We recognized three groups of retailers that offer fancy color diamonds. The groups are not characterized by their turnover or reputation but rather by their business culture and the way they operate.

• The first group comprises privately-owned, mid-sized independent jewelers, some of whom are authorized sellers of leading luxury watch brands. These jewelers are typically leaders in their respective geographic areas and incorporate fancy color diamonds into classic jewelry designs. Their sales teams are experienced, with some being owners or family members. Due to the infrequent turnover of sales personnel and their local residency, many of these retailers have established long-standing intimate relationships with their customers. This is significant because it often replaces the need for in-depth knowledge about fancy color diamonds to finalize a sale, although having such knowledge would likely result in a higher success rate with potential customers. These privately owned retailers are also recognized for their flexibility and quick response times, when it comes to price discounts and customizing jewelry designs to meet customers’ preferences. Additionally, local retailers prioritize pricing over placing an emphasis on traceability or strict quality standards. Consequently, if needed, they may feel more comfortable offering lower-quality fancy color diamonds to accommodate a budget.
• The second group comprises a diverse collection of high-end, privately owned brands and jewelry designers who aim to make a statement with rare fancy color diamonds. Some of them create bold and unique multimillion-dollar pieces centered around colored diamonds, enjoying the artistic freedom to design their fancy color jewelry without adhering to any pre-existing design philosophy or rigid brand values, as most large international brands do. Moreover, these brands primarily sell unique, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces rather than jewels from a collection with a narrative, affording them more pricing flexibility and freedom. As most sales are not made from an annual, international collection with a predetermined price, the need to account to other customers is therefore low and as a result, pricing is more flexible in this category. Here are a few companies that represent this wide category: Graff, Moussaieff, Chopard, David Morris, Boodles, Cindy Chao, Anna Hue, Lorraine Schwartz and more. These jewelers typically have a global presence and in some cases, even travel to serve discerning clients, as part of their strategy to offer personalized and intimate service.
  Generally, in this level, the owners of the company or very senior sales staff such as family members, are responsible for the multimillion-dollar fancy color diamond sales. When it comes to quality, these jewelers are not obligated to a structured policy but rather to what they find attractive, and avoid diamonds with certain properties relying on past experiences with clients. They also demonstrated the highest level of understanding compared to other retailers in other categories, and are involved in almost every purchase, attend trade shows and sometimes even in re-cutting procedures of their fancy color diamonds.
• The third group includes large international brands that play a role in the history of luxury, such as Tiffany, Harry Winston, Van Cleef, Cartier, Dior, Bulgari, Piaget, Chanel, and Boucheron. De Beers Jewelers is also included in this category, even though it is considered a newcomer in this luxurious segment. These companies use fancy color diamonds constructively and consider them in their yearly budget. Some of these brands offer a wide range of jewelry categories mounted with color diamonds, such as engagement rings, jewelry collections, and rare one-of-a-kind pieces unveiled in exclusive gala events. However, through interviews made with wholesalers supplying these brands, we found out that most brands restrict themselves with rigid quality specifications for fancy color diamonds that don’t always impact the stone’s visual assets and value, but rather rely on gemological features taken from their general colorless diamond guideline. Color diamonds are rare and create better margins than colorless diamonds however, in most cases they are manufactured under no standardized quality parameters which makes them difficult to source in a consistent quality, especially when using the colorless diamonds parameters. When these jewelry companies are searching for a significant number of color diamonds within a specific timeframe for a collection, various departments like design, acquisition, and marketing become aware of the challenges associated with fancy color diamonds and change their standards in comparison to colorless diamonds.

These challenges arise from their rarity and the absence of manufacturing standardization. Following conversations conducted with certain customers, we realized that buying a color diamond from an international luxury brand, one that is perceived to stay around “forever”, gives a greater sense of security and strengthens the feeling of preserving the diamond’s value over the years, an advantage very few jewelers have.