Hearts and Arrows

Hearts & Arrows Diamonds

Perfect Cut Diamond

Ultimate Cut Diamond

Perfect Arrows on H&A Diamond

Ultimate Cut Diamond Arrows View

Perfect Hearts on Diamond

Ultimate Cut Diamond Hearts View

What are Hearts and Arrows on Diamonds?

Hearts And Arrows are the unique shape formed by diamonds cut to certain specifications to display optical symmetry. The Arrows can be viewed by looking at the top of the diamond. The obtructed light from the view causes the dark contrast, which reveals the Arrows. If you flip a diamond face down, you can view the Hearts pattern.

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Does Hearts and Arrows affect Sparkle?

Not necessarily. Hearts and Arrows is related to the cut of the diamond but not light performance. The H&A characteristic is optical symmetry. This means the diamond will display symmetrical beauty. Much like human faces, symmetry is considered aesthetically pleasing, and often preferred by consumers. However, It is possible to have diamonds which have H&A, but do not have ideal light return. Meaning they will have less sparkle. The sparkle is considered a more favorable characteristic than optical symmetry.

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Should I buy Hearts and Arrows?

As long as you don’t sacrifice light return. Light return is still the most important characteristic of a diamond. This is what allows your diamond to sparkle. If you have great light return, then Hearts and Arrows should be considered and often a by products of a great cut diamond. At Kyllonen, our Ultimate Cut diamonds have perfect H&A, our Superior Cut has very good H&A, and our premium cut has very good to good H&A.

Hearts and Arrows Cut


Hearts and Arrows Proportions

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Porportions of an Ultimate Cut Diamond

Here you can see an example of proportions of a Ultimate Cut Diamonds by Kyllonen. Each percentage and degree makes a significant difference in the overall beauty of a diamond. However, there is a small range within these measurements which allow a diamond to qualify for Ultimate.

 

Hearts and Arrows

Arrows are a phenomenon that was discovered in the 1970s in Japan by Kazumi Okuda. A pattern of 8 hearts and 8 arrows is a display of Optical symmetry.The difference between and Ultimate Cut and a Superior Cut is often not light return, but the difference of displyaing perfect Hearts and Arrows.

If you want to better understand what dimensions fall into what range, take a look at the chart below. It outlines the ideal Crown and Pavilion angles. If you dont understand these terms, flip to the next slide to see the diamonds anatomy.

Hitting the H&A Bullseye

Hearts and Arrows Eligible Diamonds Chart

Source: http://www.heartsandarrows.com/hearts-arrows-diamond-ideal-cut-dna.aspx

Hearts and Arrows are made possible by optical symmetry, which requires diamonds to be cut to certain proportions to see the beauty of Hearts and Arrows. This chart shows that only a very limited range of diamonds that are eligible for H&A. This chart is based on the angles of the pavilion and crown of the diamond, which have an inverse relationship. Diamonds that are too shallow or too deep are not candidates for H&A cut. If you want to learn more about Diamond Anatomy, you can click here.

Your Green Diamonds are your most common Hearts and Arrows diamonds on the market. These diamonds will display Hearts and Arrows, but may not be ideal hearts and arrows. The Red on the chart is your Ideal Hearts and Arrows range. These diamonds have the best chance to have optical symmetry with more uniform hearts and arrow shapes within the diamond. It is important to note, just because a diamond falls within these ranges, does not necessarily mean it will be H&A, but has the potential to be H&A. There are other factors such as star length, lower girdle, and diamond cutter skill.

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