The Breakdown: Synthetic Diamonds

Man-made diamonds have been around since the 1950s, when Swedish researchers discovered they could “grow” them (and trim countless millennia off the process) by re-creating the intense pressure and heat that form the gems deep in the earth. But the resulting stones were puny or low grade, and fit solely for manufacturing or research use. Only in the past few years have jewelry-quality synthetics come onto the market—and only local company Apollo Diamond is making an array of gems, from icy white to sable, as flawless as nature’s own. With engagement season in full swing, we measure these lab-grown sparklers against their mined counterparts.

Genuine Article
Unlike cubic zirconia, which is based on zirconium dioxide, synthetic diamonds—like natural ones—are based on carbon. “They are chemically, physically, and visually identical to mined diamonds,” said Bryant Linares, Apollo’s president and CEO. In other words, they’re real diamonds, just as cultured pearls are real pearls.

Gas Powered
Apollo makes its gems via chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a high-heat, low-pressure method that uses hydrogen gas and methane to gradually pile carbon atoms onto a “seed” diamond. When it’s big enough, the new diamond is separated from the seed, and then inspected, cut, and polished. It takes less than two weeks to grow a 1-carat stone, compared with the 3 billion years Mother Nature requires.

Full Spectrum
Its technology allows Apollo to control the impurities that give a diamond its hue. As a result, the company’s ice boasts the same broad color range—clear, pink, blue, yellow, and even black—as the naturally occurring stuff, says Alexandria Matossian of Bostonian Jewelers (currently the lone bricks-and-mortar store where you can buy an Apollo).

Sizing It Up
Because it’s harder to maintain quality the larger a stone grows, Apollo diamonds now range from a quarter- to a half-carat each. But Linares says his company should have 1-carat versions by next winter, a.k.a. prime engagement season. Don’t count on huge savings, though: Apollo diamonds cost only 10 to 15 percent less than mined ones.

Multifaceted
Matossian says movies like Blood Diamond have fueled the public’s interest in avoiding so-called conflict diamonds, gems used to illegally finance warlords and insurgents, which then find their way onto the legitimate market. Synthetics are safe bets in this regard. They also appeal to eco-minded rock hounds who cringe at the thought of strip-mining.

ID Check
Because the latest synthetics are physically identical to mined diamonds, even high-end equipment sometimes has trouble spotting the lab-grown gem. To help ensure a stone’s pedigree is crystal clear, Apollo laser-inscribes diamonds greater than a quarter-carat with a serial number, and provides buyers with certificates of origin.