If you have spent any time in a Southern California surf shop, you have seen these. A round enamel medallion, an inch or less across, on a plain ball chain. Teal, orange, faded pink. Usually hanging on a spinner rack near the register, next to the wax.
The saint on the front is Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. Surfers started wearing the medals in the 1960s and 1970s, partly as protection and partly as currency: you gave yours to somebody, and that meant something. The tradition long predates any of the brands selling them today.
Get Back Necklaces is the brand behind most of the ones on those racks. It is family run, based in Oceanside, California, and has been making them since 1998. That is the useful thing to know here, because St. Christopher surf necklaces are a category where a dozen sellers are all shipping something that looks the same in a photo, and only some of them stamp their name on the back.
This guide covers which size to buy, what the different chains are actually made of, the four colorway decisions that trip people up, and one thing on the site I would want to ask about before ordering.
Quick Picks
| If you want… | Buy this | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The classic surf-shop look | Medium St. Christopher, enamel colorway | $24.00 |
| The same thing, smaller and subtler | Small St. Christopher, enamel colorway | $22.00 |
| No color, dressier | Gold St. Christopher Medallion Necklace | $24.00 |
| Three at once, colors chosen for you | 3 Medium Mystery Necklaces | $32.00 |
| Something beaded rather than chained | Our Lady of the Waves Beaded Necklace | $24.00 |
| The medallion without a necklace | St. Christopher Ring | From $16.00 |
| A pair for the ears | Gold St. Christopher Earrings | $26.00 |
| The cheapest way in | Rainbow Bead Choker | $13.00 |
Prices checked on the brand’s own store in September 2026 and rounded to the listed figure. A rotating group of colorways sits at a discount at any given time, so the color you want may be a few dollars under these.
First: Four Things Worth Knowing Before You Pick a Color
1. The size difference is real, but the price difference is not
There are two sizes in the core line and the gap between them is smaller than you would guess:
- Small: ½-inch medallion, 18-inch chain, roughly $12.80 to $22.00 depending on colorway
- Medium: ¾-inch medallion, 18-inch chain, roughly $14.40 to $24.00
On a like-for-like colorway, the gold and teal for example, the Small is $22.00 and the Medium is $24.00. Two dollars. So do not choose the Small to save money, because you are not saving any. Choose it because a ¾-inch enamel disc is a noticeable object on a collarbone and a ½-inch one is not.
Rough guide: the Medium is the one people mean when they say “surfer necklace,” it reads from across a room, and it is the more common choice for men. The Small sits closer to everyday jewelry, layers under a shirt collar without fighting anything, and is the one to buy if you already wear two or three chains.
2. Chain material changes between product lines, and nobody tells you
This is the detail I would most want flagged, and it is buried in the spec lists rather than the product names.
The standard Small and Medium necklaces use an 18-inch gold-plated or silver-plated ball chain with an 18k gold-plated stainless steel medallion. Stainless is the part that matters. It is the reason these survive being worn in the ocean.
The mystery bundles use a 24-inch aluminum ball chain with a silver-plated medallion instead. That is a different material at a lower cost, and it is the honest explanation for why three necklaces cost $32.00 when one costs $24.00. You are not getting three of the standard product at a discount. You are getting a lighter-duty version of it, in colors somebody else picked.
That is fine if you know it going in. The 24-inch chain is also longer than the standard 18, and the listing tells you to cut it shorter if you want, which is normal for a ball chain but worth knowing before you open the package expecting the usual length.
3. Everything here is plated, not solid
At $13.00 to $26.00 this is obvious, but it is worth saying plainly because plated jewelry has a predictable failure mode. Gold plating over stainless steel wears at contact points first: the back of the medallion where it rubs a shirt, the clasp, the links that sit against skin at the back of the neck. Salt water, sunscreen and chlorine all speed that up.
None of that makes these bad. It makes them consumable. Treat a St. Christopher necklace as something you wear hard for a year or two and replace, not as an heirloom, and the price makes complete sense. If you want one that will look identical in a decade, you are shopping for solid gold at a different order of magnitude.
4. The product names are almost pure color codes
There are 37 distinct colorways across the two sizes, and the listings are titled things like “Medium – Gold / Pink-Pink” and “Small – Aqua / Royal Blue.” The first color is the metal, the second is the enamel. Once you know that, browsing gets much easier. Until you know it, the catalog looks like a spreadsheet.
Two consequences. First, filter by the metal you want before you look at anything else, because gold and silver plating give completely different results with the same enamel color. Second, colorways rotate, and a batch of them sit out of stock at any given moment. If you find one you love, that is an argument for buying it rather than bookmarking it.
Browse the full colorway range →
The Necklaces
Medium St. Christopher, $24.00 — the default
If somebody asks me which one to get and gives me no other information, this is the answer. A ¾-inch 18k gold-plated stainless medallion on an 18-inch gold-plated ball chain, with the Get Back surfer stamp on the back, which is the mark that separates the real thing from the generic versions.
The enamel colorways are where the personality lives. Teal and aqua are the ones that read most clearly as surf. The gold-on-pink and burnt orange combinations are warmer and less obviously beach. Denim blue is the quiet one.
Skip it if: you already wear a watch and two bracelets and want something that disappears. The Medium does not disappear.
Gold St. Christopher Medallion Necklace, $24.00 — the one that dresses up
Same saint, no enamel, and crucially a fine box chain instead of the surf-shop ball chain. That single change moves the piece out of the beach category. This is the version that works with a collared shirt, and the one to consider if you want the meaning without the specifically surf-cultural styling.
It is also the version I would suggest for a gift when you do not know the person’s taste well. Color is a strong opinion. Plain gold is not.
Skip it if: the point for you is the color. Half the appeal of this brand is the enamel.
Small St. Christopher, $22.00 — for layering
The ½-inch version, same 18-inch chain, same stainless base under the plating. Silver and white is the most versatile combination in the whole catalog: it goes with everything, it does not compete with other chains, and it does not date.
This is the size to buy for a teenager, for anyone who wears jewelry constantly, or for anyone who wants the necklace to be a detail rather than a statement.
Skip it if: you want the medal to be visible in a photo. At half an inch it mostly is not.
3 Medium Mystery Necklaces, $32.00 — the interesting gamble
Three necklaces, colors chosen at random, in colorways the brand says are exclusive to the mystery collection and will not be restocked once the batch sells through. At $32.00 for three that is about $10.67 each against $24.00 for a single.
Two honest caveats, both already covered above but worth repeating here because this is the listing most likely to disappoint someone. The chain is 24-inch aluminum, not the gold-plated stainless of the standard line, and the medallions are silver-plated. And you cannot choose. If there is one specific color you want, this is the wrong product.
Where it genuinely works: buying for a group, stocking up on gifts, or if the exclusive-colorway angle appeals to you more than the material spec does. A $29.00 three-pack of the Small size exists too.
Our Lady of the Waves Beaded Necklace, $24.00 — the one that is not a chain
A different design entirely: pink and cream shell chips with small gold spacer beads, a lobster clasp and an extender, and an oval pendant showing the Lady of Guadalupe on a wave rather than St. Christopher. The pendant is 18k gold-plated stainless, so it is built to the same standard as the core necklaces.
The shell beads are the appeal and also the constraint. This reads unmistakably as summer, and it sits at choker length rather than hanging like the ball-chain pieces. A pendant-only version on a chain exists at $28.00 in gold or silver if you want the design without the beads.
Skip it if: you want something you can wear year round without thinking about it. This one has a season.
Beyond Necklaces
The medallion has been put on a few other things. All of them use the same design language, so they layer with the necklaces rather than competing with them.
Rings, $16.00 to $24.00
Five of them, in 18k gold-plated stainless. The enamel versions run $16.00 to $22.00 and the plain Gold Medallion Ring is $24.00. The medallion face sits proud of a flat band, which makes this a signet-shaped ring rather than a delicate one.
Worth noting that a ring takes far more abuse than a necklace does. Plating on a ring you wear daily will show wear faster than plating on a pendant, simply because your hands touch everything. Buy accordingly.
Earrings, $19.00 to $26.00
Nine designs. The plain gold pair is a 16mm gold-plated huggie hoop with a ½-inch medal hanging from it, logo stamped on the back. There are enamel versions to match the necklace colorways, an Our Lady of the Waves pair at $19.00, and a rectangular variant.
These are the most straightforwardly wearable item in the catalog outside the necklaces. A huggie hoop with a small charm is a shape that works in most settings.
Chokers, $13.00 to $21.00
Eight of them, seed beads or shell beads with a small silver-plated or gold-plated charm, lobster clasp, extender chain. The Rainbow Bead Choker at $13.00 is the cheapest thing in the catalog and a reasonable way to find out whether you like wearing one of these at all before committing to a $24.00 chain.
Sizing matters more here than anywhere else in the range. The Rainbow is 11.5 inches with a 2.5-inch extender, so it genuinely sits as a choker. If you have a larger neck, measure first.
Bracelets and shirts
Three beaded bracelets at $16.00 and a couple of graphic tees at $18.00. Neither is the reason to visit this brand, but the bracelets stack sensibly with the chokers if you are building a set.
A Note on What the Medal Means
St. Christopher is a Catholic devotional medal, and for a lot of people who wear one that is exactly what it is. For a lot of other people, particularly in surf communities, it has been a secular good-luck object since the 1960s, given between friends and partners rather than bought for oneself.
Both of those are real, and neither is wrong. The only practical point worth making is that if you are buying one as a gift for someone religious, it is a genuinely thoughtful object and worth mentioning that you know what it is. If you are buying it as a piece of surf jewelry, that tradition is old enough to be its own thing and nobody is going to object.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you wear a Get Back necklace in the ocean?
The standard Small and Medium use a stainless steel base under the plating, which is the material choice you want for salt water, and these have been worn by surfers for decades. That said, salt water and sun will wear plating faster than desk life will. Rinsing it in fresh water after a session is a small habit that meaningfully extends how long the finish looks new.
Small or Medium?
Medium if you want it to be seen and it is your only necklace. Small if you layer, or if you want it to read as jewelry rather than as a surf marker. The price difference is about two dollars, so it is purely a look decision.
Is the mystery bundle actually a good deal?
Financially yes, materially it is a different product. Three for $32.00 works out near $10.67 each, but those use an aluminum chain and a silver-plated medallion rather than the gold-plated stainless of the standard line. Good value for gifts and for people who like a surprise. Not the way to buy your first one.
How do I know I am getting the real thing?
The Medium has a Get Back surfer stamp on the back of the medallion and the earrings carry a logo stamp. That is the difference between this and the generic enamel St. Christophers that show up on marketplaces at similar prices. Buying from the brand’s own store removes the question entirely.
Will the color fade?
The enamel itself holds up better than the plating does. Expect the metal to show wear at rub points before the color goes anywhere. Darker enamels hide small chips better than white and pastel ones.
Final Thoughts
This is a $13.00 to $32.00 category and the buying decision is smaller than the amount of catalog suggests. Almost everyone should buy a Medium St. Christopher at $24.00 in whichever enamel color they actually like, and stop there. It is the piece the brand is known for, it uses the better chain and the better base metal, and it carries the stamp.
Two sensible alternatives. If you already wear other chains and want this to layer rather than lead, take the Small at $22.00, which is the same construction at half the diameter for two dollars less. If you want the meaning without the surf styling, the Gold St. Christopher Medallion Necklace at $24.00 puts the same saint on a box chain and works with a shirt.
Buy the 3 Medium Mystery Necklaces at $32.00 only with the material downgrade clearly in mind, and buy the Rainbow Bead Choker at $13.00 if you want to test the whole idea cheaply first. And if you are ordering the Small mystery three-pack, ask about that ¾-inch figure in the description before you check out.
See the current colorways at Get Back →
Prices and specifications were taken from the brand’s own online store in September 2026 and change without notice. Product images are courtesy of Get Back Necklaces.
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