Chevron facets

Chevron facets are V-shaped pavilion facets pointing toward the keel (the central axis) on princess cuts, radiant cuts, and modified cushion brilliants. The number of chevron rows on the pavilion — 2, 3, or 4 chevrons — controls the scintillation pattern the stone produces.

A princess with two chevrons shows broad flashes intermediate between crushed ice and round-brilliant scintillation. Two-chevron princesses are the historical standard from the 1980s when the modern princess was developed; they show the largest individual flashes of any chevron count. Three chevrons (the modern standard) produce finer scintillation with a slight crushed-ice lean. Four chevrons produce the finest possible scintillation — true crushed ice — at the cost of broad-flash visibility.

Radiant cuts work the same way. A two-chevron radiant shows the most broad-flash; four-chevron radiants are pure crushed ice. Cushion modified brilliants use the same chevron-count vocabulary; cushion brilliants (no chevrons, just eight pavilion mains) show broad flash like rounds.

The chevron count is not on the GIA Diamond Grading Report. GIA reports the shape (princess, radiant, cushion modified brilliant) and the proportion summary, but not the chevron count. The buyer has to verify chevron count from a face-up high-resolution image or from the seller's product specifications. The chevron count is the load-bearing input to whether the stone shows the crushed-ice or broad-flash aesthetic — a buyer who wants broad flash and accepts a four-chevron stone on paper will be disappointed.

Chevron count interacts with the underlying pavilion main geometry. A princess with deep pavilion mains and four chevrons can still show some broad flash if the pavilion mains are large enough to reflect coherent flashes through the small chevron facets. A princess with shallow pavilion mains and four chevrons produces almost pure crushed ice with no visible broad flash. The cutter's choice between chevron count and pavilion main depth defines the stone's character.

For lab-grown princess and radiant rounds, chevron count is the input that masks proportion compromises most effectively. A four-chevron radiant with a deep pavilion can pass face-up inspection for "well-cut" because the crushed-ice scintillation hides the underlying brilliance loss. The trade has adapted by pricing two- and three-chevron radiants at a premium when they show genuine broad flash — the broad-flash claim is harder to fake than the crushed-ice claim.