'ct' and 'ctw'?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi I’m Brew from northern Maine. I was offered to take a jewelry
class in college but I turned it down. Nowadays, I realize maybe I
should’ve stayed in it because then I’d know what some of the lingo
in the jewelry business meant.

With that being said, I have one simple question. What does ‘ct’ and
’ctw’ stand for in jewelry talk?

Thank You
BC

2

Both ct and ctw refer to the metric carat, or 1/5th of a gram. The
difference is the ct normally applies to a single stone, IE A
2.67ct ruby. The ctw or tcw refers to the total weight of multiple
stones. IE a ring the has six accents diamonds for “1.20ctw”. This
means the there were six stones with an average ct wt of 0.20ct in
size in the ring for the 1.20ctw. It could also apply to a parcel
of loose stones, Don

3

Hello Brew,

ct = Carat > the weight of a stone

ctw = Carat Total Weight > the total weight of all the stones within
a piece. I believe that is per stone type.

Regards,
Guy