Princess

The princess cut is the leading square shape and the most popular alternative to the round brilliant. It is cut to maximise brilliance in a square outline, and because it wastes far less of the original rough than a round, it delivers noticeably more stone for the same money.This collection includes the Cher princess cut channel set eternity ring and Kimberley.Princess cut stones have sharp corners, and those corners are the weak point. In a well made ring the setting protects all four, usually with claws that wrap the corner rather than sit beside it. It is worth asking about, because a chipped corner on a princess is expensive to correct and sometimes impossible without recutting.The square outline also makes princess cuts particularly suited to channel setting and to eternity rings, where a line of square stones can sit edge to edge with no gaps. That continuous run of diamond is something no round cut can achieve, and it is why the Cher design works as well as it does.Colour tends to concentrate in the corners of a princess cut, so a stone that grades well on paper can still show a tint at the edges. This is one to look at rather than buy from a certificate.Our diamond shapes guide covers the square cuts, and the Four Cs explains how colour grading works.