Crafted by Infinity Review

Crafted by Infinity is a brand that is manufactured by Infinity Diamonds, a small cutting house with the aim of cutting the highest quality diamonds in the world. Rather than selling their brand themselves, these diamonds are sold exclusively by several dealers. There are some immediate advantages to this. The first that is evident to me is that the quality of the product will likely be higher because of the additional vetting process by the nature of having more parties involved. Second is that the cutting house is more focused on what they specialise in and don’t have other internal pressures to save costs by retaining carat weight on their diamonds. Third is that the brand probably has some kind of unique look about them that can be immediately recognisable.

As I was browsing the Crafted by Infinity website doing this review, I came across an important point they state on their website; that is, cut grading is in its infancy and unlike color or clarity, what is graded excellent today may not be excellent in a few years time. This can have serious implications on the future value of the diamond you purchase. Of course, you don’t have to purchase an Infinity diamond in order to protect yourself, that is what Prosumer Diamonds is here for. Also, there are many reasons why precision cutting and H&A may never become a recognised superior cut grade by the major labs.

Crafted by Infinity makes an effort to market their diamonds as ‘superideal’. They claim that their diamonds are cut to such rare standards that it is more rare than D color and IF clarity. They make a point to say that they cut ‘only’ 1000 diamonds per year. They say that their brand’s best feature is “Flawless Cut”, which is the only cut grade they aspire to. I have no problems with most of these claims, as they are mostly true. For example, I know that superideal cut diamonds are in the top 1% of all diamonds cut and D-E color diamonds make up around 2% of diamonds.

Although there is also no standard for what a flawless cut is, we do know that most H&A diamonds have minor defects. Diamonds that have several minor defects or a single major defects will not be considered H&A by some vendors. So I can tell how strict a H&A vendor is by how many defects they accept as part of their brand.

I spoke with Paul Slegers, Managing Director at Infinity Diamonds, and he explained to me what they mean when they say their diamonds have a flawless cut is that their standard of flawless craftsmanship is that no defects can be seen under 10x magnification. I think this is fair, considering that GIA grades all other aspects of the diamond under the same magnification power. This is a point that I will bear in mind when I come to reviewing their images below.

On the Infinity Diamonds website, you will find a link to their dealers around the world. As I look through the list, the two vendors I have heard of already are High Performance Diamonds by Wink Jones and Diamonds by Lauren by David Friedlander. Basically, each online vendor will carry the same list of Infinity diamonds for the same price, using the same search engine. Please note that only some vendors offer a 5% wire discount and I would recommend High Performance Diamonds because Wink is one of the more active experts and it won’t hurt to see if he will give you an additional Pricescope discount. The search engine is pretty basic and you can only choose between round and princess cuts, the 4C’s, and price. Lets see if there really isn’t any need to have advanced search functions.

I first notice that there are only about 100 diamonds in total, but I managed to find 6 G to H VS2 diamonds to compare.

It takes a little bit more time than usual to get to the useful information on Infinity’s system. The table, depth, pavilion, and crown information is only visible if you click on a button labelled ‘expert details’. Even then, there isn’t any immediate information about the lower girdle length or girdle thickness information and you have to find that information on the AGS lab report yourself. As far as I can tell, all of the Infinity diamonds are graded by AGS, which has both its positives and negatives, as you will know from previous tutorials. One positive is that Infinity provides AGS lab reports that also have the hearts images. But be aware that the ASET images seen in the AGS lab report is generated digitally and contains potential scanning errors such that it is not a true representation of the diamond but rather a good approximation that cannot replace the actual images.

I collected the data from the 6 diamonds and put in them in the table below:

Infinity Table

As the prices and availability of these diamonds will inevitably change, please visit the source directly for the most up-to-date prices. They also have higher quality images.

1.03 Ct. G VS2
1.09 Ct. G VS2
1.18 Ct. G VS2
1.01 Ct. H VS2
1.05 Ct. H VS2
1.09 Ct. H VS2

All of these diamonds have thin to medium girdles, which helps the 1.01 ct stone to reach that 6.5mm mark that is expected of an ideal 1ct diamond. Apart from this, the only things I can comment on is that the table size is generally between 55% and 57% and each one has a total depth under 62%. From the small sample above, it does not seem like there is a specific pavilion angle that these diamonds are cut to like the Brian Gavin Diamonds stones. This is a positive for those who are looking to squeeze the last bit of carat weight into the diameter of the diamond. The theme of spread continues as I look at the crown facets. All of them are between 34 – 34.5 degrees and this means two things – better spread and increased light return under the table.

Finally I have a look at the lower girdle facets and all but 2 of them have a 78% lower girdle length with the other two 75% and 77%. Although probably not representative of all of their diamonds, I can only conclude that there is not a single contrast pattern of the arrows on all Infinity diamonds and you still have that freedom to choose your preference. It also seems like the lower girdle facets are cut so that they are just under 78.5% lower girdle length in order to achieve a hearts pattern that does not have a clear clef in the middle of the hearts.

So far all of the numbers look good right? Well we know that these numbers only tell half the story so lets get into the hearts image and idealscope images to see how the Crafted by Infinity diamonds hold up to their reputation.

Light Performance

Here are the 6 idealscope images.

table of idealscopes
(The above images are courtesy of Infinity Diamonds, used with permission.)

From a light performance point of view, all of the diamonds above seem to look good in their idealscopes with no visible leakage under the table. The light return also seems very balanced throughout the diamond. Although it may seem like there is no leakage in the upper girdles and that there may be some crown-only painting, it is not the case here as I think this is more to do with photography.

actualinfinity    Eightstar
(The use of the above images are courtesy of Infinity Diamonds and Good Old Gold respectively, used with permission.)

For now, you can find the actual picture here and an example of the idealscope from an Eightstar diamond here, scroll 3/4 way down the page.

You can see from the actual image of the 1.03 GVS2 that there is some contrast in the upper girdles, which is eliminated when the girdle is painted. Also compare the idealscope images of the 1.03 GVS2 with the Eightstar diamond that has crown-only painting. You can see that the idealscope images of the Infinity diamonds are clearly not the same.

Optical Symmetry

table of hearts
(This image is courtesy of Infinity Diamonds, used with permission.)

At first glance, the rest of the diamonds seem to have some obvious defects. But it turns out that most of these defects are actually illusions and I would like to thank both John Pollard and Paul Slegers for taking the time and effort to go out of their way to educate me further on the photography issues discussed below. Let me explain with an illustration. The first row of images are computer simulated images of the actual diamond.

camera-tilt
(The above images are courtesy of Infinity Diamonds, used with permission.)

You can see how just 1 degree of tilt in any part of the photography setup (camera lens, body, tripod, table, floor) can create the above illusion. This means we cannot jump to conclusions regarding yaw just because we see some distortion. Please also note that if the setup is perfectly level, the only other thing that can cause this effect is tilt of the table facet. A 1-degree tilt will be caught by the lab symmetry grade, and as Infinity diamonds are all graded excellent symmetry by the AGS, the issue here is not a tilted table facet.

Apart from the first diamond (1.03 GVS2), all the diamonds in my sample seem to be affected by tilted photography. Although this isn’t particularly helpful to us discerning prosumers, it just takes a little more effort to recognise the effect of camera-tilt in photographs. If possible, you should always go and see these diamonds for yourself.

Having studied the above photographs in depth, I have found the best way to detect any yaw that is not an illusion is to find the line of symmetry in the diamond. Once you identify the line of symmetry, you can eliminate the effects of one axis of tilt. Then you can check whether all the V’s are still a bit smaller on one side of the imaginary line of symmetry than the other to determine whether there is tilt in the other axis. Any distortion of the V’s that cannot be explained consistently by camera-tilt will have to be assumed to be yaw, or ‘twist’, which is distortion of the diamond in the azimuth.

Camera-tilt not only causes the illusion of yaw, but also produces what appears to be clefs in between the hearts. You can detect ‘fake’ clefs by noting how close the heart is from the V. If there are hearts in the image that show no clefs but are further from the V, yet hearts that have clefs are closer to the V, then you know that the clefs are illusions from camera-tilt. Looking at the hearts images of the 6 sampled diamonds, I can conclude that all the larger clefs that can be seen are illusions due to camera-tilt.

So now let me get to the minor defects that I see that are not apparently caused by camera-tilt. I will start with the first diamond in the table, which is the 1.03 GVS2. Take a look at the heart at the 12 o’clock position, this heart is slightly smaller than most of the rest. You can see that the gap between the heart and the V is bigger than all the rest apart from the opposing heart. The idealscope tells the story more clearly the larger hotspot in between the second and third arrow is a clear indicator of a smaller heart. In the case of this diamond, the opposing heart appears to be also slightly smaller. Having dealt with camera-tilt above, I would not rule out potential photography issues as the cause of this, but as it stands, this diamond misses the mark as a true H&A in my books.

Now take a look at the fifth diamond, some of the hearts look like they are touching the V’s indicating shorter lower girdles. Correcting for camera-tilt, it seems like the hearts will just barely not touch the V’s. I’m pretty sure that this is the diamond with the 75% lower girdle length as stated on the certificate. Although not a cause for rejection, this may be a consideration for you if you are a H&A purist. Finally, although not a cut issue, I also noticed an inclusion that reflects around the pavilion in the third diamond, what is known as a ‘reflector’. This is not good for a VS2 diamond and you can definitely find better.

Having considered all the information, and inspecting the hearts images of all 6 diamonds thoroughly, I have come to the conclusion that notwithstanding the camera-tilt, it is apparent to me that at least 5 out of the 6 diamonds are cut to the highest level of precision and are deserving of the super-ideal qualification.

Price

The price of a Crafted by Infinity diamond carries a price premium that is expected of a top-of-the-line super-ideal H&A brand. A comparison with the online vendors that move far greater volumes of diamonds just doesn’t seem fair. Remember that Infinity Diamonds primarily targets showroom clientele and viewed in this light, their prices are justified and even provide greater value than other popular brands (Tiffany, Cartier, Hearts on Fire, etc). I’m just glad to see that outfits like High Performance Diamonds are still providing an opportunity for online consumers access to these diamonds.

Value Added Services

As Crafted by Infinity is not a retailer themselves, each of their dealers will have their own value added services so I will not go over them here. There is one interesting value add that Crafted by Infinity provides and that is their ‘Meet the Cutter’ events. This gives a chance for any Infinity owner to go to any one of their dealers who is holding one of these events where they get to meet the person who cuts their diamond. Diamond prosumers should find this an interesting and valuable chance to learn about diamonds so if you’re lucky enough to be in the area of one of the dealers, then this may be something worth your consideration.

Conclusion

I had a great time doing this review, not only did I learn a lot more about Infinity Diamonds, which I hope I have successfully conveyed on to you, I also learned a lot about how market trends and photography has changed the diamond industry.

I found that the diamonds I reviewed had excellent spread for a well-cut diamond so you will get a good sized diamond for the stated carat weight. If spread is important to you and you want a super-ideal diamond then Crafted by Infinity may be a good option for you. The diamonds I reviewed also tend toward the brighter side of my recommended range of proportions rather than the dispersive side. Their excellent spread is due to their attention given to the thin to medium girdles, close to 56% table percentage, 40.7-degree pavilion angles, and close to 34-degree crown angles.

The only problem that I identified with Infinity Diamonds is with their photography setup, as the camera-tilt makes it harder for consumers to make online purchasing decisions. If you need help interpreting any of their images online, please feel free to send me an email and I will try my best to help you out. I hope that Infinity Diamonds will be able to one day improve the quality of their photography.

I want my readers to appreciate the investment that is needed in order to produce high quality pictures and that it can be a burden on a small cutting house such as Infinity Diamonds. If you have any concerns regarding optical symmetry, Wink Jones at High Performance Diamonds, who carries the Crafted by Infinity brand has a ‘See It To Believe It” (SITBI) program where you can see the diamond for yourself before you buy it.

The bottom line is that if you’re looking to seek comfort from a reputable brand name who produces some of the best looking precision cut diamonds in the world, then you should consider a diamond that is Crafted by Infinity. I recommend those seeking a Crafted by Infinity diamond to demand nothing short of top-of-the-line optical symmetry that is expected of their cutting house and brand.