We offer both and we have no stake in which you choose. That is unusual enough in this industry to be worth saying at the start.

Here is what we tell people across the bench.

They are the same material

A lab-grown diamond is carbon in the same crystal structure as a mined one. Same hardness, same way it bends light, same way it looks on a hand. It is not a simulant like cubic zirconia or moissanite, which are different materials that behave differently.

Nobody can tell the difference by looking, including us. It takes specialist equipment to separate them, which is why both come with certification.

The price gap is now very large

This is the part that has changed fastest. According to appraisal data from the jewellery insurer BriteCo, the per-carat price difference between lab-grown and natural engagement ring diamonds widened from 26.6% in 2019 to 72.8% by May 2025.

The practical effect is simple. The same budget buys a noticeably larger or cleaner stone in lab-grown. Across the same period the median centre stone in that data grew from 1.01 carats to 2.0 carats, and lab-grown went from 5.9% of newly appraised engagement rings to 51% in the first half of 2026.

Certification got more confusing, not less

If you are comparing reports, this matters. Lab-grown stones have generally been graded on the same colour and clarity scales as natural ones, which made comparison straightforward.

That is reportedly changing: the GIA has moved to describing lab-grown stones as "premium" or "standard" rather than giving them the full colour and clarity grades it uses for natural diamonds. We certify our lab-grown stones through IGI, which still reports clarity and colour in the familiar way, so you can see exactly what you are buying.

If you are shopping around, check which laboratory graded the stone and on which scale before you compare two prices.

Neither one is an investment

The argument you will hear most often against lab-grown is that it does not hold its value. That is true. Lab-grown prices have fallen every year and will probably keep falling as production grows.

But the implied comparison is misleading. A natural diamond bought at retail also loses a large share of its value the moment you leave with it, because you paid a retail margin that no resale market will return to you. Neither stone is a financial asset. If resale value is genuinely your priority, jewellery is the wrong purchase.

What we would say instead: buy the ring as a ring. The question is which one you want to put on her hand, not which one a dealer would pay you for in fifteen years.

One more thing, about the setting

Gold has roughly doubled over five years, from about $1,725 to $3,289 an ounce between May 2020 and May 2025. So the metal is now a bigger share of what a ring costs than it used to be, and the stone a smaller one.

That changes the maths more than people expect. It is worth deciding on the setting before you fix a number for the stone.

So which should you choose

If you want the largest or cleanest stone your budget allows, choose lab-grown. If the stone having formed underground over a billion years matters to you, choose natural, and know that you are paying for that and not for anything you can see.

Both are real diamonds. Both will outlast you. We will make you the same ring either way.

Come and look at them side by side. We film stones in daylight so you see what we see, and most people arrive certain and leave having changed their mind at least once.