What Happened To Fossil Watches?

The global watchmaking industry has changed since the introduction of the smartphone and as demand for fitness trackers and smartwatches grow. Legacy watchmakers, like Fossil, have had to adapt and give customers new reasons to keep timepieces on their wrists. The company has been planning for the future by bringing its own smartwatches to market, initiating a multi-year turnaround plan and focusing on growing markets in China and India. But will that be enough?

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What Happened To Fossil Watches?

[janoycresnova]

Rise of smart watches is killing Fossil. Here, saved you 15 mins.

[cooperbeggs]

I started with a smart watch. Then dropped it about 3 years ago and started wearing a quartz watch. Then two years ago started really getting into mechanical and classic watches. Now I have a whole collection and haven't worn a smart watch in over 2 years.

[ryan_robertson]

As a former fossil employee there are a few things missed in this story. 1) they were way ahead of their time with smart watches. They experimented with Bluetooth well before apple new how to spell watch. The development was shelved. 2)The real issue with their decline was their rapid success in early 2010. The company hires a lot of bright young talent and those ppl are poor business makers. 3) the cell phone was more of a reason for the watch decline. And it was the reason why others were looking into smart watch design.
Finally two fun facts 1) no B roll of the Headquarters in Richardson. 2) good luck finding a picture of Kosta. Pictures of him were no allowed.

[lastmanstanding]

I've purchased several Fossil watches back in the day based on two factors:
1. I liked the many different styles they had.
2. I especially liked the metal boxes they came in.

[stevenbingham]

I have been a watch collector for over 40yrs. I currently have over 50 Fossil watches including all of the Star Wars, Star Trek & Harry Potter Theme sets. One of the coolest things about the Fossil brand is some of the boxes are as cool as or even cooler than the watches. I would be very sad to see them go out of business.

[Kryptonite]

Became a fossil, self fulfilling prophecy.

[loveCUsmile]

Everyone remembers Fossil but I remember Seiko.

[vnnmnuz]

As someone who used to work as a Fossil sales associate, they try to cater to too many customers with too many different styles. Some of their things are classic and actually well made, other things are glittery, tacky and cheap. They need to commit to one or the other...

[zoterocitlalcoatl]

My mother bought me a Fossil diver style watch when I graduated HS and got into college on a full academic scholarship. I was the first in my family to go to college, so it was kind of a big deal for us. That was my first "real" watch, which I still wear. I'm more in the Seiko space these day's, but I remember in 2001 this was the hot watch brand for sure.

[astrokun]

I have a Fossil watch and it may not be a luxury brand for the majority but I already consider it a luxury brand it was my first watch that I bought with my own money and I’m proud of it! My next goal is to own a Rado watch that I will gift myself for my graduation ❤

[fevinman]

Bought two fossil watches going into college a few years ago, really got me into the watch industry. Since then I’ve been pretty happy with the watches themselves but have moved to buying higher quality brands under the Swatch Group like Tissot and Rado. Definitely owe Fossil a lot though for getting me invested in watches

[ngi_]

I hate smart watches cus you gotta charge them every single day, plus tech gets old really fast. You'll have to change a new smart watch every couple of years cus maybe battery permanently dies or it gets too slow. Classical watches don't have these problems.

[osm]

I have a couple of Fossils and honestly they're pretty good looking watches

[zamanthamoody]

My first Fossil watch lasted me 15 years. Only changed the battery 4 times. For me fossil is quality personified. I have several fossil watches, purses, handbags. I'll never wear another brand. People go crazy over Michael Kors products when they are actually made by fossil. But at the end of the day, the beauty of it all is that there is a brand and style for everyone, for every preference.

[mr.e]

“Other legacy watch makers have had to adapt…"
Fossil is not a legacy watch maker, they’re a fashion brand. Nobody that knows anything about watches put fossil in the same category as Breitling, Rolex, or even Vostok for that matter.

[advaith]

I was attending my online classes but this seems to be important.

[mohanaryal]

I still wear Fossil watch which was a gift by my brother. It’s been more than 5 years and it still works fine.

[npaul]

Fossil is in the position Nokia was in not too long ago. They are very good at their core capabilities, but the market no longer favors what they are best at and the world is no longer in sync with their historic sales model. This places them in a very tough spot.

[amylee]

I have a Fossil watch that has lasted YEARS without service. It even ended up in the washing machine and when I took it out 45 minutes later, it looked exactly the same. Zero water damage and the little stones still intact. If that’s not high quality, I don’t know what is.

[JavierBonillaC]

It touched my heart when they he said “a Rolex becomes part of your story”…. That’s right; including the day somebody put a gun to my head to take it from me. That’s my Rolex story.