Monday, February 16, 2026 |
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Getting into watches is, on its face, not something to be scared of. It's just another thing you buy, wear, and use. But the wealth of history around watches and watch brands—along with the worldwide community of watch nerds, of which we are card-carrying members—makes a simple buying decision feel monumental. If you've ever felt lost when deciding on a watch brand to invest in, we wrote an explainer of the top names you should know. Read it below and figure out what you want. Or, if you're already a watch guy and want to argue about my omissions, send me an email: luke.guillory@hearst.com. All readers are welcome. – Luke Guillory, commerce editor |
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Whether you're a first-time buyer or discerning collector. |
The world of watches is wide, expansive. Though certain aficionados might tell you otherwise, cultivating a "best watch brands," list is a wildly subjective venture. Someone who grew up interested in racing might rate TAG Heuer ahead of the Rolex and Omega, which could cause a fight with a guy who thinks of John Mayer as a collector, not a musician or knows where that Daniel Craig meme actually came from. (Hint, it's a Dialed In video.) Regardless, this is an endeavor Esquire must take on. We're not going to rank watch brands; that's actually idiotic. Instead, we'll present you—perhaps a first-time buyer, maybe a true collector looking for an argument—with a list of the brands you need to know. No matter your price range and your preferences, there is a watch for you. On a budget? Casio, Seiko, and Swatch are there for you. For dress watches, there's the likes of Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, and Piaget. And if you want more high horology, there's plenty of brands to dig into. |
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Hoka is one of those brands that rarely hosts a big flashy sale, but if you know when and where to look (and we do), you can find some surprising deals. Holiday weekends or the change of seasons are both solid times to shop, and Presidents' Day happens to be both. So, we dug up all the editor-loved Hoka shoes on discount, up to 35 percent off. While the bulk of the deals can be found on Hoka's site, Nordstrom and Zappos are offering discounts on some popular picks, like the cushioned Arahi 8 and ultra-lightweight Mach 6. Even cult-favorites like the Bondi and Clifton are on sale. |
Caleb McLaughlin has officially mastered New York swag. It's not something tangible, it's a vibe—an if-you-know-you-know thing. And it was all over Coach's New York Fashion Week runway. Which, of course, is where the Strangers Things star was, clad in a head-to-toe look meticulously curated by the brand's creative director, Stuart Vevers. "This was actually my very first Coach show so I was happy to attend, and my outfit was handpicked by Stuart himself," McLaughlin tells me over the phone the day after the show. "I loved the contrast with the leather jacket, the blue jeans, and the button-up." The cotton patchwork oxford shirt from the brand's Repurposed collection was paired with sleek sneakers and the real star of the outfit, the barrel bag and its miniature book charms. "I feel like it was cool to add charms to the bag. It had a charm of one of Maya Angelou's books on it. Happy Black History Month!" the actor exclaimed. "The bag has this nice color palette contrast, too—with Maya Angelou's book and a blue book of Little Fires Everywhere. I loved the look that I had. It was different, too. And it kind of went with just the New York style, New York swag." |
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 Denim. The People's Fabric. That blazing blue badge of sartorial democratization. We all know jeans, we all love jeans, and we all know that jeans are for everyone. But that doesn't mean that all denim is created equal. It may be The People's Fabric, but some jeans are just plain better than others. And the trick is knowing how to tell the good from the bad, the quality from the hype. No one knows that trick better than Paul O'Neill, design director of collections at Levi Strauss & Co., and the mastermind behind Levi's Vintage Clothing and Levi's Blue Tab. A true denim head, O'Neill first fell in love with blue jeans as a kid. His dad wore a faded pair of 501s on the weekends, and he could never quite get the image of them out of his head. Vintage Levi's became a passion, eventually leading to a career designing both authentic recreations of historic Levi's for LVC and modern originals for premium collections like Blue Tab. Along the way, O'Neill has absorbed just about every nuance of high-quality denim, from 19th century denim "overalls" to hand-spun, rope-dyed modern Japanese dungarees. So we tapped into that expertise to give you this five-point guide (plus a bonus tip) on how to spot a great pair of jeans. |
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Caleb McLaughlin has officially mastered New York swag. It's not something tangible, it's a vibe—an if-you-know-you-know thing. And it was all over Coach's New York Fashion Week runway. Which, of course, is where the Strangers Things star was, clad in a head-to-toe look meticulously curated by the brand's creative director, Stuart Vevers. "This was actually my very first Coach show so I was happy to attend, and my outfit was handpicked by Stuart himself," McLaughlin tells me over the phone the day after the show. "I loved the contrast with the leather jacket, the blue jeans, and the button-up." |
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Arc'teryx Rain Shells, Patagonia Puffers, and More Are Up to 50% Off at REI Right Now |
President's Day weekend and Valentine's Day weekend are one in the same this year, which means a few things: One, you have an extra day to extend the romance, so you can plan a long weekend of love for your partner. And two, there are tons of sales going on to let you buy the little present you deserve for yourself. Your therapist probably tells you self-love is important, so...show your self some love. As always, Esquire's shopping team has been keeping an eye out for sales and have already found some great deals popping up at some of our favorite brands, like Apple, Yeti, and Hoka—and now, we're looking to REI for markdowns on all the outdoorsy apparel and gear we could ever want. |
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Charles Knowles remembers very little about that sunny afternoon in Florida almost ten years ago. He certainly doesn't remember much about the night before. But one image is firmly burned into his brain: He was sitting alone on the wooden deck of a friend's house in Delray Beach with a half-empty bottle of Bacardi in one hand and a gun in the other. "The thought that was going through my mind was the world might be better off without me," he tells me during a video call in early January. For the previous seven years, Knowles had an on-off affair with alcohol. He had become an avid long-distance runner, getting so good that even at age 47, he was running a sub-five-minute mile. Plantar fasciitis and knee problems eventually put a stop to his effective diversion—and alcohol reentered his life. By that point, Knowles had steadily nourished a decades-long relationship with booze. It was not a good one. By age 18, he recalls, he was already drinking most people under the table. Researchers once came to his high school to conduct an experiment on the stimulating effects of alcohol by administering two double shots of vodka to students. (Probably a good time to mention that this was in the UK.) Knowles drank his and those of the girl sitting next to him. By the time he was 30, he knew he was an alcoholic. |
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There isn't any music on The Pitt. Instead, the medical drama's sound designers take extra care to make sure that every beeping machine, keyboard clack, and nasty bowel impaction sounds as real as it does in an actual hospital. So, when HBO Max reached out to multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird to write an original song for season 2, he knew he was taking on a real first for the series. As Bird explained to me over Zoom ahead of episode 6, the trouble with writing lyrical music for TV is that "the song has to encapsulate what the characters are feeling without being too on the nose." The Pitt does well to avoid schmaltz, and it helps that there isn't a musical score that eases audiences toward how they should feel. But when a patient's death devastates the cast in episode 6, viewers won't need any emotional manipulation to sympathize with the PTMC crew. |
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The world of watches is wide, expansive. Though certain aficionados might tell you otherwise, cultivating a "best watch brands," list is a wildly subjective venture. Someone who grew up interested in racing might rate TAG Heuer ahead of the Rolex and Omega, which could cause a fight with a guy who thinks of John Mayer as a collector, not a musician or knows where that Daniel Craig meme actually came from. (Hint, it's a Dialed In video.) Regardless, this is an endeavor Esquire must take on. We're not going to rank watch brands; that's actually idiotic. Instead, we'll present you—perhaps a first-time buyer, maybe a true collector looking for an argument—with a list of the brands you need to know. No matter your price range and your preferences, there is a watch for you. On a budget? Casio, Seiko, and Swatch are there for you. For dress watches, there's the likes of Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, and Piaget. And if you want more high horology, there's plenty of brands to dig into. So whether you want an investment that'll sit on your dresser or something affordable to beat up year-round, we've got options. And for the sake of simplicity, we'll just order them alphabetically. Find your new favorite watch brand right here. |
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