Do Lab Grown Diamonds Last?

Yes. A lab grown diamond is 10 on the Mohs scale, the same as a mined one, because it is the same material. It will not scratch in ordinary wear, it will not dull, it will not yellow, and it will not cloud. In fifty years it will look exactly as it does today.

I want to spend the rest of this article on something more useful, because the stone is genuinely not the thing that fails.

Rings come back to our bench for repair regularly. In years of doing this, the number of times the problem was the diamond itself is close to zero. The problems are always the metal around it. Claws worn thin. A pavé stone gone missing from a band. A thin shank pushed out of round. Rhodium plating worn off white gold. Every one of those is predictable, every one is cheap to prevent, and almost nobody is told about them at the point of sale.

Why the stone does not wear

Hardness is resistance to scratching, and diamond is at the top of the scale. Sand is quartz at 7. Steel is around 5. The only things that will scratch a diamond are another diamond and a few industrial abrasives. Lab grown material behaves identically because the crystal structure is identical: carbon atoms in a cubic lattice with the same bond strength in every direction. There is no difference in hardness, wear rate or chemical stability between a grown stone and a mined one.

One honest qualification. Hardness is not toughness. Diamond has cleavage planes, directions along which the crystal will split if it takes a sharp enough impact at the right angle. This is rare and it takes a genuine hard knock, usually against stone or a steel doorframe, and it is most likely at the exposed point of a marquise or pear or the corner of a princess cut. It is not a lab grown problem, it is a diamond problem, and it is one of the few reasons a stone rather than a setting comes across the bench. A good setting protects the vulnerable points. That is part of what a setting is for.

What actually fails, in order

Claws

This is the big one. The claws holding the centre stone are thin pieces of metal that catch on clothing, hair, car doors and bench edges thousands of times a year. They wear from the tip down and from the side in. What was a solid claw hooking over the stone becomes a thin, flattened tab sitting beside it.

The failure is gradual and then sudden. The ring feels fine, the stone looks fine, and then a claw catches on a jumper, lifts, and the stone comes out on a footpath somewhere.

The warning signs are all detectable in advance. The ring starts snagging on knitwear when it never used to. You can feel a rough edge running a fingernail over the claw. Under a loupe the claw tip has flattened and no longer curls over the stone. Tap the stone gently with a fingernail and a faint tick means it is moving.

Retipping a worn claw is a small job. Replacing a stone that was never found is not.

Pavé stones

Small stones set into a band sit lower and are held by tiny beads of metal raised from the surface of the ring. Those beads wear exactly the way claws do, only faster, because they are smaller and because the sides of a band take more contact than anything else on the ring.

A missing pavé stone is the second most common repair we see, and it is much cheaper to catch when a bead has worn than after the stone has gone. If you want a pavé band, buy one, they are beautiful. Just know it is a higher maintenance object than a plain band and plan to have it checked more often.

The shank going out of round

A ring is a hoop of metal being squeezed slightly every time you grip a shopping bag, a steering wheel, a dumbbell or a suitcase handle. A narrow shank, particularly under 1.6mm, gradually deforms from a circle into a slight oval. You notice it as the ring suddenly not turning on the finger, or feeling tight in one direction. It also wears the bottom of the band unevenly, which eventually thins the shank enough to need it replaced.

Two solutions. Buy a band with enough metal in it in the first place, which costs a little more and lasts much longer. Or take the ring off for the activities that squash it, which is mostly weight training and carrying heavy things by the handle.

Rhodium plating on white gold

White gold is not white. It is yellow gold alloyed with white metals to lighten it, then plated with rhodium to make it bright white. Rhodium is a thin surface layer and it wears off, first on the underside of the band and the high points of the setting.

What people report is that their white gold ring is "going yellow" or "looking dirty". Nothing has gone wrong. The plating has worn through to the alloy underneath, which is faintly warm.

Replating is routine and inexpensive and takes the ring back to new. How often depends entirely on your skin chemistry and what you do with your hands, and anyone who quotes you a fixed interval is guessing. Platinum does not have this issue at all, because platinum is white all the way through. That is one of the real arguments for it.

Diamonds do not cloud. They get dirty.

This comes up constantly and it deserves a direct answer.

A diamond, grown or mined, is chemically inert. It does not react with skin, water, soap, chlorine, sunscreen or perfume. There is no mechanism by which it can become cloudy.

What happens is a film builds up on the underside of the stone, the pavilion facets, which is where light is supposed to reflect back up to your eye. That film is skin oil, soap residue, hand cream and the fine dust that sticks to them. It kills light return and the stone goes flat and grey, which from the outside looks exactly like cloudiness.

It comes off with warm water, a drop of dish soap and a soft toothbrush, worked from underneath. Two minutes, and the stone comes back completely, because nothing was ever wrong with it.

Moissanite does not cloud either, despite a persistent myth that it does. Silicon carbide is also chemically stable and also does not react with anything you will encounter. The people reporting cloudy moissanite are describing the same film of soap and skin oil on the same pavilion facets, and it cleans off the same way.

If cleaning does not fix it, the problem is not the stone. Either the stone has moved in the setting and you are seeing a shadow, or there is residue trapped under the stone in a setting that needs to be opened up and cleaned properly at a bench.

Practical care

Take it off for: weight training and anything with a bar or handle, because that is what bends shanks. Gardening and anything abrasive, because grit gets under the stone and into the setting. Cleaning with bleach or heavy chemicals, because chlorine and ammonia attack the alloys in gold over time, not the stone. Rock climbing and hard manual work, obviously.

You do not need to take it off for: showering, swimming, washing your hands, sleeping, or a normal day. Rings that live in a dish get lost far more often than rings that stay on fingers. The most common way to lose a ring is to put it somewhere safe.

Clean it fortnightly. Warm water, a drop of dish soap, a soft toothbrush, brushing the back of the stone. Rinse, and dry with a lint free cloth. That is the whole procedure and it does more for how the ring looks than anything else you can do.

Ultrasonic cleaners. They work extremely well on a diamond in a sound setting, and we use one. Two situations where you must not: if a stone is loose, an ultrasonic will vibrate it right out of the setting, and you may not notice until the water is drained. And if there are any other gemstones in the ring, emerald, opal, pearl or anything fracture filled or treated, an ultrasonic can damage them badly. Home ultrasonic units are the ones that cause trouble, because people run them on rings they have not had checked. Have the claws checked first, then use one freely.

Have the claws checked once a year. More often if you work with your hands, if the ring has pavé, or if you have caught it on something. This is a five minute job at a bench and it is the difference between a small retip and a lost stone. Our rings carry a lifetime warranty on craftsmanship and on the optical properties of the stone, so book an appointment at the Southbank studio and we will check it while you wait.

So, will it last

The stone will outlive everyone reading this. The ring will last as long as the metal is looked after, which means an annual check, a clean every couple of weeks, taking it off for the handful of things that actually damage it, and dealing with a worn claw when it is worn rather than after it has failed. That is equally true of a mined diamond ring, a lab grown diamond ring and a moissanite ring.

If you want the detail on why the material is identical, start with how lab grown diamonds are made, or see the current range of lab grown diamond engagement rings.

FAQ

Do lab grown diamonds lose their sparkle over time?

No. What fades is light return through a dirty pavilion, not the stone. Clean the back of the stone with warm soapy water and a soft brush and the sparkle comes straight back.

Do lab grown diamonds get cloudy or turn yellow?

Neither. Diamond is chemically inert and cannot change colour or clarity through wear. A stone that looks cloudy is dirty, and a white gold ring that looks yellow has worn through its rhodium plating.

Can a lab grown diamond chip or break?

It can chip under a hard, sharply angled impact, the same as any diamond, because hardness and toughness are different properties. It is uncommon and it usually happens at an exposed point on a marquise, pear or princess cut. A well made setting protects those points.

How often should I have my engagement ring checked?

Once a year for a plain solitaire. More often if it has pavé, if you work with your hands, or if you have knocked it. A claw check takes five minutes and prevents the expensive failure.

Is it safe to use an ultrasonic cleaner on my ring?

On a diamond or moissanite in a sound setting, yes. Not if a stone is loose, because the vibration can shake it free, and not if the ring contains emerald, opal, pearl or any treated stone. Have the setting checked before you use one.

Does a lab grown diamond last as long as a mined one?

Yes, identically. Same material, same hardness, same chemical stability. There is no difference in durability of any kind.