We are delighted to continue our journey in a series we’re calling The European Special introduced in May 2021. Unlike the first issue, the second issue is quite lengthy and for all the number nerds out there, the second issue is mainly a supplement to Volume 4 Issue 1 in 1997 although this newsletter has quite the mix of content from late 1996.

Now let’s get onto some witty commentary on a few topics that stuck out.

Right away on the first page you see the fan favorite the Defender from the DE line. What is interesting is that the 2 automatic versions featured here (DE-1526 and DE-1527) were never mentioned in the US versions of the newsletters AND both watches that reside in my collection were sourced from eBay in Germany….hmm.

A Fossil watch exchange for club members? Ah the 90’s when you could get away with that without signing terms & conditions and recipients wouldn’t scam others. We’ve said it before, but this would be amazing today, but legal departments disagree!

The Collector’s Convention has been covered before, but this time we have photo evidence of Joachim winning that sweet jacket. Where are you Joachim? Anybody out there still have the Collector’s Convention t-shirt in a tin? In all the years collecting Fossil merch, we’ve only ever seen one shirt hit eBay and for $50 it was a great item to take a picture of and move on!

A Fossil congratulations on your birthday? Sign me up – June 26

Similar to a US newsletter this version has some numbers of members, which is GOLD. 1000 members in Germany, 150 in Italy and other members from Norway, Spain, France, Czechoslovakia and 7 more countries not listed. Later in the newsletter we even get the name of the 1000th member in Germany, Utz Bartsch from Berlin. Utz is now 64 years old and I wonder if he still has those 120 watches? Utz where are you?

A rarity from Fossil is such a nice limited-edition list. For long time fans you’ll remember that way back in 2012 we created the ultimate list with the help of an ex-Fossil employee and we’re happy to report our list is still the ultimate and accurate list.

Explore the limited edition checklist here:
http://www.undergroundfossilcollectors.club/blog/2010/4/26/fossil-limited-edition-check-list.html

Way back in 1996 Volume 3 Issue 5 we covered almost verbatim the Beatles pieces along with Fossil 2002 featured here. Same article and content has been recycled – see why we said some old 1996 content made its way to early 1997?

Almost done! Let’s discuss the Oldham pieces. Not much is known on these pieces and that includes the production numbers. The pieces seen over the years don’t have any 1 of 5000 listed on the back of the case, but maybe on the packaging there was some indication of limited numbers. These pieces are rare, but as always rare doesn’t mean valuable and recent sales indicate these didn’t hold up. Fossil collectors enjoy seeing the Fossil logo on things and these pieces were seen as promotional items similar to “Fossil” watches for Universal Studios, Disney, etc.

Last but not least is Heino! He’s made the newsletter and you can guarantee that the towel and sandals pictured here with him, he still has along with the watch he won! Congratulations again!