Fossil Road Trip Retrospective -- all about anniversaries

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As you know Fossil is celebrating the big 3-0 this year, it's a huge deal. I'm super pumped for some of the 30th anniversary watches they've released on their sites so far and excited to see more. I've already bought 2 (don't tell my wife). I bought the LE1018 limited edition watch with all the 30th anniversary goodness and I bought the Special Edition Townsman Three-Hand Leather Watch - Brown FS4899.

Now let's get vintage: 20 years ago Fossil released the 10th anniversary commemorative watch with Fred Q. Fossil on the tin and on the dial. Watch details:

  • LE-9447
  • 10,000 made
  • Released in June 1994
  • $60.00 original retail

From the tin:
This Limited Edition Watch was produced to Commemorate FOSSIL's 10th Anniversary. This is one of a 10,000 piece series commemorating this event.

20 years ago Fossil also released this 10th anniversary brochure called the Road Trip Retrospective. I've scanned all the pages and you can see some of the watches through the years 1984-1994 along with some facts about the 80's and 90's.

Throughout the 12 pages it tells the following story:

"Time changes, styles change, a nation changes, you change your socks. What remains constant is a need to express ourselves & relax. Chasing down the ice-cream truck,, a trip to Graceland, a walk with the dog, or maybe a Song in the Shower. It's your choice not your Cousin Edna's to express, to be heard & most importantly, understood. Even if we don't share the same language or travel the same road."

Last anniversary to celebrate is the launch of this site. Fossil Collectors Club has been around for exactly 4 years (to the day)!

 

a new year and a new post

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I need to confess my sins to everyone. It's been a year since my last post and I can't believe it - I'm horrible! My hobby hasn't changed and neither has my pursuit of collecting Fossil watches and corporate swag. I bought more watches in 2013 than any other year (don't tell my wife), but in the same breath 2013 was the busiest year of my professional career. I travelled all over the world and as glamorous as it sounds, it's a lot of work and prepartion before the fact. 2014 proves to be a better year for work/life balance and I'm already working on some changes to this site for 2014 -- it's on my goals for 2014, so it will get done!

Happy New Year to all. Here's some of my thoughts for site in 2014.

  • I'm working on a new site design a new domain registrar. The URL will stay the same, but the look and feel will be changed. I've already upgraded Squarespace to the new platform and working on the bugs with the migration from their 5 platform to 6. So far I am not happy with the template selection and not savvy enough to make it look "vintage".
  • Looking at ways to make the site more interactive. I've met some greater Fossil nuts than me on this journey and I want to give them the opportunity to post and/or share their knowledge -- right now the posts are limited to me (I apologize).
  • I'm toying with removing the forum and just forcing everyone to use Facebook.
  • If you aren't on the Facebook page, please join -- I'm much more active on there and so are you!
  • Open to suggestions from anyone!
  • The majority of the web traffic to this site is people looking for Fossil Defender. I have plenty more Defenders to post, but I'm going to remove the prices off of the Defender guide. The prices on eBay are awfully high lately and I shutter to think it's my fault.

There you have it. What's in store for the future.

I leave you with my latest find. It's a new Fossil watch still sold in stores, I got a great deal on it over the holidays at the outlet store in Jeffersonville, Ohio. It's a JR-1432 Compass Chronograph Leather Watch.

Cheers and Happy collecting in 2014!

Happy Anniversary from my wife to me -- JR-1432

A Happy Ending With A Fossil Speedway

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One of the series that I haven't talked about on the site before is Fossil Speedway. I don't know many details on this series, but I'm working on it. All I know is there is a few standouts that I've been looking for and I finally bagged one. I also had a Fossil Speedway t'shirt in college, bonus points?

A few weeks ago I picked up this gem on eBay for $20. It was listed just as a Fossil men's watch, no mention of Speedway, obviously it's a bit scratched, needed a battery and the band had to go. I've seen similar models (FS-2899 and FS-2900) all cleaned up with the correct metal band sell for $50 and I've almost bought them before on eBay, but $50 is steep.

Took the watch with me on vacation last week in hopes of finding a replacement band for it at the Fossil outlet store. On the long drive home we stopped at the Fossil Outlet store in Jeffersonville, Ohio looking for a band. I asked the guy at the counter if they sold replacement bands and to my surprise he opened a drawer full of official Fossil replacement bands! So for all those posts about replacement bands, check out your local Fossil store, not sure if the main stores carry them or if it's only the outlet -- either way for $13.50 I got a new dark brown leather band for my previously loved Fossil Speedway FS-2900. Employees at the store put the new band on, I brought the watch home and cleaned up some of the scratches with Brasso and here it is.

Fossil Defender watch FOB DE-1523

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Here's an oddball Defender I picked up late last year. Comes with a canvas keychain FOB and the watch trim is painted a military green. I've never seen this in any catalogs or brochures and maybe because it definitely belongs to a niche market of oddball fans (me and probably you).

Watch is model DE 1523. Even though the picture makes the face look huge, the face is not much bigger than any ordinary modern watch, about 43 mm. I've updated the Defender Series Guide to include this new find.

Fossil Defender DE-1523

Fossil Flight Collection Video

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Here's a video posted on Fossil’s Facebook and YouTube channels that I can really get behind around regarding their Fossil Flight Collection. Be cooler if the watches were Fossil Defenders from the 90's, but very well done video that embodies that aviation spirit we love!

United Airlines MileagePlus program has Fossil watches

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This is not an advertisement in any way, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my Contential frequent flyer points have merged with the United MileagePlus program and the merchandise selections are much better. With Contential One Pass all I ever did with my points was get magazine subscriptions and bid on football tickets.

United MileagePlus currently has 7 men's watches including a Dean Stainless Steel Watch that has been bookmarked in my browser for a long time now. When I first checked the site it was available for 13,400 points and now it's at 10,100 points, it may have something to do with my status in the program, but either way it's a great deal for a $115 watch that I've wanted for sometime now.

Check out the Fossil items here.

 

Fossil Defender pics from 1999

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I posted these on Facebook last week, but here are the high-res versions in a slideshow. I pulled these images from a Fossil Book that I have from Japan. Book is dated 1999 and these pages are last in the book in a section called, The Future. Some of these I've not seen before, but I'm on the hunt now! Below the slideshow I've posted the original scans for those of you who want more details (or can read Japanese).

Fossil Winter Catalog 95-96

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Please enjoy. I find this catalog very useful in research and overall nostalgia. The images are rather large in the slideshow below and I know this -- I did it to showcase the model numbers and prices that are in Deutsche Marks. I've also posted the gallery along with a few others in the main navigation of the site under Catalog Scans.

Fossil - Universal Monster Series

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Here's a nice timely post about 2 weeks past Halloween. I've always liked these watches, but have never purchased any of them. Mainly because they are typically expensive and sold as collectibles online. A few of them had a very limited release and were released under license from Universal Studios. There are other versions of several of these watches, but I don't think they belong in the original Universal Monster Series because they are newer than the ones listed below.

The Universal Monster series was released in 1995 and each watch included a pewter figurine of the "monster". None of the "newer" ones included such a figurine.

  • Dracula-The Vampire Thriller: LI-1350
  • 1000 of these produced.
  • Frankenstein: LI-1285
  • 15,000 of these produced.
  • Features Boris Karloff's version of Frankenstein.
  • Godzilla: LI-1297
  • 1000 of these produced.
  • King Kong: LI-1277
  • 10,000 of these produced.

Official replacement band idea

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I get a lot of emails (and spam) around replacement bands for Fossil watches. We've gotten some great suggestions and comments, but my new trend is now buying old broken Fossil watches and using the bands. I don't have a lot of money and I love eBay/garage sales and plus let's face it -- Fossil made some hideous watches in the 90's and they use the same bands as the good ones.

Recently I purchased a broken Starmaster watch on eBay. I verified with the seller that the band was official and $11 later I have a new band (and a broken Starmaster). The band nicely replaced a broken band on my favorite Defender watch DE-1500.

The timing is nice because I am now going to sport this watch for the next 2 weeks on my trip to London.

Fossil DE-1500 and an official leather band!