It is difficult to quantify the total amount of time spent perfecting a stone, Mr Wallis said, but a smaller one (1cm) can take up to two hours and a larger one up to six.
He spent six hours on the amethyst second place-getter at the competition.
He says the only opportunity to put his skills to the test is by entering the Australian competition as there is nothing in New Zealand.
Kiwi faceters can also enter the US Faceters Guild and the UK Facet Cutters' Guild, he said.
His fascination with gemstones began as a boy, inspired by family members working in the diamond mines in his native South Africa.
His father made him a machine and from the age of about 10 he would polish stones for hours.
The hobby fell away around the age of 15, but he picked it up again in 2003 when he was at a gem show in the United States, while living on a yacht. He then bought the equipment and now has it set up in his Whangarei garage.
It is still very much a hobby but he said he would love to be able to sell more cut stones.
He estimates he spends about 25 to 30 hours a week faceting.
Mr Wallis' best piece so far is a morganite pear cut. The rough stone was bought from a firm in Wellington and it had wonderful colours which change with the light: blues and greens and pinks.
It was valued at several thousand dollars, he said.
His partner, Jackie, had a trilogy ring made up by Steve Haywood with a morganite (a pink to orange-pink variety of beryl, a mineral that includes emerald and aquamarine) and two amethysts which was particularly beautiful, he said.
It's a somewhat solitary interest, with few people doing faceting in New Zealand. There was no local or national group, he said.
Mr Wallis sells some stones to local jewellers with some of his stones for sale at Steve Haywood, JD and Fishers and also at some Auckland manufacturing jewellers.
