The Chatham Story

During the late 1920’s, Carroll Chatham set up a lab in his garage at the age of 12 attemping to “duplicate nature’s process to create a diamond”. One of his experiments created a ruckus with his neighborhood and police. To create calm in the future, he decided to experiment making emeralds, hoping not to create an explosion as before. When he entered California Institute of Technology in 1931, he left his experiments running in the garage. His father turned off the power at one point to his project and that action caused emerald crystals to grow. It took him 3 years to figure out how the emerald crystals formed and then he never had a problem recreating emeralds again. Over many decades, Carroll Chatham realized his dream to create rubies, alexandrites and blue and orange sapphires. After his death in 1983, his son, Tom, was finally able to recreate Chatham diamonds. Are Chatham gemstones real or imitation? They are real, but lab created over a year’s time. Gemstones have the “identical physical, chemical and optical properties to those found in nature”. Why do Chatham gemstones often look better than natural gemstones? When growing Chatham gemstones in a laboratory, they are able to create them without the materials found in natural gemstones. They strive to create gemstones that would be equal to the very best natural gemstones commonly found in the earth. Can you save money buying Chatham gemstones vs. natural gemstones? Absolutely! You can save as much as $100,000 dollars per carat for Chatham diamonds. The price difference for Chatham vs. natural gemstones of similar quality can be significant. Does Chatham offer a warranty? Yes. They will repair or replace any gemstone at no addition charge if the stone is chipped or cracked. Just return the damaged jewelry with the receipt to your retailer and they will forward it to the Chatham Company where they will consider repair or replacement of your stone. Normal wear and tear is not covered under the warranty.