Collection: Princess Cut Diamonds

A princess is a square brilliant — a square or near-square outline with sharp, uncut corners and brilliant faceting beneath. It was developed in the 1960s and 70s and became the most popular square shape in the world. Where a round is cut from the crystal at heavy loss, a princess follows the natural shape of the rough closely, which is why it is usually the best value per carat of any brilliant cut.

Because far less of the rough crystal is wasted. A round brilliant discards 40–60% of the original stone; a princess retains a much higher proportion, since the square outline sits closer to how diamond crystals naturally form. Lower waste means lower cost per carat, and it is the main reason a princess of the same weight, colour and clarity will typically come in well under a comparable round.

The corners, above all — they should be even, and the outline should be genuinely square rather than subtly off. Then depth: princess cuts are often cut deep, carrying weight below the girdle where you cannot see it. Two stones of the same carat can face up quite differently, so the millimetre measurements tell you more about visible size than the weight does.

Because there is no cut grade to fall back on. GIA assigns a formal cut grade only to round brilliants, so on a fancy shape the certificate tells you polish and symmetry and little else about how the stone actually performs. Symmetry becomes the closest thing you have to a proxy.

But there are two kinds, and the certificate only covers one. The graded symmetry measures facet alignment under magnification. What you actually see is outline symmetry — whether the two halves mirror each other. A pear with shoulders of different heights, an oval with one end fuller than the other, a marquise with points that do not line up: none of that necessarily drops the grade, and all of it is obvious once the stone is on your finger.

Asymmetry also affects light. Facets that do not align properly send light out the side instead of back to your eye, which is what causes dead patches and heavy bowties.

So on a fancy shape, look for Very Good or better on the certificate — then look at the stone. The outline either reads as balanced or it does not, and that judgement is one you can make yourself in a few seconds.

The corners are the weak point, and unlike a pear or marquise there are four of them. It is entirely manageable with the right setting. A four-claw setting with the claws covering each corner protects them, and a bezel or half-bezel does the job even more completely. What you want to avoid is a design that leaves the corners exposed. Set properly, a princess is a perfectly practical everyday ring.

Both are square-to-rectangular brilliants, and they are easy to confuse. The difference is the corners: a princess has sharp uncut corners and a crisp geometric outline, while a radiant has cut or trimmed corners, which softens the shape and makes it more robust. Radiants tend to read as slightly warmer and softer, princess as sharper and more architectural. If you like the square look but the corners concern you, a radiant is worth seeing.

Solitaire shows the geometry off best — a plain band and four claws sitting over the corners, which protects the vulnerable points while keeping the outline clean. It is the simplest way to wear a princess and still the most popular.

Side stones along the shoulders suit the shape particularly well. Tapered baguettes echo the straight edges; small rounds soften them. Either way the eye is led into the centre stone rather than away from it.

Three stone with a matched pair of smaller princess cuts either side reads as strongly geometric and quite bold. Trapezoids or tapered baguettes give the same architectural feel with a cleaner transition.

Channel set band is the setting the princess cut was made for. Small princess or square stones set flush in a channel down each shoulder, held between two walls of metal with no claws showing — the diamonds sit edge to edge in a continuous line of light. It is a clean, secure, hard-wearing design, and nothing does it better than a square stone.

All made to order in our own workshop, built around your stone.

Princess cuts hold colour in the corners more than a round does, so tint can show at the edges before it shows in the middle. G or better is the reliable range in white gold or platinum. H often works well and is worth looking at. In yellow or rose gold you have considerably more freedom, because the metal warms the stone regardless.

The brilliant faceting hides them well, so plenty of SI1 stones are eye-clean. The corners are where to check — an inclusion sitting near a corner is both easier to see and worth avoiding structurally, since that is the part under most stress. We check every stone face-up before recommending it.

For a square princess, 1.00 to 1.05 — anything above about 1.05 starts to read as visibly rectangular rather than square. Rectangular princess cuts do exist and run to 1.10 and beyond; they are less common and worth choosing deliberately rather than by accident.

Roughly 5.5 x 5.5mm, against about 6.4mm across for a round of the same weight. Princess cuts face up smaller than rounds because more of the weight sits in the depth — but a princess measures corner to corner as well, so on the finger the difference is smaller than those numbers suggest.

Because our images and videos are taken at high magnification — far closer than any human eye gets to a diamond, and far closer than the standard the stone was graded to.

Clarity grading is done under 10x magnification. That is the international standard: a grader with a 10x loupe decides whether an inclusion is there and how it affects the grade. Online photography routinely runs at twenty, thirty times life size or more, so you are seeing the stone at several times the magnification GIA used to grade it. An inclusion that fills your screen may be something the grader needed a loupe to find at all.

Colour matters too. A white or transparent inclusion — a feather, a cloud, a crystal without body colour — is far harder to see than a dark carbon spot of the same size, because there is little contrast against the diamond around it. Two stones can carry the same grade and look entirely different in the hand for that reason alone.

We photograph at high magnification deliberately. We would rather show you everything than shoot a diamond flatteringly and have you surprised later. But an inclusion that looks obvious on screen is very often invisible in the hand, at arm's length, on a moving finger, in ordinary light.

The grade tells you what is there. The magnification tells you where. Neither tells you whether you would ever notice it — that is a judgement we make face-up, under proper light, on every stone we hold.

Considerably, and it is worth knowing before you compare stones in different places.

Jewellery displays are lit to sell. Rows of halogen or bright LED spots directly above the case flood the stone with intense, concentrated light from every angle. That produces maximum sparkle and, at the same time, washes out inclusions — the scintillation is so busy that small imperfections simply disappear into it. A diamond in a well-lit display case is showing you close to the best it will ever look.

Daylight is the opposite. Soft, diffuse, coming from one direction. Sparkle is quieter, and anything inside the stone has nowhere to hide. Diamond grading uses controlled, colour-balanced daylight-equivalent lighting for exactly that reason — it is neutral, and it is reproducible.

Neither light is dishonest. But if you look at a stone under spotlights and then take it outside, you will see a different diamond, and most of a ring's life is spent in ordinary light.

When you view diamonds with us, you see them under professional diamond grading lights — the same neutral, colour-balanced lighting the laboratories use — and in natural daylight. No spotlit display case. If a stone looks right under those conditions, it will look right anywhere.

Always, and we would insist on it.

A single diamond on its own looks excellent. There is nothing to measure it against, so your eye accepts it. Put a second stone beside it and differences appear immediately that you would never have seen alone — one reads slightly warmer, one has more life, one throws broader flashes while the other glitters more finely.

This is how the trade buys, and it is the only reliable way to judge colour in particular. Colour grading is comparative by definition: graders work against a set of masterstones, not from memory. Your eye works the same way. Two stones a grade apart are obvious side by side and almost impossible to separate one at a time.

So we will put several in front of you. Sometimes that means you choose a lower grade than you came in for because you genuinely prefer how it looks, and sometimes it means you spend a little more because you can finally see the difference. Either way you will know why, which is the point.

No. Every diamond we sell is a natural diamond, and we've never dealt in lab-grown, simulants or treated stones.

A lab-grown stone is a manufactured product. It's grown in a reactor over a few weeks, then mass produced in unlimited quantities in any size or grade. That's the fundamental difference: a natural diamond took billions of years to form and exists in finite supply, while a laboratory-grown one is a commodity with no ceiling on production. It shows in the pricing — as capacity has scaled, lab-grown prices have fallen steeply and continue to fall, and there is no established secondary market for them.

What you're buying with a natural diamond is scarcity and origin. Rare, and natural. It's why we've never sold anything else. Read our full comparison of natural and lab-grown diamonds.

Our diamonds are independently certified, most commonly by GIA, with others graded by DCLA or HRD. The certificate is issued by the laboratory, not by us, and it accompanies the stone when it ships.

Yes. We are in Sydney's CBD and we see clients by appointment, so you can view stones side by side and compare them in person before deciding.

Just ask us. Finding a particular stone is a large part of what we do, and there's no obligation when you enquire. We'll do our best to source the finest quality natural diamond for you.

Our list is smaller than you'll see on some sites, and that's deliberate. Every diamond here is one we've looked at properly before listing it. Many diamond websites show tens or hundreds of thousands of stones drawn from shared trade lists — diamonds held elsewhere that the seller hasn't seen and won't see unless you order one. It looks like more choice, but nobody has assessed the individual stone, and two diamonds with the same details on paper can look quite different.

So if what you want isn't here, tell us what you're after and what you'd like to spend. We'll look for it, check anything we find ourselves, and only show you stones we'd be happy to recommend. If we can't find the right thing at your budget, we'll say so and talk through the options — sometimes a small change in colour, clarity or size makes all the difference.

Either way, you'll only ever be offered a diamond that we have complete confidence in recommending to you, and it will not just be based on the cheapest price.

Yes. Most clients select the diamond first and then the setting — either one of our existing designs or a fully custom piece made to your description or an image. Everything is handmade by our own jewellers.

Yes. We have many loyal customers all over Australia, and we're able to consult by phone and share photos and videos whenever possible.

Distance is not the obstacle people expect. We'll guide you through the options and select the finest quality diamonds and gemstones for you, so you can make an informed decision from wherever you are. The same applies to custom made engagement rings and jewellery — we'll talk you through it and keep you across it as it's made.

We deliver fully insured anywhere in Australia — every capital city, and regional and rural addresses just the same.

If you are able to come in, we'd always rather show you the stones in person — and if you're travelling to Sydney, appointments can be arranged on weekends.

Tell us the number you have in mind and what matters most to you, and we will show you the best stones we hold at that level. Princess is the shape where a budget stretches furthest, so it is worth asking what a step up in colour or clarity would cost — it is often less than you would expect. We are a diamond merchant, not a retail jeweller — we do not charge retail prices, and we source natural certified diamonds to suit your budget. Diamond Imports is a foundation member of the Diamond Dealers Club of Australia, and you will deal directly with Daniel throughout.