TAG Heuer · Men's Watches
Carrera Chronograph Automatic
The fastest way to make him a watch guy. Wears with a suit or a hoodie.
$1,000+
Shop Now →Gifts, by budget & occasion · /graduation-gifts-for-boyfriend/
Graduation gifts for him
Graduation is the one occasion with a clear brief: he is about to start a job, and he owns almost nothing appropriate for it. The gifts that land are the ones he will need in September and would not have thought to buy.
A pen, a watch, a bag, and if the budget allows, the chair he will spend eight hours a day in.
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The first-job kit
Everything here gets used the first week and for the following decade.
Objects for a first desk
A proper pen, engraved if you have time. The gift people still have at fifty.
Cole Haan · Pens & Desk Objects
Cole Haan Lenox Hill Oxford
The step up. A proper leather oxford that will still look right in ten years with a resole.
$100–$250
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Kenneth Cole · Pens & Desk Objects
Kenneth Cole Reaction Colombian Leather Slim Portfolio
Single compartment, full leather, slim enough not to look like luggage at an interview.
$100–$250
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Cross · Pens & Desk Objects
Cross Classic Century Ballpoint Pen
Made in the USA since 1946, refillable forever, and it takes an engraving beautifully.
Under $100
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Cross · Pens & Desk Objects
Cross Coventry Personalised Ballpoint Pen
Engraved, which turns a forty-five-dollar pen into something he keeps for thirty years.
Under $100
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Moleskine · Pens & Desk Objects
Moleskine Classic Notebook, Large, Ruled, Hard Cover
The graduation present that survives the move. Hard cover, elastic band, 240 pages of whatever comes next.
Under $100
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Moleskine · Pens & Desk Objects
Moleskine Classic Soft Cover Notebook, Large, Ruled
The soft cover bends into a jacket pocket. Better for the ones who actually carry it.
Under $100
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Bruno Marc · Pens & Desk Objects
Bruno Marc Classic Comfort Oxford Shoes
Closed lacing, plain toe, nothing to argue with. Buy them before the first wedding invitation arrives.
Under $100
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MOZETO · Pens & Desk Objects
MOZETO Tie Clip Set, Four Finishes
Nobody teaches men that the tie clip goes between the third and fourth button. Now he has four and no excuse.
Under $100
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Rothwell · Pens & Desk Objects
Rothwell 12-Slot Leather Watch Box
Twelve slots and a glass lid. Turns a drawer of watches into something worth looking at.
Under $100
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Rothwell · Pens & Desk Objects
Rothwell 10-Slot Leather Watch Box
The smaller one, for a collection that is only just starting. Which after graduation it is.
Under $100
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Scriveiner · Pens & Desk Objects
Scriveiner Black Lacquer Fountain Pen
Real gold trim and a Schmidt nib at fifty dollars. Looks like it cost four times that, which is the gift.
Under $100
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Scriveiner · Pens & Desk Objects
Scriveiner Black Lacquer Rollerball Pen
The rollerball for men who will not learn to fill a fountain pen. Same weight in the hand.
Under $100
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Parker · Pens & Desk Objects
Parker IM Duo Gift Set, Ballpoint and Fountain Pen
Two pens in one box from a house that has been making them since 1888. The traditional graduation present, done properly.
Under $100
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Dannyshi · Pens & Desk Objects
Dannyshi Stainless Steel Initial Cufflinks
Ten dollars, his own initial, and the first grown-up thing in his shirt cuff.
Under $100
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SERMAN · Pens & Desk Objects
SERMAN BRANDS RFID Slim Bifold Leather Wallet with Money Clip
Thirty-eight thousand ratings, and it replaces the wallet he has had since school.
Under $100
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DiBanGu · Pens & Desk Objects
DiBanGu Silk Tie, Pocket Square and Cufflinks Set
Eighteen dollars for the whole interview kit, in a box that looks like it cost more.
Under $100
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NEWHEY · Pens & Desk Objects
NEWHEY 15.6-Inch Leather Messenger Briefcase
Walking into a first job with a backpack is the tell. This fixes it for forty dollars.
Under $100
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Main · Pens & Desk Objects
Main Street Forge Leather Valet Tray
Full-grain leather, made in the States, and it ends the hunt for keys.
Under $100
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emissary · Pens & Desk Objects
emissary Canvas and Leather Travel Dopp Kit
Twenty-two dollars to stop him packing toiletries in a carrier bag.
Under $100
Get It Here →
Graduation Gifts FAQ
What is a good graduation gift for a boyfriend?
A fountain pen or a first watch. Both mark the date, both are used at work, and both are the kind of object people keep for thirty years and remember who gave them.
What does he need for his first office job?
A bag that holds a laptop and does not look like a rucksack, one watch, one good pen, and a chair if he will be working from home. The clothes he will work out himself; the objects he will not.
What is an appropriate graduation gift budget?
Fifty to two hundred covers most graduation gifts well. The object matters more than the sum: a fifty-dollar pen that gets engraved outlasts a two-hundred-dollar gadget that is superseded in two years.
Should a graduation gift be practical or sentimental?
Both, if you can manage it — which is why engravable things dominate this page. A pen, a watch box or a leather portfolio is useful on Monday and still meaningful in a decade, which a gift card never is.