What is chrome in jewellery?
By Jared James · Last updated 21 May 2026
Definition
In a jewellery context, chrome, the element chromium, plays two distinct roles. As a metal, chromium is hard, bright and highly resistant to corrosion, so it is used in chrome plating to give metals a reflective, durable surface finish. As a trace element in gemstones, chromium is responsible for some of the most prized colours in nature: it gives rubies their red, emeralds their green, alexandrite its colour-change properties, and some garnets their vivid hues. The colour is caused by chromium atoms absorbing specific wavelengths of light as it passes through the stone.
Frequently asked questions
- What makes a ruby red?
- The red colour in a ruby comes from trace amounts of chromium replacing aluminium in the corundum crystal structure. Chromium absorbs blue and yellow light and allows red and a little blue-red light to pass through, which produces the rich, warm red that makes rubies so prized.
- Is chrome plating used on fine jewellery?
- Chrome plating is less common in fine jewellery, where rhodium plating is the preferred finish for white gold and silver because rhodium is brighter and more resistant to tarnish. Chrome plating is more widely used in fashion jewellery, accessories and hardware.
- What is a chrome tourmaline?
- Chrome tourmaline is a vivid green tourmaline that gets its colour from chromium and vanadium rather than the iron that colours most green tourmalines. The chrome variety has a particularly rich, saturated green and is associated with Tanzania's Umba Valley.
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