The One Sale I'm Not Skipping

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Black Friday prices can be deceiving. This week, our style director, Jonathan Evans, reminded me of that when he pointed out that for the first time in a long time, watch brands and retailers are finally hosting big sales—ones where consumers actually save real money. It's easy to say something is on sale for a quick $20 discount, but we all know that's not cutting it. Jonathan dug deep into the Internet and found a handful of watches we'd actually recommend buying, for up to 45 percent off. Here you can shop his list of approved pieces. Whether you're looking for yourself or someone else, this is the one sale you shouldn't miss this weekend.

—Krista Jones, commerce director

19 Black Friday Watch Deals We Firmly Endorse

Don't miss out on some seriously well-priced timepieces.

Black Friday is a fantastic time to score an enviable deal on a great watch. There's just one problem: Black Friday is also a fantastic time to believe that you scored an enviable deal on a great watch when, in fact, you either paid the same you would have in October or got duped into buying something from a brand that values flash over substance (in other words, a shitty watch). When every retailer is shouting about low prices and shoving a bunch of shiny objects into your shopping feed, it's only reasonable to worry about winding up in the latter camp.

That's where we come in. We've scoured the internet for Black Friday watch deals that don't just look great but actually are great. We're talking about legit discounts on watches that we'd endorse buying even if they weren't on sale. Now, the watch world being what it is, that means you need to temper your expectations if you're in the market for a grail like a Daytona or a Speedmaster. The big guys simply don't play this game; same for most of the microbrands that bewitch bloggers and buyers alike.

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The 39 Best Movies of 2025 (So Far)

Over the past couple of months, I've been on a moviegoing marathon. I took in as much as I could out of the fall festivals, new releases, and, of course, some spooky season classics. But it wasn't until seeing Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another that I got the movie high I'm always chasing.

The film—which I've now seen multiple times, in multiple formats (apologies for being that guy!)—is a reminder of what big blockbusters are capable of. Once Battle After Another has several exhilarating chase sequences and stellar movie-star performances, sure. It's also a story about complicated people that doesn't shy away from the horrors happening outside the movie theater. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, and I prayed that AMC would recut the Nicole Kidman ad to include clips of this amazing film.

By Max Cea

Why One of England's Richest Men Spent $2 Billion to Make His Dream Car

I'm drifting off to sleep when I hear what sounds like a couple of African bush elephants headed straight for my tent. Hours earlier, when our group checked into our luxury camp on the banks of Botswana's Okavango Delta, we were each handed an air horn for emergencies. Yes, this feels like an emergency.

After blasting the horn twice, I wait in the dark, suddenly worried that I've made a deadly mistake. Would the siren keep the elephants away, or provoke them? Soon a stranger climbs through the flaps of my tent, sidestepping the pair of lingering pachyderms. She tucks a blanket over me and hands me a half-empty Botswanan beer. Soon both the elephants and I are calm and ready to settle down for the night. (I learn the next morning that my beer-bearing visitor was not a vigilant camp hand but a gregarious bush pilot named Tammy, a fellow guest at Machaba Gomoti Camp.)

If the question is How did I get here? the answer is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a billionaire British businessman I had never met, and his nearly $2 billion gamble on shepherding his dream car from an idea on a beer coaster into reality.

By Jaclyn Trop