If someone tells you they own a flawless diamond, you might want to take their word with a grain of salt…. or maybe a few thousand grains of salt. Not only are flawless diamonds extremely rare, but they’re also highly prized. Given the million-to-billion-year formation process that diamonds go through beneath the earth’s surface, most diamonds are bound to be discovered with inclusions.
“What’s an inclusion?”, you may ask. An inclusion is a birthmark that can be found inside or outside a diamond’s internal structure. There isn’t a sole type of inclusion, as they come in many forms. For example, one that’s commonly found is called a “cloud”, which creates a kind of hazy spot within the diamond. Another kind of inclusion is a “blemish.” They’re usually found on the surface of a diamond and are the result of either the cutting process or the diamond’s natural formation.
One of the determining factors regarding a diamond’s value is the gem’s visual clarity and beauty. That said, when a rough diamond ends up in front of a diamond cutter, they cut the diamond with inclusions in mind and aim to get the cleanest result possible in accordance with the standard clarity grading scale.
Clarity Grading’s Big Problem Solved
Before diamonds end up at the retailers, they pass through a diamond grader who amongst other things, looks out for the gem’s clarity. Traditionally speaking, the grader would take out his loupe (jewelers magnifying glass) and look for any inclusions or blemishes on the diamond. He’ll then measure the diamond’s clarity on a grading scale that ranges from Flawless (no blemishes or inclusions) to Included (diamond heavy with blemishes and inclusions).
This traditional grading has been the standard for generations; however, this standard doesn’t come without the involvement of human error. Given the sheer amount of inclusion types and the possibilities behind their presence, determining a diamond’s honest clarity grade can be quite a challenge. This rings even more true when you factor in that diamond graders are people like you and me. They get sick, have sleepless nights and sometimes are just burned out. This has often resulted in diamonds being mismeasured on the clarity grading scale and sent to retailers with the wrong grade.
Sarine’s Giant Leap Forward for Clarity
For the Diamond Industry, 2016 was the year that we stopped moving toward the future and found ourselves in it. It was that year that Sarine announced that they had developed Sarine Clarity™. Using AI technology, Sarine Clarity™ is able to analyze a diamond via a scanning and mapping system and glide through the grading process in a fraction of the time it’d take a traditional grader.
What’s most impressive about Sarine Clarity™ is probably its machine learning capabilities. What does this mean? It means that it’s able to learn, evolve and become even more efficient and dependable with every diamond it grades. Each new diamond it comes across is added to a mass of diamond clarity data in its system. This helps the algorithm recognize different clarity patterns and ultimately enables it to perform with even more consistency and precision.
If you haven’t gotten the idea yet, this means no second guessing, no doubts and complete certainty all the way down the pipeline. Diamonds with a grade given by Sarine Clarity™ are going to retailers with accurate clarity grades, which means customers are always getting what they pay for.
A Revolutionary Force in The Diamond Industry
Perhaps David Block, Sarine’s CEO said best two years ago when he was interviewed by The New Jeweller Magazine. He stated, “The supply chain is going through changes due to technology. Even the way diamonds are sourced and sold will change. For years, manufacturers have been buying boxes of diamonds that didn’t completely match the goods they ordered and needed. That means they’d have to find different clients for the goods they received. This will change in the future and the process will be more efficient.” We can gladly say now that his quote predicted where we are today.
That said, Sarine Clarity goes far beyond accurate and efficient clarity grading, it’s a revolutionary force in the industry as a whole. A force that’s quickly reshaping the way diamonds are processed and sold on a worldwide scale.
