Graff Diamonds
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| Industry | Jeweller, Watchmaker |
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| Founded | 1960, London, UK |
| Founder | Laurence Graff |
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Number of locations
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Laurence Graff (Chairman) |
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Number of employees
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500 |
| Website | www |
Graff Diamonds is a British multinational jeweller based in London. A vertically integrated company, Graff operations comprise the design, manufacture and retail distribution of jewellery and watches.
Graff Diamonds was founded in London in 1960 by Laurence Graff.
Graff adheres to the Kimberly process, never knowingly buying or trading rough diamonds from areas where this would encourage conflict or human suffering. The majority of Graff diamonds are laser engraved with unique Gemological Institute of America tracking numbers, which whilst invisible to the naked eye, allow for their origin to be traced.
The Windsor Yellows were acquired by Laurence Graff in 1987 in Geneva during the auction of the jewels belonging to Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. The Duchess was often photographed wearing the Windsor Yellows, a pair of clips of fancy yellow pear shaped diamonds of 51.01 and 40.22 carats respectively. "I also bought another pair of clips the Duchess had owned," Laurence Graff explains. "Of course they needed re-cutting to bring them to their full potential, I bought all four, repolished them, and eventually made the Windsor earrings."
The Paragon diamond was acquired by Graff in 1989. The Paragon is a 7-sided diamond of 137.82 carats (27.564 g), cut, and was worn as part of "millennium" necklace of round, pink, blue and yellow diamonds by Naomi Campbell in 1999.
The Lesotho Promise was acquired as a rough 603-carat (120.6 g) stone for $12.4 million in 2006. The stone was cut by a team of 35 using computer-controlled lasers into 26 D-flawless diamonds totaling 224 carats (44.8 g), the highest yield from a single diamond. In July 2007 the finished stones were unveiled. The largest gem cut from the diamond was a 75-carat (15.0 g) pear-shaped diamond; the smallest a 0.55-carat (110 mg) round brilliant. In all, twenty-six stones were fashioned from the rough gem, figuring as seven pear shapes, four emerald cuts, thirteen round brilliants and one heart shape. The finished gems total 224 carats (44.8 g).
The Letseng Legacy diamond was unearthed from the same mine as the Lesotho Promise Letseng diamond mine in 2008 and totalled 493cts. Acquired by Graff for $10.4 million, they yielded 20 diamonds totaling 231.67cts from the one rough stone.
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