Thursday, October 23, 2025 |
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Ask any knife person from around the world what the best bang-for-your-buck pocket knife company is, and chances are they'll say Opinel. America, England, France, Japan—all these places have collectors obsessed with Opinel knives, but new ones are still made in France of the same materials and only cost around $20. What's the deal? And how is that even possible? Our shopping team sent one of our writers to the French Alps to meet the Opinel family, tool around the archive, and figure out why he's obsessed with this 135-year-old knife company.
– Luke Guillory, commerce editor Plus: |
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We flew to France to see how the 135-year-old family-run company has a pedigree others simply cannot match.
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Knives have long been a strong personal fascination for me. Not in the Norman Bates Psycho kind of way, but rather in the execution of a good tool. I got my first knife by happenstance, in elementary school, on a camping trip with two friends and our collected group of dads. We drove 15 minutes from home into a marshy forest and whittled sticks while our dads drank lukewarm beers. My friends had pocketknives; I didn't. I was reduced to the shame of borrowing. At the end of the trip, my friend's dad took pity on me graciously gifted me a Swiss Army knife that he had "found" just lying around the camp. I was delighted—and the delight stuck. I write about knives now, and so have expanded my collection accordingly—from $650 titanium works of art from The James Brand to handsome, carbon-steel Japanese kitchen blades that require more tenderness than my infant daughter. Unlike watches, mechanical complexity isn't the draw here. My favorite knives have always been the ones that celebrate simplicity, knives designed to be used, everyday objects of intimate art that disappear into your pocket until you need them. |
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Ever since its registration in 1926—and certainly since its watchmaking activities began in earnest in 1946—Tudor has lived somewhat in the shadow of its sister company, Rolex. However, ever since the firm's return to the U.S. market in 2013, a steady yet inexorable change has taken place: What was once merely the affordable alternative to one of the most well-known luxury brands in the world has since become a watchmaking phenomenon, with in-house movements, unique designs, and a tremendous catalog of popular models on offer. And while it may not have the ubiquity of Rolex, Tudor has become one of the most beloved watchmakers among the horological cognoscenti. Part of this has to do with relative affordability, to be sure: While Rolex has continued its transformation from (mostly) dedicated tool watch manufacturer to luxury maison, Tudor has remained in the former position, offering hardy divers and other models for well under $10k—and often under $5k. |
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If you ask Kaitlin Olson to tell you the best day of her life, she'll immediately have an answer for you. While cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans last winter, the longtime It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia actress—and star of the ABC crime drama High Potential—finally heard something other than "Shut up, bird!" from her rabid fan base. "High Potential had come out, and there were so many brand-new fans who just knew me as Morgan," Olson tells me between filming episodes of season 2. "It was really fun." Olson enters the second season of High Potential, on which she stars as police consultant Morgan Gillory. Though Olson's character begins the series as a cleaning woman, she helps the homicide department solve a case by fixing their murder board in Good Will Hunting style and then transitions to something of a part-time detective. |
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