Diamond Clarity Secrets: How to Use a Jeweler’s Loupe Like a Pro
By Gary A.
Edited by Brian M.
Published Mar 17, 2022
Edited on Nov 4, 2024
Getting a closer look at your diamond is essential, and knowing how to use a jeweler’s loupe can reveal hidden details that impact both beauty and value.
- Introduction to Jewelers Loupes
- 7 Practical Tips for Examining Diamond Engagement Rings Using a Jeweler’s Loupe
- The Basics of Using a Loupe
- Techniques for Loupe Usage
- Observation Tips
- Why Eye Cleanliness is Still More Important
- Selecting a Jeweler’s Loupe
- Conclusion
- 9 FAQs
Introduction to Jewelers Loupes
It’s always good to get to know your diamond on a more personal basis. That’s why we encourage readers to get confident interpreting diamond plots in GIA reports, and why, even with the ‘eye cleanliness > literal flawlessness’ debate clear in their minds, it’s always good to know how to study the diamond through a jeweler’s loupe. Being able to understand what our diamond experts with decades of experience are looking at will help give you perspective on what’s available to you from Jeweler AI.
A loupe (pronounced like ‘loop’) is a magnification tool used by jewelers and gemologists to study diamonds and other gemstones much more closely than the human eye allows.
They are pretty basic, hand-held objects – nothing like the big microscopes found in laboratories – and tend to be small enough to fit in a pocket. These tools are also used by watchmakers, who need to be able to study the intricate, mechanical components of a wrist or pocket watch in minute detail while they work.
Before we dive deeper into the specifics, here are some practical tips to help guide your decision-making process:
7 Practical Tips for Examining Diamond Engagement Rings Using a Jeweler’s Loupe
- Tip 1:Understand the Basics of the Loupe First: before diving into the inspection process, familiarize yourself with the jeweler’s loupe. A standard loupe offers 10x magnification, which is essential for scrutinizing inclusions and imperfections. Practice holding the loupe close to your eye and adjusting the focus by moving the diamond closer or further away.
- Tip 2:Clean the Diamond Thoroughly: Always start by cleaning the diamond. Any residue or fingerprints can obscure your view and lead to misinterpretation of the diamond’s clarity. Use a soft, lint-free cloth and, if necessary, mild soapy water. Ensure the diamond is completely dry before proceeding with the loupe examination.
- Tip 3: Examine in Proper Lighting: Good lighting is crucial when examining a diamond with a loupe. Natural daylight is best, but if that’s not available, use a well-lit room with diffused lighting. Avoid harsh or direct lighting that can create glare and shadows, masking the true clarity of the diamond.
- Tip 4: Check for Inclusions and Blemishes: Carefully inspect the diamond from different angles, paying close attention to any inclusions (internal) or blemishes (external) that are visible. Note their size, number, position, and type. Remember, some inclusions are common and don’t significantly impact the diamond’s beauty or structural integrity.
- Tip 5: Evaluate the Diamond’s Cut: While examining clarity, don’t overlook the cut of the diamond. A well-cut diamond can sometimes mask certain inclusions or make them less noticeable. Observe how light reflects off each facet. Uneven or poorly aligned facets could indicate a suboptimal cut, affecting the diamond’s overall appearance.
- Tip 6: Consider the Diamond’s Size and Shape: The size and shape of the diamond can influence how inclusions are perceived. Larger diamonds may have more visible inclusions, while certain shapes, like emerald or Asscher cuts, can make inclusions more apparent compared to round or oval cuts.
- Tip 7: Assess the Diamond’s Positioning: The placement of inclusions can significantly affect the overall appearance of the diamond. Inclusions near the center or along the main facets are more noticeable than those located near the edges or under the girdle. Prioritize diamonds where inclusions are strategically placed or less visible.
Now that you’ve got these practical tips, use Jeweler AI below to find the perfect engagement ring that suits your style and budget:
Importance and Accessibility
Most jewelers’ loupes offer 10x magnification which, if you’ve already read our guide to diamond clarity, you’ll know to be the level of magnification used by the GIA to ascertain a diamond’s clarity grade. This means that using a jeweler’s loupe, you could expect to see a clear abundance of inclusions in an I1 or I2 diamond while, through that same professional jewelers loupe, you would maybe be able to identify vague signs of inclusions in, say, a VS1 or VS2 diamond. In either case, there’s a chance the inclusions you identified would be invisible to you without the loupe.
At the same time, however, what you see through a jewelers loupe will tell a pretty different story to what the jeweler sees through the same loupe. Keep in mind that, even under 10x magnification, many diamonds’ inclusions are very subtle – so subtle, even, that you might find yourself overlooking them. For a shopper, understanding the basics of using a diamond loupe is a great way to get to know the diamond they’re investing in a little better, and to grow in confidence when it comes to identifying how a clarity grade manifests within a diamond, but it’s still not as important as your own appraisal of eye cleanliness.
The Basics of Using a Loupe
Pre-Inspection Steps
Yep – before you actually pick up your jewelers loupe (or your diamond, for that matter) you’ll want to remind yourself of the info printed within the report so that you can draw those comparisons for yourself. If the diamond has a high clarity grade, there’s a chance you won’t even be able to spot those inclusions without the help of the diamond plot.
Remember that most – but not necessarily all – of a diamond’s inclusions are going to be identified on the diamond plot. In cases of widespread inclusions, like clouds, or inclusions that don’t directly impact the diamond’s clarity grade, they will be listed within the ‘Additional Notes’ portion of the report.
Cleaning and Lighting
Don’t get too fanatical about this – just make sure the diamond is free from fingerprints, oil and grease, and dust. Warm, soapy water and a microfiber cloth will suffice but, if you skip this step, you’re just going to be looking at streaks and specks of dust at 10x magnification.
You want a good, well-diffused area of light. Stay away from direct sunlight or harsh indoor lights since these will only make it more difficult for you to focus on the diamond itself. If the diamond is sparkling too erratically, you’re not going to get a good view of what’s going on inside. Placing a white sheet over your main light source, for instance, is a great way of diffusing that bright beam into something that offers good illumination, without being ‘too much’. There are jewelers loupe with light, though.
Techniques for Loupe Usage
Proper Handling
Remember how you cleaned all that grease and dust off your diamond? You don’t want to replace all that with the natural oils on your fingers or obscure the diamond’s color with your own skin tone.
Instead, you’ll want to hold the diamond between a pair of jeweler’s tweezers, which are much better for holding the diamond up without impacting what you see through the loupe too much.
Be careful not to grip the diamond too tight – particularly if the girdle is thin, or the shape has fine points (as in the Princess cut, or the Marquise or Pear) – but don’t be too gentle, or your diamond could fall out and disappear somewhere on the other side of the room. Diamonds are tough and resilient, but it’s always better to be cautious. Not only will it keep your diamond safe, but it will prevent your hand from cramping or getting uncomfortable.
Observation Tips
If you’ve never used a loupe before, the temptation to hold it a little more like Sherlock Holmes’ magnifying glass can be there. The jewelers loupe works a little differently, however, and needs to be held very close to the eye. You don’t need to press it as close to your eye socket as you can stand but within an inch of your pupil. You’ll figure out what feels comfortable to you.
- Keep your hand steady
When you’re looking at something under such strong jewelers loupe magnification, you want it to keep as still as possible, but even the steadiest hand will move a little as you breathe and focus on the diamond in front of you.
When judging eye cleanliness, keeping everything totally motionless isn’t so important, since a diamond ring worn on someone’s hand will always be moving – even if that movement is only slight.
A lot of jewelers will stabilize their hands by gently pressing their thumb to their cheek, or resting their elbow on the bench in front of them. There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to keep your hand steady, but you’ll find it a lot easier to actually see what’s going on in your diamond if you can keep the loupe still. - Keep both eyes open
The loupe only covers one eye at a time, but experienced jewelers will refrain from squeezing their other eye shut. Doing so makes it a lot harder for them to focus on the diamond for any stretch of time, and will make them more prone to ‘strain’ and headaches. - Find your focus
Your loupe is designed to be held in one hand (with the other hand, of course, being reserved for the diamond or other gemstone), so there aren’t any buttons or dials for adjusting the focus. If your diamond appears blurry through the diamond loupe, you’ll simply want to make minor adjustments to the distance between the loupe and your eye, and the loupe and the diamond, until everything looks clear. It might take a minute, but it’s better than trying to pick out inclusions in a blurry blob.
Inspecting the Diamond
While examining the face-up view of the diamond is arguably the biggest priority for shoppers and jewelers, it’s also important to take in the full, 360 view of the stone in order to identify any inclusions or blemishes that are visible along the girdle, through the pavilion, or at the culet.
The way diamonds refract light means that some inclusions will be obscured from certain angles, and not from others, so make sure you spend time examining every part of the diamond.
Noting Observations
Start off by comparing what you just read in the GIA report with what you can identify – and, of course, what you can see when you’re looking at the diamond without the best jewelers loupe. Remember not to get too carried away if you spot something. If you’ve invested in a diamond of VS or SI clarity, then there’s a very good chance you will spot something, but that’s no reason to panic or start backtracking on your choice.
At the same time, it’s also worth being aware of the inclusions you should avoid. While, for the most part, included diamonds that appear eye clean will represent the best investments for you, there are some diamonds that suffer from inclusions that negatively impact durability and strength. Inclusions close to the girdle, culet, or any sharp points (again, think of the Pear, Marquise, and Princess cuts), or chips in the diamond’s surface are bad news, and need to be avoided.
Why Eye Cleanliness is Still More Important
At WillYou.com, we spend most of our time talking about centrality eye cleanliness holds for diamond buying – and believe us when we say we’re not about to backtrack on that for a second. The most important thing for any shopper is to find a diamond that looks flawless and free from undesirable color, even though, deep down, it isn’t.
Why? Because this is where the best value for money is found.
But what really is eye cleanliness? We’ve answered that in a lot more detail in a separate guide, but, for now, it’s worth understanding that eye cleanliness is judged by the naked eye, from a distance of around six to twelve inches. It doesn’t matter whether a dark spot comes into view when the diamond is magnified, since no one is ever going to wander up to your partner, take their hand, and inspect it through a magnifying glass.
Selecting a Jeweler’s Loupe
They’re easy enough to purchase online, and even Amazon sells a basic, 10x jewelers loupe that will do the job.
While we would never recommend you buy the diamond on the internet, there’s very little risk in buying your diamond loupe from the internet. You can find a basic loupe for around $20 – $50, making it a worthwhile investment if you want to be able to understand your diamond on every level.
Buying Guide
10x magnification is the accepted standard, and the most useful level of jewelers loupe magnification if you’re looking to appraise your diamond’s clarity since this will correspond with what GIA diamond graders use during the grading process.
Some loupes do offer stronger magnification. And, while 40 or 50x magnification will enable you to see a whole lot more of your diamond, it’s hardly worth it – particularly when you take into account the eye strain you’ll get from a jewelers eye loupe that powerful.
Between the GIA report, our jeweler’s inspection, and your own examination under 10x magnification, you won’t need to worry about investing in an ultra-powerful best jewelers loupe.
Under 50x magnification, you’ll also struggle to take in much of the stone at once. Even 20x magnification will prove difficult. At 10x jewelers loupe, you can enjoy a good depth of field, making everything much easier on your eyes, while still being powerful enough to identify inclusions.
Conclusion
With all this in mind, you don’t actually need to invest in a jeweler’s loupe, provided you understand how to find a diamond worth your investment. One of the reasons we are so eager to urge readers to focus solely on GIA is that it offers the most consistent approach to diamond grading.
Plus, at WillYou, we have our own high standards for diamond quality – particularly when it comes to eye cleanliness, and ensuring the strength of your diamond. That is how we have earned customers’ trust to help them choose the perfect diamond without seeing it in person, and it’s how we ensure we remain a trusted source no matter how many diamonds we pair up with the right buyer.
9 FAQs
- Q: What Is a Jeweler’s Loupe and Why Is It Important?
- A: A jeweler’s loupe is a small magnification device used to examine the details of gemstones, especially diamonds. It’s crucial for assessing clarity, detecting flaws, and ensuring quality.
- Q: How Do I Use a Jeweler’s Loupe?
- A: Hold the loupe close to your eye, and bring the diamond near the lens until it’s in focus. Inspect by moving the diamond, not the loupe, to view different angles and aspects.
- Q: What Should I Look for in a Diamond with a Loupe?
- A: Check for inclusions, blemishes, the diamond’s cut quality, and any signs of poor craftsmanship. Look for the diamond’s overall clarity and any potential flaws.
- Q: What Magnification Should a Jeweler’s Loupe Have?
- A: A jewelers loupe magnification of 10x is standard and ideal, as it aligns with the magnification level used by gemological labs for grading.
- Q: Can I Detect Fake Diamonds Using a Loupe?
- A: A jewelers eye loupe can help identify common signs of imitation, such as excessive flaws or perfection, but professional testing is recommended for definitive authentication.
- Q: How Important Is Lighting When Using a Jeweler’s Loupe?
- A: Good lighting is essential. It should be bright and diffused to avoid shadows and glare, which can hinder a proper inspection of the diamond.
- Q: What’s the Difference Between a Cheap and Expensive Loupe?
- A: More expensive best jewelers loupes generally offer better lens quality, clearer magnification, and are more durable. Cheap loupes might distort the image or not provide accurate magnification.
- Q: How Do I Care for My Jeweler’s Loupe?
- A: Keep it in a protective case to avoid scratches, clean the lens gently with a soft cloth, and avoid touching the lens with fingers.
- Q: Is It Necessary to Use a Loupe for All Jewelry Purchases?
- A: For high-value items like diamond engagement rings, it’s advisable to use one for all the benefits a jewelers magnifying tool brings. For less expensive jewelry, it might not be necessary but can still be beneficial for a closer inspection.
