Anniversary Gifts for Him

A dress watch with a domed crystal, applied numerals and an in-house automatic movement, on a leather strap.

The pick when the gift is meant to mark something, and the reason is the movement rather than the looks. The Bambino is a true automatic — a weight rotates as his wrist moves, winds a mainspring, and that spring drives the hands, with no battery anywhere in it. For an anniversary that matters more than any specification: it makes the watch an object that is alive in a small way, and it is the single most effective way to make somebody who has never thought about watches understand the appeal. It is also simply a good dress watch, thin enough to go under a shirt cuff with a clean dial and a domed crystal that catches light beautifully. Two honest notes: it wears larger than its stated diameter because of the wide bezel, so check the wrist, and he will not recognize the brand name.

Bellroy's bifold: leather, a quick-access card slot, a coin pouch and a full-length note section, still far slimmer than a standard wallet.

The pick when you want the gift in his hand several times a day rather than on his wrist once. The Note Sleeve is Bellroy's bifold: leather, a quick-access card slot, a coin pouch and a full-length note section, and still noticeably slimmer than a conventional wallet — which is the point, because it fixes the bulging back pocket without asking him to give up the things a bifold holds. For an anniversary a wallet has a particular advantage over most gifts: it is touched constantly, so the association sticks in a way a shelf object never does, and it is a genuine upgrade rather than a novelty. It is still thicker than a card sleeve, which is the trade for the coin pouch and note section, and leather is leather — it will take on marks.

Leatherman's best-known multi-tool: 18 tools including two knife blades, a saw, replaceable wire cutters and outside-accessible blades.

The pick for a practical man, and the one on this page with the most literal claim to outlasting the occasion. The Wave+ is Leatherman's best-known tool for a reason: 18 implements including two knife blades, a saw and replaceable wire cutters, with the main blades accessible from the outside so they open one-handed without unfolding the whole thing. That last detail is what separates a multi-tool that gets carried from one that lives in a drawer. The 25-year warranty is not marketing — it is the reason this works as an anniversary gift, because you are handing over something explicitly built to still be working in two decades. It is heavier than a pocket tool should be for some people, and it is not something he can take through airport security.

Seiko's quartz dress line: slim steel cases, clean dials, sapphire crystals on many references and 100 meters of water resistance.

The pick when a watch is the right idea but a mechanical one is the wrong execution. An automatic stops after a day or two off the wrist and needs resetting, which some men find charming and others find annoying — and if he is in the second group, the Bambino above is the wrong gift however good it is. The Essentials range is Seiko doing the plain things properly: dress proportions, a clean legible dial, a date, and quartz accuracy to within seconds a month with nothing asked of him beyond a new cell every few years. It is also a name he will recognize and respect, which the Orient is not. The limitation is the honest one: quartz has no mechanical charm, so this is the useful gift rather than the romantic one.

A tiny sealed brass pen that writes upside down, in the cold and in the wet, and fits in a coin pocket when closed.

The pick when the main present is something else and you want one more thing, or when the budget is genuinely small. The Bullet Pen is a tiny sealed brass pen that writes upside down, in the cold and in the wet, and closes down to something that fits in a coin pocket — a properly engineered object rather than a trinket, which is why it has been in production for decades. For an anniversary it has a quiet advantage: it is small enough to be engraved, cheap enough that engraving does not feel like a commitment, and the kind of thing that stays in a jacket pocket for years. It is a small gift and should not be the only one on a significant anniversary, and the fine line it writes will not suit somebody who prefers a broader nib.