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Great question! You could, but it is very uncommon. We’ve seen low grade, cheap black and gray cabochon cut diamonds.  Cabochons are very common in colored gemstones. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are all (much) softer than diamond and therefore, they can be easily manipulated and fashioned into a smooth, domed shape – using a diamond-dust impregnated grinding wheel.  However, this method cannot be applied with a diamond.  The process of cutting a cabochon on a polishing wheel is long and tedious. Any experiments to polish a diamond into a cabochon shape using laser have failed miserably.  In any case, the consensus is that a cabochon cut, gem quality diamond would look as attractive as a low quality piece of quartz. So why waste – and basically destroy – the material in the first place?

We’re talking about depth (height) here.  I though it to be impossible but we have succeeded, more than once, to cut stones of only 0.6 mm. deep!  Some luxury watches designs are very sleek – and thin!

The short answer is – yes we can. It demands lot of nerves and daring to do so because you run a chance of damaging or shattering a stone in the process. However, we do it all the time and have developed top skills for this process.

Our luxury watch making clients, in particular, specify their sizes in tenths millimeters, that are 10 microns. However, some jewelers also can be very specific, especially when they work with alternative metals and materials, some of which are very rigid and literally quite unbending.  For them, the diamonds they order need to be almost as precisely cut as for watch dials.  Its fun, and a challenge. We often learn together with the client how far we can or need to go to get the job done.

In most cases, we can source cut stones of clarities and colors we need and adapt them to the client’s specifications.  But we have instances of clients ordering stones of very unusual shapes that cannot be produced from existing polished stones, in particular because the loss of material would make it an improbable economic exercise.

In such cases, we operate the ‘tam-tam’ system. In practical terms, this means we call out for rough stones of a particular shape, color, clarity and weight and size.  As we our offices are located in the Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange complex, we have access to hundreds, even thousands of traders, and therefore, we’ll ultimately find the stones we need for our clients’ special needs.

Yes, we can.  For instance, we often have request for diamonds — often serving as accent stones in a jewelry design or in a watch dial face – – in very specific colors. We’ll first source the stones, making sure that they can be irradiated to achieve the desired color – and then cut and polish them according to the client’s specs.  The last step is the irradiation process, which, by the way, is a completely safe and permanent procedure.

Sometimes we do. While in most cases, we can cut the diamonds on a scaife of polishing wheel, it very much depends on the stone’s size, quality and the desired shape.  But when we need to cut a stone at unusual angles, we have the option of using a laser. It requires an in depth understanding of the process. But then, that is exactly what our clients expect from us – and get. A stone that complies completely with his or her specifications

We have had an order for very long and narrow marquis shapes. The classical dimensions of a marquis shape are 2 on 1.  This was a 4 on 1 order.  So we took 4×2 baguettes and re-cut them. In another case, we had an order for a significant amount of identical heart shapes, in a 1×1 proportion, meaning that the width of the stone had to be identical to the stone’s length, e.g. 4×4 millimeter. However, most heart shapes that are cut from a rough stone are cut to a maximum yield.

To solve the problem of the demand for identical color, clarity, size and proportions, we sources round stones and re-cut them. And these were the easy cases…..!

Five or six – that’s about the maximum. But hey, challenge us, maybe we will outdo ourselves, once again.