w&w’s Graduation Gift Guide: Watches and Gear Under $1000

It’s May—the last month of spring and the start of commencement season. College students all over the country will be donning their caps and gowns, accepting their diplomas, and getting ready to enter the real word so they can start paying off their student loans. With all these graduations right around the corner comes the annual question of what to get for friends or relatives commemorating four years of hard work (and let’s be honest, excessive drinking) and a newly gotten degree. The worn&wound team is here to help with a small gift guide–most of it well under $1000–consisting of watches, gear, booze, coffee, and even more watches. Enjoy!

Seiko SARB033

The Seiko SARB033 is an incredibly versatile timepiece, and it is in my opinion one of the best-valued all-around watches currently on the market—certainly under $500. It’s modestly sized at 38mm with a width of 11mm, so it’ll slip right under a shirt cuff. Aesthetically, the SARB033 borrows heavily from Grand Seiko, so much so, in fact, that some even call it the “poor man’s Grand Seiko”—a moniker that is meant to be taken wholly as a compliment.

The glossy black dial, clean layout, and mixed case finishing emphasize the dressier aspects of the piece, so it will certainly look beautiful paired with office duds, but it won’t look out of place at the ballpark either.  Equipped with the venerable 6r15 automatic movement, the SARB033 will also provide one with years of reliable service. If the black dial isn’t up to your speed, there is also SARB035 with an off-white dial.

Stowa Antea

Stowa’s Antea series is one of its most popular, perhaps second only to its catalogue of fliegers. The Antea pulls from a classic German Bauhaus design used throughout the ‘30s by brands like Lange and Stowa itself. Today, countless companies attempt to emulate the aesthetic, though Stowa is one of the few to strike that perfect balance of price, build quality, and provenance. And with cases ranging from 35.5mm to 41mm, and movements available in both automatic and manual configurations, there’s a style for everyone. My personal favorite, and the one I often recommend, is the Antea KS (Kleine Sekunde, or “small seconds”), which features a highly finished Peseux 7001 movement, a silver dial with a sub-seconds layout and heat-blued hands, and a relatively thin case (6.9mm).  It’s a stunning dress watch that pairs beautifully with leather bands of most colors, and will easily slip under a shirt cuff.

The brand’s contemporary take on the style stays largely true to its roots, but in recent years Stowa has also begun to expand the collection, the most notable being the recent colorful “back 2 bauhaus” series co-designed by Hartmut Esslinger. Admittedly, while the majority of our guide is male-centric, the breadth of the Antea collection offers a great counterpoint with its unisex designs.

Archimede Outdoor Protect

Not every grad is going to be suited and booted come fall. Those with more adventurous career ambitions will likely fare better with a tool watch—something that can take a beating from the elements without skipping a beat. The Archimede Outdoor Protect is such a watch (read our review here). A tool/field/sports watch, the Outdoor features an Ickler-made barrel-shaped stainless steel case hardened to 1200 Vickers. As a result, the watch is incredibly resilient against scratches and marks, and thus best suited for the field. The face is simple, featuring contrasting blocky elements that make for an extremely legible dial, and powering the watch is a reliable Sellita SW200-1—all for well under $1000.

The aesthetic is quite stark, and I’d argue pleasantly so, but there are more than a few dial colors, case finishes (there’s a PVD model), and bracelet options to choose from, so there’s something for everyone.

Seiko SRP77X

In a similar vein, Seiko’s SRP77x series offers great utility, and can make for a fantastic everyday timepiece for someone needing a robust tool watch. Based on the iconic 6309-7040 manufactured by Seiko throughout the ‘70s and 80s, the re-issue is faithful to the look and feel of its historical counterpart, but with some added technical specs worthy of a modern watch.

Seiko has upped the water resistance to 200m, added drilled lugs, and updated the movement to its 4r36 caliber, which features hacking, hand winding, and 41 hours of power reserve. And as you might expect from Seiko, the lume is practically nuclear. It’s a watch that’s built to last, and if its predecessor offers any indication, it’ll be one to pass down to generations to come.

Sinn 556 I

I’ve long believed the 556 I to be the mythical “one watch”—the sort of timepiece one can wear day-to-day and for nearly every occasion. Though lacking much of the famed Sinn tech, the 556 I does boast a highly-engineered sporty build—a German case with 200 meters of water resistance, sapphire crystals on both ends, and drilled lugs. At the same time, its classic size, glossy black dial, and handsome satin case finish speaks to a dressier aesthetic, making the 556 I a bit of a chameleon.

Pair it with a dark leather strap and it’s a perfect match for a suit; slip on a nylon mil-strap and it’s weekend-ready. It’s this versatility that makes it a great horological gift for your recent grad, and while it may be the most expensive watch on our list (and just a hair over our $1000 limit on strap), the 556 I is worth every penny.

Coffee Kit

And finally, coffee. Whether to fuel you through the day or to impress a house guest, everyone needs to know how to make their own coffee and how to do it well, and that includes recent grads who have likely been subsisting on Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes and dare-I-say whatever comes out of those demonic prepackaged plastic cups (you know of what I speak). This is all one needs: a burr grinder, the right kettle, an 8-cup french press, good coffee and about 10 spare minutes (a few to boil water and grind beans, 4 minutes to steep, and whatever is left over to do the dishes).

Words by Ilya Ryvin, Frank Tkachenko, and Zach Weiss.