The clarity of a diamond refers to the presence if internal inclusions or surface blemishes. GIA's Clarity Scale has six main categories, ranging from Flawless to Included.

Diamond clarity is graded in standardised viewing conditions under 10x magnification. The grade assigned to the diamond will depend on the number of inclusions and blemishes, their size and position, the colour of the inclusions, their nature - crystalline or cracks, whether or not they can be clearly seen by the naked eye and finally, if they affect the diamond's brilliance or durability.

Inclusions are formed naturally during the diamond's process of growth within the earth's interior by small crystals becoming trapped in a diamond when its forming, therefore Flawless and Internally Flawless diamonds are very rare and command a high price.

At the opposite end of the scale, diamonds graded as Included (I1, I2, I3) are sometimes referred to as P grade (P1, P2, P3) have inclusions and blemishes that are easily visible to the naked eye and the nature of the inclusions (fractures and cracks) can threaten the stone's durability making it more susceptible to chips, cracks and breaks. Slightly included diamonds (SI1, SI2) have noticeable inclusions that are easy or very easy to locate under 10x magnification and are often visible to the naked eye. 

OUR DIAMONDS

All our diamonds are graded at least Very Slightly Included (VS1, VS2), meaning they only have minor inclusions that are not visible to the naked eye and can even be difficult for a skilled grader to locate at 10x magnification. Rest assured that the presence of these very small inclusions does not impact on the brilliance or durability of the stone.

GIA DIAMOND CLARITY GRADING SCALE

Use the slider below to explore how a diamond's inclusions impact its clarity grade and scroll through the images to see how a diamond of each grade might look and how the inclusions would be plotted on a diagram.

FURTHER INFORMATION

GIA have produced a video on clarity grading, which provides a good overview of how a diamond's clarity is graded.