October 26 to 28, 2026

Dubai is asking the natural-diamond industry to change the way it competes.

At the seventh Dubai Diamond Conference, held during Dubai Diamond Week, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre presented “Diamond 2.0: A Strategic Reset: Reigniting Desire, Unlocking New Value.” The conference brought together producers, traders, manufacturers, retailers, financial institutions, investors, technology companies, and government representatives to discuss how the natural-diamond sector can respond to falling demand, lab-grown competition, changing consumer behavior, and an increasingly pressured rough market.

The central argument was straightforward: natural diamonds should not try to win a volume or price war. Instead, the industry should build its value proposition around rarity, provenance, heritage, authentication, craftsmanship, and meaning.

That is an industry strategy, not proof that consumer demand has already recovered.

The Swiss-watch comparison

DMCC and ORIGINALLUXURY used a new report, The Swiss Parallel, to compare the diamond industry’s current challenge with the quartz crisis that threatened traditional Swiss watchmaking.

The report’s argument is that Swiss watchmakers rebuilt the category by emphasizing mechanical craftsmanship, heritage, exclusivity, and long-term value rather than trying to compete with quartz watches on price or volume. Dubai conference organizers say natural diamonds could take a similar path by making geological rarity, documented origin, and authenticated ownership more meaningful to consumers.

The comparison is persuasive as a positioning framework, but it remains a proposal. It does not independently establish that natural diamonds will become an investment asset or that consumers will respond to the strategy at scale.

Rarity and authentication take center stage

The conference program placed unusual emphasis on the infrastructure behind trust: grading, provenance, digital product passports, transparent valuation, and a stronger authentication layer.

That focus reflects a market in which consumers have more choices and where the difference between natural and laboratory-grown diamonds must be explained clearly. Natural diamonds form through geological processes over immense periods of time. Laboratory-grown diamonds are diamonds created through technological processes. The two products should be described accurately and disclosed clearly; the strategic question is how the natural category communicates its distinct origin and scarcity without relying on confusion or exaggerated claims.

The proposed reset also includes collective governance, sustainability, education, and new financial infrastructure. DMCC announced a partnership involving HRD Antwerp and the Dubai Design Academy to expand professional diamond and jewelry education in the UAE.

The 888.88-carat “Infinity” diamond

The conference also unveiled the 888.88-carat “Infinity,” described by DMCC as a fancy black natural diamond. According to DMCC and related UAE reporting, the finished stone was fashioned from a 1,138-carat rough diamond originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

DMCC says the rough was acquired in 1975 by Andrew Coxon on behalf of De Beers and examined by the Gemological Institute of America in 2013. The organization says GIA documented it as the largest single-crystal natural diamond it had examined and reported on at that time. The rough was transformed into the finished stone between 2022 and 2024.

Those provenance and historical descriptions should remain attributed to DMCC and the reporting that repeated them. The diamond’s price was not disclosed, and no independent appraisal was located for this report.

The Infinity reveal functions as more than a spectacle. It is a visual argument for the conference’s broader message: if the natural-diamond industry wants to rebuild desire, it must make rarity, origin, craftsmanship, and traceability visible.

Dubai wants to move higher up the value chain

The reset is also a Dubai story. DMCC says the emirate recorded $41.7 billion in diamond trade in 2025 and that natural diamonds represented 95.8 percent of trade value. Those figures are DMCC-reported and should be understood in that context.

The UAE is positioning itself not only as a trading center, but as a place for manufacturing, grading, design, education, financing, investment, and retail. The launch of a dedicated Dubai Cut store and the HRD Antwerp education partnership fit that larger ambition.

The conference’s next test is whether strategy becomes measurable action. A reset will require more than speeches and rare-stone showcases. It will require credible provenance systems, transparent valuation, consumer education, responsible sourcing, better retail storytelling, and evidence that buyers are willing to pay for the difference.

For jewelers, the practical takeaway is not that natural diamonds have defeated laboratory-grown diamonds. It is that the natural category is trying to redefine the contest. The industry is betting that a diamond’s future value will depend less on volume and more on the strength of its story, its documentation, and the confidence behind its claim of rarity.