Thanks for the ideas. I've thought about a watch. I have a few swiss autos including a submariner I rarely wear anymore. I like the idea of something he'll have for a long time.
I was researching military watches and the Marathon SAR and GSAR pop up. The quartz is $450 and auto is $700 which is doable.
While I like the motorcycle trip idea, he hasn't brought up bikes in a while and I only have one VFR, one set of gear, etc. We will do that eventually. I'd like to do an Alaska trip when he graduates college.