The Anniversary Watch Gift Guide

A mechanical watch is one of the few gifts that is designed to be serviced and kept running indefinitely. Bought well, it is still on his wrist at the twentieth anniversary, which is exactly the sentiment you are trying to express.

It is also worn daily, which separates it from almost every other traditional anniversary gift. It becomes part of how he looks rather than something on a shelf.

The right anniversary watch reflects what the two of you actually do. You travel: a GMT that tracks a second time zone, or a tough diver that has been in the sea with you. Your life is restaurants, theatres and weddings: a slim dress watch that belongs at those tables. His ideal Sunday is a long walk and a pub lunch: a field watch on leather that suits exactly that.

Think about the man he is at home, not the man in the shop window. If he fixes things, cooks, and reads the manual for fun, he will love a watch with real mechanics inside it. If he is effortlessly tidy and minimal, give him the cleanest dial you can find.

Engraving the caseback is the classic move and worth doing — a date and three words is enough. Keep it short; casebacks are small and restraint reads better than sentiment.

The alternative is choosing the watch itself as the message: the year of the wedding echoed in a vintage-styled design, a diver for the coast you always go back to, or a dress watch if the next decade involves more occasions than the last.

For most anniversaries, a refined dress watch or an elegant everyday automatic is the right register — more considered than a tool watch, more wearable than something precious.

For a milestone year, this is the moment to step into the serious end of the catalogue. A watch bought for a tenth or twentieth anniversary is the one that gets handed down.

Buy from an authorised seller and keep the papers. The warranty matters, and the full set of box and documents is part of what makes the watch feel like an occasion piece.

If you are unsure of the exact model, give the watch with a note offering to exchange the reference together. Most men would rather be consulted at this price point, and it does not diminish the gesture.