EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE DOLLARS?!?
Hat tip to Phillip D for the style tip.
How very un-Fossil-like pricing of them. But this brings up an interesting question: What’s in a name? Find some fancy-pants, heritage, luxury watchmaker, and a basic Swiss made automatic is going to cost more through them. To some, that name gives the piece a boost. But Fossil? You see the name Fossil and you expect it to be inexpensive. Accessible. These things are hundreds more than a Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic
Specs are as follows: 38mm in diameter so on the small side. Sapphire crystal and an exhibition caseback. Water resistance is just 50m. 46 hour power reserve. Movement is a 26 jewel “STP-1-11 Swiss Made Movement“… (?)
They’re also selling a quartz version for… wait for it… $695, and a quartz chrono for $895. The styling is a big upgrade over the usually chunky, younger leaning styles that Fossil makes (they’ve also had a few slick, vintage-inspired watches in the past), but are these prices in line with what you’d expect? Or is this sort of like American Eagle cranking out a $700 cashmere topcoat? Or does it even matter? This is the very same company who makes watches for Burberry, and some of those are quartz chronos that run two-grand. Cast your vote & leave your take in the comments below.
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Hahahaha.
Look, fossil are new to the game.
I’m not going to pay those numbers for a watch from a manufacturer like this (who I like!) who doesn’t have a proven track record on pieces like this.
I can’t see these being sensibly sold for anything over 400, and that’s a stretch.
Fossil owns a “fairly” well known (typically Swiss Made) brand called Zodiac, which historically (since the brand has been reintroduced) used ClaroSeaMag “Swiss” Automatic movements, love the styling of this watch, but not worth more than $500.00.
This was a huge disappointment for myself, who went from loving Fossil watches in high school to developing a small collection of legitimate watch brands including Seiko, Tissot, and the 2012 Maratac Pilot (Miyota movement). Fossil isn’t even using a well-known/reliable ETA movement, which I could have for much less than $895. Dare I ask how much they would want for an auto chrono with a Valjoux-clone in it?
This is a pure example of a brand trying to cater to a niche market, and failing miserably. Maybe they should stick to trendy <$100 quartz watches and decent leather goods.
Go home, Fossil. You're drunk.
For that price, you can just get a Burberry watch.
They’re also made by Fossil, but at least you’re paying for a better name.
I would not pay that much. I don’t know what else to say.
Their site, as linked at the top, actually has it for $995.
That being said, I wonder if it will fall into the Invicta-ish (and similar – and yes, I love my Invicta 8926,so let’s not go down that path again here – doh!) category of huge MSRP/huger markdown, with some selling price around $200 or less. Dunno. Looks nice, but I’d never pay that kinda dough for it, personally.
I’m just confused about who Fossil thinks they’re marketing to. People who care about the “prestige” of Swiss mechanical watches are not going to buy them because, well, they’re Fossil. People who normally go for Fossil watches aren’t going to buy them because they’re $1000 for no apparent reason.
In any case, you can get Swiss autos for half this price from Hamilton, Christopher Ward, Tissot, VSA, as well as more obscure brands like Certina and Mido. At full price you are starting to get into Longines, TAG, and even used Sinn, Oris, Nomos, or possibly Omega territory. I just can’t see anyone plunking down a grand for a Fossil watch when there are so many desirable options in that price range.
I think the reason most of wear nice watches from brands like Tissot or Tag or Longines is for the name and name recognition by others who may spot them. When your sleeve shifts up and someone catches a glimpse of your Tag and they say “Nice watch” then you know your goal has been achieved. When the same thing happens and they spot it as a Fossil, they are going to think “Nice $135 watch”. It would be like driving a 7 series BMW that was rebadged as a Kia.
People that like Fossil will not spend $1000 on one and people that will spend $1000 on a watch don’t want a Fossil. This is a really silly exercise.
They should have branded it a Burberry.
Branding failure. Should be a seperate name. That’s why nobody bought a VW Phaeton.
Every Fossil i’ve had the hands literally fell off the face. No thanks
Ah. Rose gold is nine. Others are $895. Didn’t catch that.
I was under the impression that fossil was an umbrella company for some of the bigger names… why not just slap one of those on this watch, silly fossil
I think there’s a ton of truth to that. But there’s also a good segment of the watch wearing public that would really rather not talk about their watch. Seems counter-intuitive, but when I’m out the last thing I want to do is have some guy (or gal) talk about anything I’m wearing, watch or otherwise.
If you have to pay for a name to make you cool, you never will be.
Just not a fan, no thanks.
FWIW it they were priced like other Fossils at the $100 point i would go for it
I will stick with my Orients.
I’ll just carefully replace the word fossil with burberry, then suddenly it will be worth 1k because it’s a swiss automatic burberry watch.
Not new:
From research –
Their brands include Fossil, Relic, Abacus, Michele Watch, Skagen and Zodiac Watches.
Fossil also makes watches for brands such as Adidas, Emporio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Burberry, DKNY, Diesel and Armani Exchange.
For about $1,000….
Option 1: pre-owned Rolex Air King. You can sell at any time and get back what you paid for it, and either upgrade or downgrade.
Option 2: a new Hamilton, Longines, etc. that carries a respectable brand, a decent reputation, a proven movement, and will hold some value.
Option 3: (1) Seiko auto diver + (1) dressier Orient + (1) cool, worn out, vintage Swiss watch from a lesser brand + a bunch of different straps and bracelets.
Option 4: a cheap looking watch with a brand name that screams “department store,” has a movement of unknown origin, and will likely be worth next to nothing the second you pay for it.
How is the Formula 1 sponsor CERTINA, and official supplier for a lot of international competitions obscure?
Get yourself a Orient Bambino for $182, Beautiful watch and automatic. Used a promo where I got an automatic Bambino and a free quartz for $182.
Certina may be well known outside of North America, but it is almost unheard-of here in America and Canada where there is virtually no distribution/retail network and few people follow Formula 1.
They advertise it as a Swiss made movement, looks like a 2824-2 but the real give away of what it is, is the 26 jewels. It has to be a Selita SW200 movement. This isn’t a shabby movement, I have one in my Tag Heuer Aquaracer and it is getting on average +2 to +3 seconds a day.