There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
For knives, a great starter is the Victorinox Fibrox https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Fibrox-Chefs-Knife-8-Inch/dp/B008M5U1C2/ along with it's 3.25 inch paring knife https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Paring-Knife-Straight-Spear/dp/B0019WXPQY/ . The final piece would be the bread knife https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Cutlery-7-Inch-Fibrox-Handle/dp/B0019WZ648/ .
These knives should last well until he can pass them down to his kids and replace them with something nicer. If you've gotta choose one, go with the chef's knife. These 3 knives will be sufficient for 99% of cooking. Any knife set that requires you to get more than these (exception being steak knives for eating with) is pretty much a scam.
Side gifts to go along with it, or to tell other people to get him for Christmas when people inevitably ask you what to get him would be a magnetic rack, any will do, that's the best way to store the knives without risk of hurting the blade, or yourself. Next up would be a method of sharpening, ignore the drag through sharpening things, they're mostly junk, a good place to start would be with a guided set such as the Lansky: https://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Standard-Coarse-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8L6LI/ . It'll work wonders for your knives too!
Current prices on all 5 of those items via the links brings it to $104.50 with the following breakdown: Chef Knife: $35.96 Paring Knife: $6.46 Bread Knife: $31.60 Tenderizer: $7.99 Sharpener: $22.49