quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
There is an Alpinist in the classifieds that would be an awesome "nice" watch. It's in your price range as well.

ETA Link

And Dan's a stand up guy, buy with confidence if you go that route.
Bought my Monster from him.
That Alpinist would be on my wrist if I had the budget for it right now.

Those Hamiltons are a nice option as well.

Dave should be stop #1 if you're looking new, for sure.
He helped me with my dad's 60th birthday gift, got him a Sternglas which I'd never heard of, but is a niece watch.

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man:
I agree with RogueJSK with a stainless and black dive watch. It is the cornerstone of every watch collection.

Agreed. The Hamiltons and Citizens posted so far are nice, but I feel they're more geared to the tastes of a few generations prior, not a Gen Z. A stainless dive watch with a black dial is timeless in a way that transcends all that.

My wife is an engineer, my in-laws are engineers. I am not an engineer, but I have spent way more time socializing with them in both a family and outside-work casual work-friends-and-family type settings than I would have liked to. I ran this by my wife and she had some input I haven't seen mentioned yet. Some random thoughts and input follow in no particular order:

Going at this as "what's a good watch for an engineer" is a little backwards.

What they wear in work settings ranges all over the map because it's all down to personal preference. Guys that wear flashy watches wear flashy clothes as well.

My father-in-law has been wearing the same $15 Timex for at least the last decade because he's practical and cheap. The ability to keep good time and either track it (like with a dive bezel) or with alarms is helpful.

Your son may be hired by a company that requires him to not wear a smartwatch or have Bluetooth capability. Smart watches also are only good for a few years before they're outmoded and likely to be replaced - that makes for a short-lived commemorative gift.

Mechanical watches are good, but if you get him something on a bracelet, it may be a hindrance if he works a job where he's typing on a keyboard a lot. Thankfully, quick-change springbars make it easy to swap out for a NATO strap, and those can be routed in such a way that they're almost not there on the wrist and comfortable to type with.

I've had at least one automatic watch that took a good knock and started losing a half hour every twelve hours and I didn't realize it for a couple days. That has the potential to be a problem in a work setting. It's a remote possibility, but one with greater probability with a mechanical than a quartz or digital.

Engineers tend to be practical first and foremost. This a sentimental gift, so if you want to find a way to best dovetail the two, then a dive watch, pilot watch, or not super military-looking field watch with a black or white dial is probably your best bet. I disagree with what Aglifter has to say on all of this, given my own couple decades unwillingly immersed in engineer culture as an outsider. In my experience, the concerns he's bringing up are completely moot with this crowd. A medium form factor Seiko or extremely basic looking Hamilton (that doesn't look like it would be at home in an episode of Mad Men type 50's and 60's stylings) with quick change spring bars he can use to tune his own look on a whim would probably be a solid bet.

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
I think most young tech types would get much more use out of an Apple Watch UltraII (top of the line) than the nicest mechanical you can buy.

Some high-end Apple Watches have cellular capability. A nice feature, but it has an upfront cost. And if you actually want to make use of it your cellular provider will usually charge you for an additional line.

My Apple Watch doesn’t have cellular capability, but I can still make/receive calls with it if my iPhone is in Bluetooth range. Including directory service.

Me (to my Apple Watch): Hey Siri, call Karen.

Siri: Which Karen? Karen Hopper or Karen Jones?

Me: Karen Jones.

Ring … ring …

I'm going to reiterate this point so it doesn't get lost in my wall-o-text because my wife stressed this point to me:

Your son may be hired by a company that requires him to not wear a smartwatch or carry devices that have Bluetooth capability. This can be a condition of working in a secure environment, be that government contract stuff where they have to pay for him to obtain a security clearance, or because of corporate policy. As such, a smart watch may be a poor choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
There is an Alpinist in the classifieds that would be an awesome "nice" watch. It's in your price range as well.

ETA Link

Thank you, Brad and John!

I'm far from a clothes horse, but I think that cream faced Alpinist would look great with any suit and tie. It's a classy watch!

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I'm going to reiterate this point so it doesn't get lost in my wall-o-text because my wife stressed this point to me:

Your son may be hired by a company that requires him to not wear a smartwatch or carry devices that have Bluetooth capability. This can be a condition of working in a secure environment, be that government contract stuff where they have to pay for him to obtain a security clearance, or because of corporate policy. As such, a smart watch may be a poor choice.

Understood...He is going to go into the petro field or at least that is the plan..

Lots of good feedback. And a lot of really good looking watches out there. I may have to have a talk with him about it.

I am pretty practical as well and don't want to buy something that he isn't going to use. But I like the sentimental aspect to the purchase as well!

Congratulations on your son's graduation. What ever I have in stock, my cost is your cost.

Chemical engineering, maybe something from Marathon, tritium gas tube are in some of the cheaper models and they have that classic WW2 look.

quote:

Originally posted by davetruong:
Congratulations on your son's graduation. What ever I have in stock, my cost is your cost.

thats very kind!! I will email you !!!

I'd like to point out one important thing about an Apple watch. It is disposable. This is a gift to mark an important achievement. A properly cared for mechanical watch can be an heirloom. All Apple products eventually meet the landfill.

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man:
I'd like to point out one important thing about an Apple watch. It is disposable. This is a gift to mark an important achievement. A properly cared for mechanical watch can be an heirloom. All Apple products eventually meet the landfill.

I agree. It's built to be eventually obsolete. A watch with actual moving parts, while functional, has some intrinsic significance.

For the win.
As a PE, I have an IWC that was my daily watch for years

I wanted a GPS watch to track health and exercise metrics. I didn’t know if I’d like it so I went inexpensive Suunto Finnish GPS watch. I love the watch and its capabilities.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:

quote:

Originally posted by davetruong:
Congratulations on your son's graduation. What ever I have in stock, my cost is your cost.

thats very kind!! I will email you !!!

To better ensure that he ‘connects’ with the watch and truly “loves” it beyond the fact that you bought it for him as a meaningful gift, is there a way to ‘stealthily’ involve him in the selection process?

If you want the watch to be a total surprise for him but would like to get an idea of what he likes or prefers, maybe send him pics of some watches that you are considering purchasing for “yourself” and tell him that you cannot make up your mind and would appreciate his thoughts and input on them.

I had my son pick out his smart phone some years ago using a similar strategy.

quote:

Originally posted by Cookster:
To better ensure that he ‘connects’ with the watch and truly “loves” it beyond the fact that you bought it for him as a meaningful gift, is there a way to ‘stealthily’ involve him in the selection process?

If you want the watch to be a total surprise for him but would like to get an idea of what he likes or prefers, maybe send him pics of some watches that you are considering purchasing for “yourself” and tell him that you cannot make up your mind and would appreciate his thoughts and input on them.

I had my son pick out his smart phone some years ago using a similar strategy.

Yep..I will do just that. But I am sure he will catch on to that pretty quickly. He is pretty smart

^^^^^^
That being the situation, why not just ask him? Direct and simple.

A watch is a fantastic graduation gift. It will last a lot longer than anything else. My mom gave me a beautiful watch when I graduated over years ago and it is one of my most prized possessions.

Over the past 5 years I have become a huge fan of Christopher Ward. They make a great watch and are reasonably priced. Comparable pieces are generally priced at least 2-3 times higher.

They are still having their Nearly New summer sale. NN are watches that have been returned and are truly LNIB. They come with the full 5 year warranty. If you order in GBP you will save a decent amount of money.

There are a lot of considerations when purchasing a timepiece.

I bought my son a timepiece for graduating with his Masters from Duke back in May. He said he wanted a "nice" watch. I gave him a budget, and we went shopping together. It was a great couple days shopping. I did have to buy lunch twice too. But you can't put a price on that experience with your adult kids. YMMV but I suggest taking him shopping vs the surprise.

If you want the surprise, I will not recommend a make and model, there are too many right options. There are some serious considerations to be made though.

Things to think about:
Does "Swiss Made" matter to you or him?
Major brand or micro brand - There are some incredible small watch companies out there.
Mechanical - Automatic or not? Do you want to have to wind it?
Quarts - Do you mind replacing a battery in exchange for not winding it?
Size - 36mm used to be the standard, but today 40-41mm is most popular. He should try on some to find what is too big/too small for his liking.
Style - Dive watches are amazing, I have a few, but they can also be polarizing.
Leather or metal braclet?

My opinion on Tech - The Apple "watch" is not a timepiece. It is a tech toy worn on the wrist. Still really cool for those that want one.

Someone said a Seiko from Japan. I agree! I also agree with the Seiko Alpinist. Without looking at the link, I believe it is a JDM watch.