<p>Does he dress up enough that he would get use out of nice cufflinks?</p>
<p>Another nice gift is a nice wooden box, like a man’s version of a jewelry box (there’s a name for it than I’m forgetting - not a valet, something like that).</p>
<p>It sounds like a ring or watch would be a very good gift for your son. </p>
<p>I agree that you really have to know the graduate. My son’s favorite graduation present was tickets to see Lady Gaga and my husband’s favorite gift for his Masters degree was a chain saw. You just never know!</p>
<p>You might want to let him pick out his own watch, though, or at least tell him that it’s perfectly OK if he exchanges it. When my wife bought me a nice watch, I didn’t like the clasp, and I exchanged it.</p>
<p>I like the watch, framed art, and travel ideas.</p>
<p>For HS graduation, after heavy thought, we gave our S a really nice set of golf clubs. He’s played on the HS team and used his dad’s clubs. The bag & covers are gold & black, like his college. We also let him choose where to go on our family vacation.</p>
<p>We gave our son two things: The first was a Citizen Eco-Drive Titanium Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Watch. Solid titanium case and band (so it’s light), eco-drive (solar-powered, so never needs batteries), and a perpetual calendar (it knows the date of the month and how many days are in a month and even knows leap years, so you never have to change the date). It also has that dive watch style (he’s a diver) and is good to 200M deep. It is an absolutely amazing watch and you can find it on Amazon for just a little over $400.</p>
<p>The other thing we gave him was a trip. He (and my wife) chose to go to Belize, where they explored caves and Mayan ruins in the jungles, and did some scuba diving along the coast. Unfortunately, he came back with an embedded bot-fly larva (“one of the 5 most horrifying bugs in the world”). That was quite an experience, but bestowed bragging rights in the “and-then-there-was-the-time-I-was-exploring-the-jungles-of-Central-America” kind of stories that will last a lifetime.</p>
<p>We gave our son Berkshire Hathaway class B stock for HS graduation, it was my husband’s idea. For 8th grade we gave him a Tissot touch watch. He loves that watch and takes very good care of it.</p>
<p>This is kind of taking off in another direction, but someone mentioned art. Nice quality original artwork is available on line. Paintings and sculptures are both kind of nice. I bought my husband a painting when he retired from the military. A bit different and perhaps not too practical if your son will be moving around.</p>
<p>I like the diploma frame idea. Or travel. My son turned down our offer of a high school ring, and he really liked it when we offered to swap that offer for covering half of his costs for a marching band trip to Disneyworld.</p>
<p>I also remembered this very practical and much appreciated gift that some friends gave their daughter upon college graduation. They paid the Cobra bill ($400/month) to extend her health insurance. It was very expensive, but she had a void until starting a job and planned some overseas travel. I was so impressed that the daughter was so appreciative of it, even though not a a shiny fun gift.</p>
<p>We gave S1 a Citizen Eco-Drive watch. To make it more memorable we had his univ. initials and grad. year engraved on the back of the watch. S1 had never been a watch wearer before but we knew his post grad. job would not allow for carrying a cell phone around in his pants pocket to keep up with the time. S1 loved the watch and has it on his arm every time we see him.
We also paid to have his diploma framed which he really appreciated.<br>
The other thing we did was to sign the nine year old pick-up truck he had been driving since soph yr. of college over to him.</p>
<p>I work with a lot of young people. NONE of them wear watches. Before laying out a lot of money I would check with him.</p>
<p>I like the Yale class ring idea.</p>
<p>If your inclined to be practical…what about giving him $$$—so he can go out and buy new clothes/briefcase for work/interviews?</p>
<p>You can get a vintage watch, but – he won’t tell you this, so I will – he wants the XBOX 360!</p>
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<p>According to my son this is true because cell phones display the time.</p>
<p>Your mention that he likes to look good reminded me that my son asked that we give him a custom made suit as a graduation present. There’s something that should last a lifetime.</p>
<p>How about a bulldog? :)</p>
<p>Only kidding, kinda.</p>
<p>How about a Mazerati? :)</p>
<p>Oh well, here goes the second DS college tuition…</p>
<p>DD just got her bachelors degree. She carries a cell phone with her all the time. She ASKED for a nice watch for graduation…and she got one from a relative also a Citizens.</p>
<p>We gave her a cross country train ticket.</p>
<p>We gave DS (for his MA) payment of his student loans for a few years.</p>
<p>S1 is in the military and can’t carry around a cell phone in his pants pocket while in uniform, which is every day…hence the watch. We also thought the Eco-Drive (no battery needed) was a great idea for someone who will prob. be spending some time in the desert. </p>
<p>S1 was never interested in a class ring so we thought the sch. name and grad. date engraved on back sort of served same purpose. He can’t wear a ring in his line of work either.</p>
<p>Does the eco-watch also have a battery? I have a self-winding watch, and it’s annoying because if I don’t wear it for a few days I have to reset everything.</p>
<p>Also gave son a Citizen Eco- Drive watch ( a classic, dressier one-let him look online over some examples of what we were thinking about and then he made final decision) for college graduation. He wears it frequently. Wish I had thought to have it engraved on the back! Somehow sunlight keeps the watch going. I’m sure it explains it on their website. Also had his diploma framed.</p>