, baguettes, matched parcels, and shapes cut to your drawing, held to tolerance.
Rough holders
Sawn or cleaved rough taken through planning, cutting and polish to finished stones.
Cut here. Set here.
We cut and we manufacture, which means a diamond that leaves our cutting bench never has to travel to be set. Below, one complete client project inside these walls: emeralds cut, diamonds cut, and both set into finished 18K gold jewelry.
Asked before shipping a diamond to us
Will I get my own diamond back?+
Yes. It is weighed, measured, photographed and logged against its report number or laser inscription the day it arrives, and you receive those records at once. Your stone is worked individually and is never mixed with other material.
How much weight will the stone lose?+
It depends entirely on the stone and what is wrong with it. A light repolish may cost a point or two. Clearing a serious chip can cost considerably more. The projected finished weight is in your cutting plan before you approve anything, and the decision remains yours.
Can a recut change the color or clarity grade?+
Clarity can move, usually upward when an inclusion can be removed, occasionally downward when recutting brings one nearer the surface. Color rarely moves on a white stone. If we believe a grade is at risk, it is flagged in the assessment.
Do you cut rough diamonds?+
Yes. Sawn or cleaved rough is taken through planning, cutting and polish to finished stones, in the shapes and sizes you specify. The same cutting plan applies: you see the projected outcome before the work begins.
Do you cut lab grown diamonds?+
Yes. The same service, the same plan, the same standard.
How long does the work take?+
It depends on the stone and the work it needs, so we confirm the timeline with your cutting plan rather than promise a blanket figure here. Contact us with the details of your stone and we will tell you exactly what to expect.
What happens if I decline the plan?+
The stone ships home untouched. You pay the return shipping and nothing else.
Is the stone insured while it is with you?+
Yes, to your declared value, in transit both ways and on our premises. Declare the true value when you ship.
Can the finished stone be certified before it comes home?+
Yes. On request we arrange an independent laboratory report on the finished stone before return shipment, so the new cut is documented on paper. Lab fees are passed through at cost.
How do I handle customs?+
We guide you through it. We ship to and from the US, EU and Australia every week, and we will tell you exactly how to declare the outbound package so the return clears cleanly. US clients: stones exported for repair or alteration are generally dutiable only on the value of the work performed abroad, not the value of the stone. Confirm the current treatment for your shipment with your carrier or broker before sending.
Start with the assessment. It costs nothing.
Send photographs of the stone or the rough, the report if one exists, and the weight. We will tell you honestly what it can become, what it would surrender in weight, and what the work would cost, before anything is shipped anywhere.
Elsewhere in the workshop
Gemstone Faceting
The service this business was built on. Precision faceting of sapphire, ruby and fine colored stones.
View details →Jewelry Making
Hand fabricated gold and silver work, so a recut diamond can be set without ever leaving the building.
View details →Lab Testing
Independent laboratory reports arranged on finished stones before they ship home.
View details →