Is it true that Tiffany diamonds are polished unprofessionally?

No that is not true. It would be interesting where you found that information. Their cut is really from Lazar Kaplan who is has a fine brand. They are not the best cut diamonds in the world, but they are very nice. What makes Tiffany so special are the wonderful lights they have in their stores and the blue box.

Good Luck!

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Obviously this research article doesn't show the whole picture. Perhaps a couple of diamonds which were polished in this Botswana factory turned out imperfect, but the doesn't represent anything (moreover I doubt if such diamonds were ever destined to be set into jewelry). Tiffany is having a difficult time, but implying that they compromise on the cut quality of their diamonds is truly underestimating them. It's true that managing diamond polishing factories a long with running a successful jewelry chain is very difficult, might result in very high expenses and sometimes even loses, but a store in the standards of Tiffany would never sell jewelry which is anything bellow top class. Concerning the fact that Tiffany doesn't state where each of its diamonds was polished I really don't understand the problem. I don't think that any other diamond jewelry store provides such info and I don't get what's the purpose in doing so. When one comes to purchase a diamond he or she should care about two certificates: The first -  the Kimberley certificate, assuring that a diamond is "conflict free". The second - A diamond's grading report which acknowledges a diamond's physical features, assuring that it is of high quality. Once a customer knows that his diamond is of fine quality and is conflict free, why would he or she need to know anything else. If Tiffany's Botswana diamonds are so defected, as the article claims, then how come they all have more than decent diamond grading reports? Nowadays there's no way to conceal diamond imperfections, whether they are physical imperfections or moral imperfections (such as "blood diamonds"), so there's no need to invent problems. A big company like Tiffany can't get away with producing "defected" diamonds, so no need to become paranoid - Every Tiffany diamond which is sold in stored is certainly of high quality.

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It's no secret the Tiffany & Co. is experiencing difficult times, the current recession reduced jewelry demand in the US, harming small jewelry stores as well as titanic specialty jewelers' chains such as Tiffany & Co.

According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal, a growing number of diamonds, set in jewelry products of Tiffany & Co. is polished unprofessionally. According to the article, Tiffany & Co. has trained about 80 workers in Botswana to polish rough diamonds into quality cut diamonds, which are later set in engagement rings sold by the store. It seems that quality and Tiffany are no longer synonyms and that it's very clear that these diamonds weren't cut by high quality standards.

So what made Tiffany & Co. turn to such a problematic solution? Tiffany's total annual sales are about $3 billion. In the past it purchased polished diamonds through traders, but since diamond jewelry became more and more expensive (about 7-8 years ago) Tiffany & Co. was concerned that polished diamonds' supply might be reduced, resulting in a problematic situation for the store. Therefore a decision was made that Tiffany & Co. would cut its own diamonds, a decision which could give the company more control on its diamond supply chain. Diamond polishing factories owned by Tiffany & Co. were established in Vietnam, Belgium, Canada and South Africa, and later on also in China. About %15 of workers in Tiffany & Co. involved in diamond polishing, which supply about 50% of Tiffany's diamonds, with the rest still purchased as polished diamonds from external traders.

So the advantage in running diamond polishing factories is having better control on diamond supply, but the disadvantage is becoming less specialist in one field, which might lead to poorer quality of work. Dealing with rough diamonds and dealing with polished diamonds are too completely different fields. Managing all this processes efficiently requires a high budget, a lot of skill and very hard work.

2009 is a very difficult year for Tiffany & Co. Diamond demand is very low this year and the entire diamond retail market is very slow. Tiffany & Co. maintains a high supply of diamonds while sales are dropping significantly. Reducing diamonds' prices was inevitable, but it didn't really solve the problem for the jewelry giant. Total jewelry sales of Tiffany & Co. in 2009 are suppose to drop by about 1/5 compared to previous years.

Going back to the Botswana factory, Tiffany & Co. are currently producing more than a 1000 polished diamonds a month there, among which about 85% are approved and sent to Tiffany's NY headquarters.

As far as the customers are concerned, there's no way to find out whether a Tiffany's diamond was polished in a Tiffany & Co. polishing factory (not to mention in which factory) or not. Still, a reliable GIA diamond certificate should remove any doubts about the cut quality of a diamond. There's no doubt that this article in the Wall Street Journal has damaged Toffany's reputation and added another burdain to this difficult year the company experiences. 

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