Building gives you control over the one part of the necklace everyone notices, the diamond itself. You choose the shape, carat weight, cut, color and clarity from loose stones, natural or lab grown, and you can compare candidates on their grading reports and video before anything is set. Natural stones usually come with a GIA report, and lab grown ones usually with an IGI report. A custom diamond pendant made this way also carries a personal story, because every element was picked on purpose.
Start in the loose diamond search and filter by shape, size and grade. Once you have a stone, choose the mounting that will carry it. A solitaire pendant setting shows a single diamond hanging from its bail, the small loop the chain passes through. A halo pendant setting rings it with smaller diamonds so it looks larger from across the room. Settings with accent stones beside the center sit between the two.
Once the order is in, a member of Rare Carat's New York team looks at your diamond under a microscope and confirms that its laser inscription matches the report.
A pendant sits farther from the eye than a ring and moves as you do, so eye clean clarity is all you need, and many SI1 stones in brilliant shapes get there. Cut still comes first, because it controls how much the stone sparkles under lights. On color, a white gold or platinum setting shows warmth more than yellow or rose gold, so match the grade to the metal you plan to choose. Weight is where pendants reward careful buying: a diamond of 0.90 carats rather than a full carat costs noticeably less and looks the same at the neckline.
Chain length changes how the pendant reads. A 16 inch chain sits around the collarbone, an 18 inch chain falls just below it and is the length most people choose for one, and a 20 inch chain drops a little lower, which suits open necklines and layering. Think about what you wear most: a crew neck can hide a pendant on a long chain, while a V neck frames one nicely. If you are buying it as a gift and are unsure, the middle length is the safe choice.