‏Hearts and Arrows

‏Hearts and Arrows Diamonds are precision cut variations of the traditional 57 faceted round brilliant cut. They are cut to “ideal proportions” with superior optical symmetry and a specific faceting pattern. When all of these factors are in harmony the result is a repeatable, near perfect pattern of eight symmetrical arrows when the diamond is viewed in the face up position and eight symmetrical hearts when it is viewed in the table down position.

‏Brilliant Cut Phenomenon

‏Displays the visual phenomenon that appears in the Worlds finest Ideal round brilliant cut diamonds. A Hearts & Arrows Ideal Cut Diamond is the ultimate, supreme most magnificent
The visual phenomenon that appears in the world’s finest ideal round brilliant cut diamonds is referred to as the brilliant cut phenomenon. A Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut Diamond is the ultimate, magnificently polished diamond man can produce. These diamonds account for less than one percent of all polished diamonds. The highest grades of polish and symmetry allow Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut diamonds to reflect more light than the standard American Ideal Cut. .

‏Basic Heart Creation

‏The green pavilion main facet shown at seven o'clock is reflected twice to create one half of two separate hearts (green) on the opposite side of the stone. While the yellow pavilion main facet shown at five o'clock is also reflected twice to create one half of two separate hearts (yellow)
on the opposing side. The completed single heart shown at 12 o'clock is then a combination of two well-formed pavilion main facets. It is imperative that all the facets are exactly the same length and shape or the resultant hearts would be deformed and asymmetrical.

The two reflected pavilion main facets creating the heart are then further shaped into a more proper (what kind of shape) shape through the combination of table and star facets, which blunt the shoulders or lobes and make them bear a stronger resemblance to a heart shape.

The important V’s pattern shown in pink below the tip of the finished heart are the result of systematically repeating the process of finishing all 24 pavilion facets with extreme care.
It is the polishing of the 16 lower girdle halves (LGH) that ultimately creates the eight heart shapes. It takes a total of 16 pavilion main facet reflections to create the eight hearts. Most cutters finish the entire bottom facets of the stone and then go on to cut the top portion above the girdle using the eight arrows as their guide to finish the stone.

‏Basic Arrows Creation

‏‏Though not as complex as the heart pattern, the creation of arrows is no small task. As shown on the left image below, each pavilion main facet (shown in face down view) when inverted becomes visible as both the "shaft” part of one arrow (A) directly below and is also reflected 180° to produce the arrowhead part (B) of a second arrows figure.T

he right image below shows that each main facet is visible looking directly down through the stone (in face up position) as the shaft part of one arrow. These are known as
“see through facets” (A). The same pavilion main facet is also reflected 180 degrees (B) and becomes the arrowhead of the opposing arrow figure. Each arrowhead is then a “reflected facet”. Each arrow then is composed of a see-through facet (shaft) and a reflected facet (arrowhead) from two separate pavilion mains. Therefore, it takes 16 total reflections to create a complete set of eight arrows.