idazzle - an insider's guide to jewelry

Great Gift Ideas for Men: Cufflinks

I’ve done a few gift guides lately (Women’s Essentials, Ideas under $500, and Designer Jewelry Wishlist), but I can’t forget the guys!

I know, every gift list for men has cufflinks, but what else besides a watch and maybe a wedding ring are guys going to wear? And they can collect multiple pairs, which is a bonus for the stumped gift-giver. Of course, this means that they need to wear a french-cuff shirt, but there are enough relatively casual shirt designs out there that you could convince even the most reluctant guy to wear. Here are some favorite cufflinks:

Classic

For a more traditional guy, you can’t go wrong with simple sterling silver ovals that can be engraved from Blue Nile:

Vintage:

I love these vintage watch movement cufflinks, available from Cuffart.com. They are a pretty reasonable price, and would appeal to “watch guys”, as well:

Geek/Tech

Come on now, who could resist cufflinks with a specific (and meaningful) latitude and longitude, as figured out on Google Maps? Cleverly done with vintage metal stamps, the type is charmingly offset:

General Awesomeness

Every time I time I look at these cufflinks from award-winning blogger and superstar jewelry designer Wendy Brandes, I laugh out loud. EVERY time. I especially admire her creative use of the rubies:

Wendy also does some very cool skulls, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Shiny

If you’re looking for an affordable option that still has some sparkle, this pair from Amazon.com is a great choice: nice style, great price, prime shipping:

I really like the shape of these John Hardy “Naga” cufflinks. They are a little spendy, but the combination of the pave-set black and blue sapphires makes for interesting sparkle. They have nice details, too: the sides and back are finished with engraving. They are available from independent jeweler J.R. Dunn, or visit John Hardy’s website to find a local jeweler near you:

This is just a starting point–the good news is that there are a lot of cufflink designs out there from $30 to $3000; some of the designers and retailers above have many other great options. Let me know if you need a hook up with a great Local Jeweler, I can try to help you out!