It’s no secret that the most popular size diamond is the one carat round. And yet, at the same time, the reality is that most people aren’t really sure how a 1-carat diamond is going to look on their finger. That’s probably because we’re more in-tune with what a one-carat diamond represents, as opposed to being familiar with the technical details.
This
1.016 carat, F-color, VS-2 clarity, Black by Brian Gavin diamond has an average outside diameter of 6.505 millimeters. As it so happens, that’s about the same size as the diameter of the pink eraser on a standard #2 pencil. With that in mind, you can think of a one-carat diamond as being about the same diameter as a pencil eraser.
That means that you can pop the eraser out of a standard #2 pencil and set it on top of your finger and have a pretty good idea of how that’s going to look. At least in terms of size because let’s face facts, that pencil eraser just isn’t going to do the trick!
What Do Different Diamond Carat Sizes Look Like on a Finger?
While it’s helpful to know that a one-carat round diamond is going to face-up about the same size as a pencil eraser, you might still be wondering about how other sizes of diamonds are going to look on your finger. Am I right?
While the hand shot above might not be to scale depending on the screen resolution of your monitor, it does provide a good reference for how diamonds of different carat sizes look in relationship to your finger. Of course, nothing beats being able to actually see how different size diamonds look on your hand, so come on in and try some on if you’re ever in Houston.
Round Brilliant Cut Diamond Carat Weight Size Chart:
This chart shows the millimeter dimensions for some of the more popular carat weight sizes of diamonds currently in our inventory:
| Carat Weight: |
Average Diameter in MM |
Example: |
| 0.50 carats |
5.0 mm |
0.501 carat, E-color, VS-1 |
| 0.75 carats |
5.8 mm |
0.758 carat, E-color, VS-2 |
| 1.00 carats |
6.45 mm |
1.016 carat, F-color, VS-2 |
| 1.50 carats |
7.4 mm |
1.505 carat, G-color, VS-2 |
| 2.00 carats |
8.2 mm |
2.048 carat, F-color, VS-1 |
| 3.00 carats |
9.1 mm |
3.233 carat, M-color, VVS-2 |
Additional Reading: How to calculate the average diameter of a diamond and What’s so special about a one carat diamond?
Of course, you’ll want to keep in mind that the average diameter measurements provided above are “average measurements” and the actual measurements will vary depending on the proportions of each individual diamond.
However, you can use the millimeter sizes indicated above as a general guideline to estimate what different carat weight size diamonds will look like on your finger.
How much bigger does a 1.50 carat diamond look than 1.00 carats?
Based on the diamond carat size chart above, we know that the average 1-carat diamond has an outside diameter of about 6.48 – 6.50 mm. Once again, that’s about the same size as the eraser on a standard #2 pencil which measures 6.5 mm in diameter.
Looking at the diamond carat weight chart above, you can see that the average 1.50 carat round diamond has an average outside diameter of about 7.4 mm. That means that a 1.50 carat diamond is only about 1 mm larger than a 1.00 carat diamond. And yet, I can assure you that the 1.50 carat diamond is going to look dramatically bigger on your finger.
Just as a 2.00 carat round diamond with an average diameter of 8.2 mm is going to look significantly larger than a 1.50 carat diamond.
From my perspective, it seems like there is a distinct visual difference between diamonds that have a difference of about a half-carat. However, the difference between diamonds that are closer in carat weight is more difficult to ascertain, especially from across the dinner table.
For example, most people would find it difficult to tell the difference between two diamonds weighing 0.90 and 1.00 carats beyond a distance of one or two feet. However, they would be likely to see the difference between those diamonds if examining them more closely from a distance less than 1-2 feet. That means that you might want to consider diamonds that are within about a tenth of a carat in either direction of your target zone.
