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Diamond Size Matters to Hong Kong Women: Survey
Dec 2, 2015 11:43 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Women vastly overestimate the weight of a diamond embedded in an engagement ring that their husbands-to-be will buy them, a recent poll carried out between November and December 2015 in Hong Kong found.
While 59 percent of ladies expected their natural-diamond ring to weigh one carat or more and 13 percent anticipated at least two carats, most men said they would only buy a diamond below one carat, according to the 2015 Hong Kong Diamond Consumption Research report.
The survey, published by the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, revealed 15 percent of males would pick a diamond weighing 0.3 to 0.5 carats. Respondents – around 600 women and 400 men – were mainly aged 25 to 64, with a range of occupations and income levels, and had been living in Hong Kong for more than 12 months.
Source: 2015 Hong Kong Diamond Consumption Research
While 32 percent of men said they would buy a 1 or 2-carat diamond, only
2.3 percent were prepared to splash out on a 2 to 3-carat gem and 4
percent ready to buy a diamond weighing 3 carats or more. In contrast, 6.6
percent of women expected a 2 to 3-carat diamond and 6 percent presumed
they would get a gem that’s 3 carats or bigger.
Meanwhile, 77 percent of female respondents said they would “feel disappointed” if a diamond gifted to them turned out not to be natural and 47.5 percent of total respondents would go to the extent of not wearing it. About 87 percent said it’s important diamond jewelry purchased for them was natural; the remaining were unaffected by this issue. However, 95 percent of all the men and women polled said an engagement ring ought to have a natural diamond in it.
True Love
When asked if synthetic diamonds hold the same association of being “rare and precious,” 81 percent of men and women responded “no”; 77 percent felt the significance of “eternal love” was lacking in synthetics diamonds, 71 percent picked out “commitment” as an association that synthetics lacked and 70 percent highlighted the connection with “true love” to be deficient in unnatural gems. About 83 percent agreed unnatural diamonds were not associated with “fortune, power and status.”
Of the women surveyed, 86 percent owned at least one natural diamond accessory, while 7 percent had 11 or more. Some 56 percent of those under 24 possessed between one and five pieces of natural diamond jewelry. Another 8 percent owned six or more and 36 percent did not have even one.
While the most common reason for receiving a first natural diamond was a birthday (30 percent of all respondents), 22 percent said their first diamond was an impulse purchase for no special reason, and 16 percent of men or women pointed out it was for a marriage proposal.
Some 80 percent of men or women said they plan to buy at least one piece of natural diamond jewelry in the coming year; of these, 39 percent stated they would purchase one piece, 26 percent said two pieces and 15 percent answered three or more.
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Tags:
data, engagement rings, Hong Kong, Rapaport News, retail
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