Diamond debate: Lab-grown vs. natural

CTV London’s Lauren Stallone and Carlyle Fiset speak to an expert to see if people can tell the difference between natural and lab grown diamonds.

A popular debate heating up on social media pits lab-grown diamonds and natural diamonds against each other.

“Our job is to ensure when people come in, we are providing them with the education on the differences between them,” said Saeb Omer, a local jeweler with Canadian Expert Jewellery. “The biggest thing that we hear is that lab diamonds are fake diamonds.”

Omer said the chemical composition and physical properties of both are the same.

“It all comes down to consumer choice,” he said.

Some social media users have been using platforms like Instagram and TikTok to ask their followers which one they would choose and if they can tell the difference based on appearance alone.

“With the naked eye it’s impossible to spot the difference,” said Omer. “It’s more of a guess but that’s what gives people traction online to get the likes and clicks.”

Omer said while hard to spot just by looking, the difference in price is a dead giveaway with natural diamonds often costing roughly four times more than lab-grown.

“The marquise (lab-grown) is right around $5,000 and the princess cut (natural diamond) is right around $23,000,” he said.