Q&A: Help Finding a 1.20 Ct. Oval Diamond for a Yellow Gold Pave Setting

Picking out an oval cut is a bit of an art. The bowtie is a bit of a pickle to determine and I reject a lot of diamonds before I recommend one to our readers. But thankfully, it’s not impossible to find a beautiful oval diamond with a subtle bow-tie. It just takes a lot of searching.

There are two main rules when choosing an oval:

1) The depth shouldn’t exceed 74%.
2) The bowtie should be as minimal as possible.

Regarding the color, we usually recommend H+ color as ovals tend to show their true color more than rounds (https://www.diamonds.pro/education/color/). For J-H color, you can get diamonds with none, faint and medium fluorescence. The medium fluorescence may help the diamond look a tad whiter. In case of G-D stones, it’s better to avoid medium or strong fluorescence as it may cause a hazy/milky look (https://www.diamonds.pro/education/fluorescence/). Ideally, it’s better to avoid extremely thick and extremely thin girdles (if possible). Other thickness is okay and won’t have a significant impact on brilliance.

Oval cut diamonds don’t have their own official cut scale given by GIA. Some companies use their own internal grades, but we don’t put any stock in those. We just use our own guidelines and strict parameters to find the best stones possible. Therefore, I wouldn’t pay attention to the cut grades you see at all.

Eye-cleanliness is a bit tricky. The actual clarity grade is not so important. Clarity grade only tells you the size of the inclusion. That is one factor in determining eye-cleanliness. But harshness, location and reflection matter as well. You can find an SI1 (even an SI2) diamond that’s eye-clean as well as a VS2/VS1 that’s not. It always depends on a particular diamond and its inclusions. I always search for SI2+, but sometimes it happens that the best-priced eye-clean diamond has a VS or VVS grade.

Generally said, large and dark inclusions (such as crystals or large feathers) often are noticeable while twinning wisps are fine in most of the cases. Sometimes the diamonds look just perfect but the ‘clarity grade is based on clouds not shown’ note is an issue. That means that there’s a large cloud that saps the brilliance from the stone. I also recommend avoiding diamonds with knots and cavities and diamonds <1ct with clouds – they don’t have a clarity plot in the certificate so you wouldn’t know the size and location of the cloud and the diamond might end up being hazy and less brilliant.

What I do is that I set the depth, fluorescence, carat range, certificate, … filters and then I sort the results by price. Then I look for the best-priced ones that are eye-clean and have a minimal bowtie.

Now, let’s choose the setting first:
Blue Nile Pave Settings
James Allen Pave Settings
Can you browse these links and let me know if there’s anything that has caught your eye?

I found some beautiful options from both companies:
Blue Nile LD14567507

Blue Nile LD14531052

Blue Nile LD14421237

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.00-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-4760575?a_aid=dmnd1357

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-9821204?a_aid=dmnd1357

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.00-carat-e-color-vs1-clarity-sku-9139908?a_aid=dmnd1357
Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything significantly larger for up to $5.5k. These options have a beautiful cut, are eye-clean and have a very subtle bow-tie. All of them would be very bright and brilliant.

The diamonds I sent over are excellent options, all of them. Since good diamonds get sold very quickly, I like sending more links so you’d still have some options to choose from in case some of them got sold. The two you selected are beautiful and look great in terms of cut, shape and bow-tie. You can’t go wrong with either of them.

Here’s what larger diamonds would cost:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.20-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-8663015?a_aid=dmnd1357
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.20-carat-f-color-vs1-clarity-sku-9085745?a_aid=dmnd1357

That’s fantastic news! I’m glad you liked my recommendation so much!