Diamonds All Around

SEP 14
www.idexonline.com
ARE
LAB-GROWN
DIAMONDS
GROWING UP?
RETAIL
POLISHED
MINING
OPINION
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Edi Faltz
Diamonds All Around
W
ith the development of online trading
platforms, better communication and
advanced tools for showcasing diamonds, it
might not be long before the old-fashioned means of
doing business disappear altogether. While that scenario
might seem farfetched, the Diamond 360° system,
developed by the Faltz Group and D.B.O. Ltd. is bringing
this idea closer to reality.
Conceived by Edi Faltz, a diamantaire and jeweler who
is very involved in the diamond investment sector,
the Diamond 360° photography system creates highdefinition movies and photographs of jewelry and
diamonds that enable potential buyers to examine
stones in minute detail without having to wait for them
to arrive in their office.
The system sells for $5,000 and includes a computercontrolled smart light table, software and cloud storage.
It doesn’t require specialized photography know how,
as all of the functions for getting the best images and
pictures are controlled by the easy-to-use software. This
means that users don’t need to fiddle around with the
114 | IDEX MAGAZINE • No. 293
camera settings or computer menus once they have
successfully installed the software. (Faltz says that one of
the clear advantages of the system is that anyone can
operate it. However, there are plans to offer courses on
how to use it.)
The system, which took more than a year-and-a-half to
develop, it has been in operation for just two months,.
However, Faltz is keen to point out how much it has
already increased his sales. “I saw the change from day
one. If I used to sell five out every 10 diamonds I sent
out, now it’s eight out of 10. Interested buyers can see
the whole diamond. They can see everything they need
before I even send the stone to them.”
One of the upsides of this, he says, is the large savings
in transportation and insurance fees since diamonds
are not being unnecessarily being sent back and forth
between sellers and potential buyers.
What he didn’t realize, he admits, was how difficult it
would be developing the system and getting it into
production. “I didn’t know how long it would take, or
how much money.”
| POLISHED > DIAMONDS ALL AROUND |
which means they can completely personalize the
images, adding their logos for example. This also means
that the videos (or photographs) can be embedded on
their website rather than being stored on an external
website, keeping users on their sites for longer.
This system is worlds away from the method of
photography that Faltz was previously using. Before
developing the system, he had to employ a specialized
photographer and have a room in his offices set aside as
a studio. The results, he said were mediocre, they took
a long time and it was expensive. In an industry where
people need the goods as fast as possible, it simply
didn’t work. “Brokers didn’t like waiting,” he says of the
old system.
The trade, says project manager Yoni Rapaport, is
very interested in the product. “They want
to sell more diamonds at a better price,”
he says simply, pointing out that it is
also good for inter-company use,
especially for large businesses whose
stock is spread out among a number
of centers.
But, the result seems to have
been worth it. The quality of the
pictures and videos are so good
that it is possible to see VVS inclusions,
as well as laser inscriptions. In addition, a
UV light means that the fluoresce of a diamond can
also be seen.
Although the system has been
developed for the diamond trade,
there has also been interest in it for
use as a gemology tool by taking
high-definition pictures of inclusions
and using the machine like a microscope.
“Quite simply,” says Faltz, “the future is here;
everyone will need to have a machine like this.”
In fact, the Diamond 360° system produces images of
such high quality that it is important to keep dust out of
the lens to make sure it is not mistaken for an inclusion
on the diamond.
The diamonds are filmed on a white seamless
background (there is the option of a reflective plate or
a black plate for jewelry), which gives a reliable color
grade. Once it has been filmed and the resultant files
produced, in literally a matter of minutes, the images
can easily and quickly be sent via WhatsApp, via email or
embedded into a website.
Once companies have invested in the machine, the
videos and the pictures that they create belong to them,
IDEX MAGAZINE • No. 293 | 115