European Diary: Willy Kuse fixes his gaze on the stone sparkling in his palm. He grabs some diamond dust, rubs it into the spinning metal wheel and continues to work the gem. Slowly he removes the dark blemishes that run along the facets of the rough diamond.
Cutting and polishing the delicate €2,000 stone will take him and his partner Armand Geens, almost two days to complete. The diamond will then be mounted on top of a gold band and used to celebrate some couple's engagement.
"This is nothing, just a single carat stone," says Geens, almost dismissively. "A few hours ago we completed work on an eight carat stone worth about $320,000 (€249,824) . . . The most valuable diamond we have worked on was 36 carats and it was eventually sold for $3 million (€2.34 million). I wasn't nervous about working on it but Willy was." Geens and Kuse are two of a dying breed in Antwerp, the world's biggest diamond trading centre. For the past 40 years the two men have worked as a team cutting and polishing diamonds, the hardest and most precious material on earth. They are two of just 200 polishers left working in the heart of Antwerp's diamond quarter. A further 1,000 polishers work in factories on the outskirts of the Belgian city, a far cry from the 30,000 cutters and polishers that worked here in the 1960s and 1970s.
"You don't see young people involved in the cutting industry anymore. Most of the polishing now takes place in India," says Geens, who will retire next year aged 58. "In fact, the Indians now run Antwerp, they've taken over from the Jews."
Hovenierstraat, the street at the heart of Antwerp's diamond district, until recently was dominated by Jews wearing the tradition Kippah cloth skullcap. About 15,000 Jews returned to Antwerp after the second World War to work in the diamond trade, which now boasts an annual trade worth more than $39 billion. But in recent years it has been Indian dealers setting the pace at the city's four diamond exchanges.
With wages in the Indian polishing industry a fifth of the going rate in Antwerp, many of the big diamond companies have shifted their production there. This trend has gathered pace as Indian firms, such as Rosy Blue and Eurostar - which both have annual turnovers worth over €1 billion - use their domination of the polishing industry to get a stronger foothold in the more lucrative diamond trading business.
"There are about 800,000 diamond cutters working in India at the moment," says Dilip Mehta, chief executive of Rosy Blue. "The industry started off just polishing the smaller stones but now it can handle just about everything. India supplies two thirds of diamonds to world markets and hosts some of the biggest diamond companies." The low-cost platform provided by Indian manufacturing has enabled about 400 Indian families to establish diamond firms in Antwerp since the 1970s. Big families, a willingness to travel and a tolerance for hard work has been the recipe for Indian success in Antwerp, according to Mehta, who was recently awarded the prestigious title of baron by the Belgian royal family in the country's annual honours list.
The growing influence of the Indians was illustrated this year when five Indian members were admitted to the board of the Diamond High Council (DHC)- the non-profit organisation that represents the diamond industry in Antwerp.
"Jewish people really worked in a traditional way in the style of their grandfathers with one or two people working alone," says Philip Claes, head of communications at the DHC. "Changes in world globalisation have meant that firms have to adapt their way of business. Indians have done that well, better than the Jewish community."
A major shake-up of the industry by the world's biggest diamond firm De Beers early in the decade also accelerated reform in the industry and prompted Indian families to lobby for more influence on the DHC. De Beers cut the number of its site holders - firms it distributes rough diamonds too - putting pressure on the more traditional diamond firms.
The influx of Indians into Antwerp has added a new ethnic flavour to the neighbourhood with Indian shops and restaurants cropping up to support the community. The new arrivals have even set up a cricket team that plays games against teams from England and the Netherlands. But there are concerns among some Jews that their community is being displaced from the diamond trade and are suffering as a result. "Many Jewish families are having a tough time in making ends meet in Antwerp," says Henri Rubens, a Jewish community leader who left the diamond trade a few years ago.
Some also fear that Indians' growing influence in the diamond trade in Antwerp could undermine its position as the biggest diamond trading centre in the world. For example, India will open a new diamond trading centre in Mumbai this year, while other diamond trading centres such as Dubai are emerging as strong competitors to Antwerp.
Mr Claes says Antwerp remains competitive for trading due to its political and economic stability and its established trading infrastructure. But complacency is dangerous in the diamond business, as Antwerp's Jewish diamond dealers and its thousands of former polishers have learned to their cost over the past decade.