The present invention concerns a method for obtaining a finished or semi-finished zirconia-based article (1), the article having a metallic external appearance and non-zero surface electrical conductivity, characterized in that the method includes the steps consisting in: taking at least one zirconia article, pre-shaped in its finished or semi-finished form; placing said article inside a chamber (10) in which a gaseous mixture is arranged, this gaseous mixture including at least a first hydrogen and carbon based gas compound in a first concentration (C1) and a second hydrogen and nitrogen based gas compound in a second concentration (C2); heating the gaseous mixture until the molecules of the first and second compounds dissociate and keeping said article in the reactive atmosphere thereby created to obtain diffusion of the carbon and nitrogen atoms in the external surface (2) of said article and to form stoichiometric carbonitride (ZrCx—Ny) at the surface, and prior to the step of heating the process gases contained in the chamber, a reduction step consisting in placing said article inside a chamber into which dihydrogen is injected and in heating the dihydrogen allowing diffusion towards the surface and release of the oxygen contained in said zirconia article.