Graff

Graff sits firmly in the ultra-luxury tier, and you are paying for both the stone and the house behind it. The brand is vertically integrated, meaning it handles design, manufacture and retail itself, and it concentrates on diamonds that are rare even by high-jewellery standards. If you want exceptional stones and the prestige of a name that has handled some of the world's most famous diamonds, Graff delivers. If your priority is value for money on a more everyday ring, you can find a beautiful diamond and a well-made setting for far less elsewhere.

Graff controls the whole chain, from selecting rough stones to cutting, polishing and selling the finished piece, which keeps quality high but adds cost. The house deliberately focuses on the rarest material, including exceptional large white and fancy-coloured diamonds. That selectivity, combined with limited production and intricate craftsmanship, is what pushes Graff into its price bracket.

Both are among the most prestigious diamond houses in the world, but they have different starting points. Graff is a British house founded in London in 1960, while Harry Winston is an American jeweller founded in 1932 and known as the "King of Diamonds." Collectors often describe Graff's designs as bolder and Harry Winston's as more classic, but both build pieces around exceptional stones. Which one is "better" usually comes down to the specific diamond and the look you prefer.

Graff was founded in 1960 by the British jeweller Laurence Graff. From the start it was built as a vertically integrated company, covering the design, manufacture and retail of its jewellery and watches. That hands-on control of the whole process remains central to how the house operates today.

Graff's reputation rests heavily on the exceptional stones it has acquired and cut. These include the Graff Pink, a type IIa modified emerald-cut pink diamond recut to 23.88 carats, and the Lesotho Promise, a 603-carat rough that was cut into 26 D-flawless diamonds. The house has also handled the Wittelsbach-Graff, a fancy deep-blue diamond, and the Graff Lesedi La Rona, a 302.37-carat D-colour stone.

Graff stocks stones to a very high standard and traces their origin carefully. The majority of Graff diamonds are laser-engraved with unique Gemological Institute of America (GIA) tracking numbers that are invisible to the naked eye, so a stone's identity can be verified. The house also adheres to the Kimberley Process, committing not to knowingly buy or trade rough diamonds that would encourage conflict.

Graff's cutting and polishing is carried out in Johannesburg by the South African Diamond Corporation, which is a division of Graff itself. Keeping this stage in-house is part of the vertical integration the house is known for, giving it control over how each stone is finished. The company is headquartered in London with corporate offices in cities including New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Yes. Graff's operations cover watches alongside jewellery, and the house has developed its own movements, beginning with the Graff Calibre 1 in 2010. It also unveiled the Hallucination watch at Baselworld in 2014, set with 110 carats of fancy-colour diamonds, which Graff described as the most expensive watch it had created. So a Graff timepiece is very much an extension of its diamond expertise.

Graff was the first jeweller ever to receive the Queen's Award for Industry and Export, now known as the King's Award for Enterprise, which it won in 1973. The house has gone on to receive that award several more times since. It is a useful signal of how long Graff has operated at the top of the British jewellery trade.

Graff is deliberately exclusive rather than widespread, with a network of over 50 boutiques around the world. Its first location outside the UK opened in Monaco's Hôtel de Paris in 2000, and its largest boutique is on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. Because Graff deals in genuinely rare stones, buying through its own boutiques is the surest way to know exactly what you are getting.