Ring Size Changes How Big a Diamond Looks
The same stone reads differently on different hands. On a size 4 finger a 1.00 ct round covers a much larger share of the width than it does on a size 9, so it looks bigger without being bigger.
The practical rule: on smaller fingers a long elongated shape can start to look oversized, and a round, cushion or asscher sits more comfortably. On longer fingers the elongated shapes are where the drama is, and a small round can disappear. This is a question of proportion rather than size, and it is worth settling before you fix on a carat weight.
Does a Bigger Millimeter Size Mean a Better Diamond?
No, and chasing millimeters can cost you both size and brightness at once.
A stone cut too shallow measures wide for its weight but leaks light out of the bottom, which reads as a dull or watery center rather than a bigger diamond. That is why every Ronora stone is Excellent cut only. Within Excellent proportions there is still a genuine spread difference between shapes, and that difference is what the tables on this page show. Outside them, every extra millimeter is bought with sparkle.
How Much Bigger Is 2 Carats Than 1 Carat?
Twice the weight, but only about a quarter longer. A 1.00 ct round is 6.5 mm across and a 2.00 ct round is 8.2 mm, an increase of roughly 26%.
That is not a quirk of the round: it holds for every shape, because weight is a volume and every dimension grows with the cube root of it. Doubling the carat weight always adds about 26% to the length. Tripling it adds about 44%. This is the single most useful thing to know when you are weighing a jump in carat weight against the price of it, because the price rises far faster than the millimeters do.
Choosing Your Size
The honest advice is to shop in millimeters rather than carats. Decide how much finger you want the diamond to cover, read the size off the chart above, and let the carat weight fall where it falls. Every Ronora diamond is a real CVD lab grown diamond, Excellent cut, in the D-E-F colorless range, cut to order in Surat. If you want a particular length or a particular ratio, send us the millimeters and we will cut to them. Start with the diamond shapes guide if you have not settled on an outline yet, or the carat weight guide for what the weight itself actually means.