


{"id":75,"date":"2012-04-26T12:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birkatelyon.com\/blog\/?p=75"},"modified":"2017-07-22T22:39:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T02:39:39","slug":"understanding-cubic-zirconia-quality-grades-1a-5a-hand-cut-what-does-it-all-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/understanding-cubic-zirconia-quality-grades-1a-5a-hand-cut-what-does-it-all-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Cubic Zirconia Quality Grades: 1A, 5A, Hand-Cut \u2013 What does it all mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As one of the industry\u2019s foremost <strong>cubic zirconia jewelry<\/strong> manufactures we work hard to educate our customers. Perhaps one of the most common questions we receive is: \u201chow do I determine the quality of a cubic zirconia?\u201d Because we pride ourselves on the superior quality of each and every stone we produce, we are always happy to explain that there is in fact a wide variance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hand-Cut vs. Machine-Cut Cubic Zirconia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, it\u2019s important to understand the vast difference in hand-cut cubic zirconia versus machine-cut. Machine-cut cubic zirconia stones are mass-produced, which scarifies quality and clarity.\u00a0 Hand-cut cubic zirconia stones are individually cut with great precision. Each stone is painstaking cut, by highly trained professionals, giving them the brilliance of fine diamonds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Machine-Cut Rating System: A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though the A rating system is an industry standard, it is only applicable to machine cut cubic zirconia stones. Rated from lowest quality grade to highest, A, or 1A, are considered the lowest grade of machine-cut CZ while AAAAA, or 5A, are considered the very best. Rated based upon hardness, 5A cubic zirconia have a hardness of 8.5.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hand-Cut CZ Stones Quality<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While 5A is the best grade among machine-cut CZ, our hand-cut CZ are of much higher quality. Though hand-cut CZ are considered the highest quality, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that not every <a title=\"hand-cut CZ\" href=\"http:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/home\">hand-cut CZ <\/a>is considered top quality. Hand-cut cubic zirconia quality is dependent on the technique and the experience of the professional cutting the stone. A hand-cut CZ, cut with improper technique will not have the brilliance of a diamond. This is why it\u2019s so important, when shopping for hand-cut cz, to purchase from a reputable jeweler who guarantees the quality of their stones. If cut properly, a hand-cut cubic zirconia will have the same luminocity of fine diamonds.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re currently shopping for a high-quality cubic zirconia, be sure to keep each of these points in mind. Though there are superior machine-cut cz stones available, they do not have the same brilliance or quality of hand-cut cubic zirconia.\u00a0 If you\u2019re looking to invest in a piece that will truly have the look and feel of fine diamonds, we encourage you to choose hand-cut cz. Want to know more about selecting quality cz jewelry? Follow the Birkat Elyon Blog,<a title=\"subscribe to our newsletter\" href=\"http:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> and share your questions below. We\u2019re here to help you select from the very best cubic zirconia jewelry in the world!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As one of the industry\u2019s foremost cubic zirconia jewelry manufactures we work hard to educate our customers. Perhaps one of the most common questions we receive is: \u201chow do I determine the quality of a cubic zirconia?\u201d Because we pride ourselves on the superior quality of each and every stone we produce, we are always happy to explain that there is in fact a wide variance. Hand-Cut vs. Machine-Cut Cubic&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":1827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,19],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Cubic Zirconia Quality Grades: 1A, 5A, Hand-Cut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to differentiate between cubic zirconia quality grades, hand-cut vs. machine-cut, 1A, 5A and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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