Sarine Technologies and Gem Certification & Assurance Lab (GCAL) will open a new grading lab in Surat, India, following their business combination last year.
The new location will operate under the GCAL by Sarine banner, benefiting from Sarine’s technological and local expertise as well as GCAL’s grading brand, Sarine said Monday. The merged entity — formed when Sarine acquired 70% of GCAL for $5.65 million in May — already has a grading lab in New York.
“We are delighted to expand our activities into India, and we believe the timing is opportune,” said GCAL president Angelo Palmieri.
Certification and other grading services in both the New York and Surat locations will follow the merged group’s quality standards, Sarine said. The certificates will carry GCAL’s guarantee — a distinctive feature of its grading reports.
“We are dedicated to leading the way into a new era of diamond certification — one that relies increasingly on technology,” said Sarine CEO David Block. “This approach ensures the highest level of grading while introducing unprecedented efficiency. I have full confidence in our partnership and our ability together to take the certification market to new levels of quality and service.”
Sarine Technologies has entered the running to acquire HRD Antwerp, according to two sources close to the sale process.
The Israel-based diamond-technology company has registered its interest in buying the Belgian laboratory, as have two previous heads of HRD, the two anonymous sources told Rapaport News.
Peter Meeus, who ran the organization between 1999 and 2005, was one of the first candidates be linked to a potential bid around a month ago. He is now joined by Serge Couvreur, who served as HRD’s general manager from 2013 to 2014, as well as by Sarine. The International Gemological Institute (IGI) also entered a bid earlier this year, as reported by Rapaport News in early November, but has since pulled out, the sources confirmed. The situation is changing constantly, another source pointed out.
Sarine’s move could be seen as part of its increased focus on grading and other downstream activities. While its main business is providing diamond-mapping equipment to manufacturers, the polished-grading sector offers considerable revenue opportunities and margins, Sarine noted last month.
Potential buyers of HRD have until next Tuesday to submit a final bid with a proposed price, one of the sources added.
HRD and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, which owns the lab, declined to comment, as did the three bidders and IGI.
Japanese jewelry retailer K-Uno is the first to adopt Sarine Technologies’ 4Cs diamond grading reports.
K-Uno has implement the artificial intelligence based platform at all its stores across Japan. The record will add additional features, including 4Cs grades, to the current Sarine Profile report, which lists characteristics such as light performance and hearts and arrows. The report will use artificial intelligence to grade qualities such as clarity and colour.
“Our 4Cs report creates an intuitive digital experience that will help engage K-Uno customers throughout the diamond-purchase journey,” Sarine CEO David Block said last week. “We expect additional retailers in the Asia Pacific region to soon be adopting the new reports.”
Sarine Technologies the world leader in diamond measuring and assessing is expanding its diamond report. It will include the 4C’s quality grades including the diamond’s cut, color, clarity and carat weight. This will be done using its own automated grading tools.
To get these grades for the diamonds Sarine is using its Clarity and Colour machines unveiled last year.. The two machines can automatically measure a diamond’s clarity and color, a skill usually performed by trained gemologists in laboratories like the GIA, HRD, DCLA and others.
Sarine claims it can deliver quality diamond grading with less subjectivity and fewer human errors, adding that the move would raise confidence.
Sarine is collaborating with Swiss gemological lab GGTL Laboratories on the technology.
