Ben Moss review

As you probably know, the biggest determinant of the cost of a diamond ring is the diamond itself, and Ben Moss offers a range of carat weights from under 0.15 carats all the way to nearly 3 carats.

Again, this wide range means that you are likely to be able to find a ring that fits your desired style and your budget.

But diamond carat is just one of the ‘Four Cs’, with the other three being Cut, Colour and Clarity. Some people also include and ‘Certification’ as a fifth C and we will discuss the importance of this later.

While carat weight may be the biggest determinant of diamond price, the factor that determines how much a diamond sparkles is diamond ‘cut’. Diamond cut is a measure of how well the diamond has been formed and it is essential that a diamond has good proportions to reflect light; otherwise it will be dull, lifeless and unimpressive.

If a diamond is too tall or too shallow, it won’t reflect much light:

Understanding the cut quality of a diamond is absolutely essential to be able to understand whether it will sparkle. If you don’t know the cut quality then you may very well be wasting your money.

Unlike other retail jewellers, Ben Moss doesn’t allow you to select diamond cut grade in their product filter, and it is not usually shown in the details of individual rings. This means we can’t tell whether a diamond is likely to sparkle well, or be dull.

When I asked them about this through email they said; “Cut grade is not commonly information customers ask for but should you have a particular piece in mind I would be happy to request the information on your behalf”:

This is a red flag as being able to select the cut quality of a diamond can ensure that you get a stone that sparkles well, which really is the whole point of buying a diamond.

Another important indicator of diamond quality is ‘clarity’, which shows how many flaws a diamond will have.

The majority of the clarity grades that Ben Moss offers are I2:

I2 clarity is right at the bottom of the clarity scale: 

I2 clarity has obvious inclusions which can be easily seen by naked eye – most I2 diamonds have inclusions that adversely affect their transparency and brilliance, the inclusions in I2 diamonds also pose a significant durability risk to the stone.

Looking at the I2 clarity diamond below, you can see there are significant inclusions which are very easy to see:

By offering diamonds with such obvious inclusions, Ben Moss is able to offer 1 carat diamonds at prices that seem low. However, they are actually poor value as the diamond’s beauty will be negatively impacted by the flaws.

Ben Moss diamond grading labs

Diamonds are graded on four key factors – carat, colour, clarity and cut – and a host of smaller factors too.

Diamonds which score higher are generally more expensive – an F colour diamond will be pricier than an H colour, if everything also is the same.

It’s important therefore that diamond grading levels can be trusted – you don’t want to pay more for diamond that has been graded as an F colour but it is actually an H.

This is why independent diamond quality testing labs are important.

An independent testing lab doesn’t have any incentive to say that a diamond is higher quality than it is, as they don’t make any more money if they do. In fact, if they bump up diamond quality grades, it may mean people trust them less, which might mean that people use their service less and the make less money. Being able to rely on the grading scores from independent labs is a key part of comparing diamonds across retailers – you know that you are comparing like-for-like.

On the other hand, retailers DO have an incentive to increase diamond quality scores, as it will mean that they can sell a diamond for a higher price.

For this reason, I recommend that you always look for a diamond which has been graded by an independent authority – my usually recommendation is the GIA, although there are other good diamonds labs too.

Ben Moss doesn’t show information about diamond grading lab on their website. When I asked about this over email, I was told that “We use independent laboratories to grade and certify our diamonds such as IGI, Gemscan, Amsterdam and GSI.”

IGI has an OK reputation within the industry, although the others less so. However, none of these labs are as rigorous as GIA, which means that a diamond that is graded as an F colour, may actually be a G, H or I instead. Not ideal.