The original Hearts and Arrows were diamonds that surfaced in the mid 80's in Japan and embodied three important design factors. First, they were cut to "ideal proportions", very close to those summarized by Marcel Tolkowsky in his 1919 book, Diamond Design. ​Second, they were cut with superior physical and optical symmetry so that they would garner a grade of "Excellent" in the Japanese laboratories. The third and very important factor was that they were cut to a very specific brilliantine scheme to produce the accepted Hearts and Arrows pattern. The faceting scheme involves prescribed lengths and ratios as well as smaller tables sizes that are imperative in producing distinctive, repeatable and gradable Hearts and Arrows pattern.

Less than 1% of the world's diamonds are cut to Hearts and Arrows optical symmetry precision. This is in large part due to greater amount of rough diamond that necessitates additional polishing to create diamonds with this precise optical symmetry. Diamond polishers take up to three (3) times longer to cut diamonds of this quality and nearly 15% greater waste of the original diamond rough material is lost. Using 100X magnification and analysis through all stages of production, the artisanal cutters create perfection at 10X global standards for grading and evaluation. It is for these reasons that this diamond cut is sold at premium and are expensive than average/inferior cut diamonds.