A Diamond Grower’s Perspective: Timelines for Lab-Grown Diamond Creation

Diamond growers utilize advanced technology to cultivate sparkling lab-grown diamonds. But how long does it actually take to grow one of these man-made diamonds from start to finish? Let’s take a sneak peek into the production process and learn about typical timeframes required to create our lab diamonds.

Here is the list of main factors affecting the time frame:

How up-to-date is the equipment used?
Сell size.
The quantity of stones to be grown in the unit.
Desired color of stone.
Desired cut.
Desired clarity.

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Some Production Timelines

Considering all phases from seed to finished product, current production timelines generally are:

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HPHT Diamond growth timeline

Here is a table with the typical timeframes for production of HPHT diamonds:

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HPHT Rough Diamond Weight	Production time-frame
1 carat	2-3 days
2 carat	4-5 days
3 carat	5-9 days
4 carat	9-12 days

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As the carat weight of HPHT diamonds increases, the production times also lengthen. The growth process for rough 1-carat HPHT diamonds typically takes around 3 days. For 2-carat diamonds, the timeframe extends to about 5 days. The growth process slows for larger stones.

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CVD Diamond growth timeline

Here is a table with typical timeframes for production of larger size CVD diamonds:

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CVD Rough Diamond Weight	Timeframe for Production
1 carat	7-8 days
2 carat	9-10 days
3 carat	10-14 days
4 carat	14-19 days

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For CVD diamonds, the production times increase more substantially with rising carat weights compared to HPHT diamonds. A 1-carat rough CVD diamond takes approximately 1 week to produce. The growth process is longer for larger diamonds, requiring approximately 10 days for rough 2-carat size stones.

Variables like quality attributes do impact overall timeframes as well. But in general, multi-carat CVD diamonds have extended production schedules, sometimes 2 times longer than equivalent HPHT diamonds. This is due to slower crystalline growth patterns under low pressure CVD parameters.

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