Best Wearable Gifts for Parents

An entry-level GPS running watch with pace, distance, heart rate and suggested workouts, in a light plastic case.

The pick that fails in the fewest ways, which is what you want when you are buying on somebody else's behalf. The Forerunner 55 is an entry-level GPS watch with pace, distance, heart rate and suggested workouts in a light plastic case, and the property that makes it right for a parent is multi-day battery life — unlike a smartwatch that needs charging every night, this one can be forgotten about for most of a week. That single difference decides whether a wearable is still being worn in March. It is light enough to sleep in, which is the only way sleep tracking actually happens, and GPS pace and distance is exactly what a parent who has taken up walking or running wants from a watch. It also works with both iPhone and Android, so you do not need to know which phone they own. Two honest points. It has a plastic sports look and is a single-purpose watch, so it is the wrong gift for a parent who dresses up. And it needs a phone app set up before it is useful, which is a job worth doing with them rather than leaving in the box.

Apple's entry smartwatch: notifications, workouts, heart rate, fall detection and Apple Pay, paired to an iPhone.

The pick when the parent already has an iPhone, and the only pick here with features that exist specifically for an older recipient. The Apple Watch SE is Apple's entry smartwatch — notifications, workouts, heart rate, fall detection and Apple Pay, paired to an iPhone — and fall detection with emergency calling is the reason adult children buy these for their parents. It is genuinely useful every day, which almost nothing else at this money can claim, and that daily usefulness is what keeps it on the wrist rather than in a drawer. If they are already comfortable with an iPhone, the interface will not be a barrier. Two honest points, and both are decisive. It requires an iPhone, so it is useless to an Android user and there is no workaround. And it charges nightly, which some people never adapt to — if you suspect your parent is one of them, the Garmin above or the light-powered watches below are the better gift, and that is not a consolation prize.

A slim steel dress watch powered by Citizen's Eco-Drive technology, which runs on any light and never needs a battery change.

The pick for the parent who is not going to do daily maintenance, and there is no shame in being that parent. The Eco-Drive Corso is a slim steel dress watch powered by Citizen's Eco-Drive technology, which runs on any light and never needs a battery change — not a long battery life, no battery change at all. For a gift, that removes the single most common ending for a watch somebody was given: the battery dies, the trip to the jeweler gets postponed, and the watch quietly becomes a drawer object. The dress styling works from an office to a wedding, which a plastic fitness watch does not, and it keeps running in a drawer as long as it sees light now and then. Two honest points. It needs light, so a watch shut in a dark box for months will stop — it restarts in daylight, but it will need the time set. And it is quartz, so it offers nothing to a recipient who specifically wanted a mechanical watch.

Citizen's women's Eco-Drive line: small cases, two-tone or single-tone bracelets, light-powered so no battery is ever needed.

The same argument as the pick above, in a case designed for a narrower wrist. Citizen's women's Eco-Drive line uses small cases with two-tone or single-tone bracelets and is light-powered, so no battery is ever needed. The case sizes are designed for a narrower wrist rather than scaled down from men's models, which is a genuine difference in proportion rather than a marketing line, and the two-tone finishes sit alongside both gold and silver jewelry so the watch does not quietly demand that she change the rest of what she wears. For a mother who has said she does not want another device, or who has an Android phone and no interest in solving that problem, this is the gift that gets worn. Two honest points, both practical. The bracelet will almost certainly need links removed to fit — a quick job at any jeweler, and a job for before you wrap it rather than after. And it needs periodic light exposure to stay charged.

A deliberately plain watch with oversized numbers on a white dial and a leather strap, with Indiglo backlight.

The pick nobody considers and a surprising number of parents actually want. The Easy Reader is deliberately plain — oversized numbers on a white dial, a leather strap, an Indiglo backlight that lights the whole dial — and it is the most legible watch at this money by a wide margin. The reason it belongs on a wearables page is that a meaningful share of parents stopped wearing a watch for a reason that has nothing to do with technology: they could no longer read it quickly, and reaching for reading glasses to check the time is not a thing anybody does twice. If that is the actual problem, a smartwatch with a small bright screen is not the fix and this is. It is also simple enough that there is nothing to learn, which matters more than any feature for some recipients. Two honest points. The plain dial is practical rather than stylish, so nobody buys it for the looks. And the leather strap will need replacing eventually.