Viral Jewelry: The Idols of TikTok
TikTok is rewriting the rules of luxury through videos by international creators who, together with the algorithm, are setting the most viral jewelry trends and influencing the choices of users all around the world
They run on repeat: hands opening jewelry cases, stones shimmering beneath a ring light, unboxings worth four or sometimes six figures. In the realm of the feed, where the algorithm decides what to desire, even jewelry has rewritten its own rules. With almost 1.59 billion users and more than 100 million videos uploaded each day, according to the Digital 2025 Global Overview Report – Datareportal 2025, TikTok has become the noisiest showcase of luxury. The hashtag #JewelryTok alone has exceeded 15 billion views, followed by a constellation of tags like #RingTok and #WatchTok, flooding the For You Pages of users around the globe.
But how much does all that glitter truly weigh on the market?
In 2024 – according to the Jewelry Market Report by Fortune Business Insights – the jewelry industry recorded an annual growth of around 3%, far from the peaks reached in the immediate post-pandemic years.
Yet one single video of Cardi B showing off a $73,000 Cartier watch can unleash millions of comments. Maybe because the dream still spreads faster than anything else. Brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, and Van Cleef & Arpels are no longer simply maisons: they have become memes, trap icons, and status symbols displayed in duets and POVs. On TikTok, jewelry is no longer heritage but identity – another filter in the feed, part of digital aesthetics like #OldMoney or #QuietOpulence, where taste is measured in seconds of attention. But it happens that this virality is not always an advantage. Consider the case of the influencer who complained about a $10,000 Van Cleef bracelet that had tarnished, almost triggering a perception crisis for the brand and, paradoxically, driving up the value of the Alhambra model on the resale market by 20% in two years, as reported by the second hand marketplace 58facettes.com in June 2025. Perhaps today jewelry no longer speaks the language of tradition, but of the algorithm. Its value is now defined not (only) by the maisons, but by new interpreters, the creators. It’s up to us to figure out if TikTok idols really decide what shines, what lasts, and what fades in an instant.
But how much does all that glitter truly weigh on the market?
In 2024 – according to the Jewelry Market Report by Fortune Business Insights – the jewelry industry recorded an annual growth of around 3%, far from the peaks reached in the immediate post-pandemic years.
Yet one single video of Cardi B showing off a $73,000 Cartier watch can unleash millions of comments. Maybe because the dream still spreads faster than anything else. Brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, and Van Cleef & Arpels are no longer simply maisons: they have become memes, trap icons, and status symbols displayed in duets and POVs. On TikTok, jewelry is no longer heritage but identity – another filter in the feed, part of digital aesthetics like #OldMoney or #QuietOpulence, where taste is measured in seconds of attention. But it happens that this virality is not always an advantage. Consider the case of the influencer who complained about a $10,000 Van Cleef bracelet that had tarnished, almost triggering a perception crisis for the brand and, paradoxically, driving up the value of the Alhambra model on the resale market by 20% in two years, as reported by the second hand marketplace 58facettes.com in June 2025. Perhaps today jewelry no longer speaks the language of tradition, but of the algorithm. Its value is now defined not (only) by the maisons, but by new interpreters, the creators. It’s up to us to figure out if TikTok idols really decide what shines, what lasts, and what fades in an instant.
