Fossil Defender: some DF series scans
If you've spent anytime on this site, you'll know all about our love here for the Fossil Defender series. Launched in the mid-90's the original DE series had 43 watches ranging from DE-1500 thru 1544, skipping a few in between including 1529 & 1530.
The next series of Defender watches were the DF series. In total there were 24 of these watches released and you can tell they were a different animal as far as design and build quality from the DE. In some of my research I've seen it mentioned that the Defender series was actually designed and assembled by Zodiac before Fossil bought them in 2001. Fossil was trying to have a higher end watch series to compete with a higher price point. I can't confirm it's true, but this could explain why some of the DF series watches retailed for $395, which is a far cry from the $150 for the DE-1527, which was the highest priced of the original DE series.
Of course we all know Fossil recently has relaunched the Defender series and we couldn't be happier. The interchangeable straps are brilliant and I'm always looking for the new straps to mix mine up....we'll call it the DEC series for now and later on we'll get them added to our guides.
Onto the scans! Recent events had made me realize how rare these booklets are that came in the DF series boxes. One of our Defender gurus, Adam has graciously scanned the booklet from one of his and I just love the writing on these scans -- it's so serious and reminds me of a certain catalog that Elaine wrote for on Seinfeld. Bonus bullet points below breaking down the series in case you're collecting them all.
- Spitfire 1000 Series: DF-1001 thru 1012
- Spinnaker 2000 Series: DF-2001 thru 2002
- Streamliner 3000 Series: DF-3001 thru 3004
- Avion 4000 Series: DF-4001 thru 4002
- Starboard 5000 Series: DF-5001 thru 5004
Say hello to the new Fossil Defender
I never thought this would happen, but a recent search on the Fossil site brought up a new line of Fossil Defender watches and custom bands. Fossil has brought back my favorite line of their watches! It has been fantastic this year to see Fossil do some throwback pieces and products that speak of the older watches and advertising -- the time period that I focus on with this site and accompanying Facebook group. I certainly love the new watches and have way too many than I care to admit, but the oldies are where it's at for me and many of you. My hope is that these throwback watches, the limited and special editions and now the accompanying Defender line isn't just a marketing thing for the 30th anniversary, but that this trend continues.
These are just some of the new cases that are showing up on the site. You have several options for a band that needs to be ordered separately - all bands appear to be 20MM
In addition to the excitement I feel for the return of Fossil Defender watches, I can't help but wonder if this site had anything to do with the return of the Defender line. Honestly until a few years ago there was nothing online about older Fossil watches. I don't get paid to do this site and don't have any sponsorships or product drops for what I post about. I saw a need and filled it as a collector and this year the metrics have been through the roof! Fossil Defender is the number one traffic driver to the site and the metrics recently have been showing quite a lot of traffic from Fossil corporate. Put that together with some other signs and something was stirring.
Thanks also go out to you, in addition to the traffic -- the emails and photos you send along help to build the galleries and checklists that drive interest. With all your help, The Fossil Defender gallery is coming along nicely, with some recent new additions.
I am very excited and I hope that this line of watches does well for Fossil. Who knows maybe the next stop would be bringing back the Fossil Collectors Club? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.....
Reasons to get excited
I have to be honest that I’ve been super inspired lately with the stats on the Fossil Collectors site, the activity on Facebook, the emails I’ve gotten from random people and some of the things I’m seeing online around older Fossil merchandise. The Facebook group has been around for a few years, but lately I’m adding new people on almost a daily basis and then on the other hand, I already got a few emails this year from visitors to the site who aren’t on Facebook. Really great dynamic and as long as you’re a fan – it’s all good. It’s been great. I’m even getting excited on some of the newer stuff it looks like Fossil has in the works for the 30th anniversary – I don’t work for Fossil or get paid for this, but I saw some 30th anniversary items and I’m excited.
Anyways I wanted to feature some images I got from an individual who emailed me. It’s a Fossil DE-1534, not sure the difference in this watch vs. my DE-1500, but his watch features a stainless steel band, which is not one I’ve seen in my years of collecting these. Most of my Defenders, the newer ones have a SS band, but not these older ones.
Also including pics of a DE-1537 on the bottom, one of the few Defenders I don’t have. Looks great with the original brown leather band.
I’ve added these to the Defender Guide as well as few others I’ve gotten in recent months. Keep the notes and emails coming. Happy collecting (and wearing)!
Some well needed updates and new Fossil Limited Edition Checklist
First of all, Happy Autumn! It's been a busy few months and I want to thank some of you for reaching out to me -- great to see passion and interest with our little site and also being envious of some of your finds. I've been going through my Fossil stuff and created a list of topics to talk about and I WILL be more active on the site, forum and Facebook page during the fall and winter months. Once the weather turns here in the great Northeast, the bikes, the kids toys and my 1958 Chevy go into storage and we begin the hibernation process until April. It's really a great time of year (until it snows).
Anyways onto the updates.
I've updated the Fossil Defender guide with some recent additions from eBay and my personal collection. You'll find more recent pricing and some additional models that I had no clue existed. I've recently picked up a few Defenders on eBay that I'll be posting about soon. One of the Defenders DF-2001 has all the paperwork, manual, felt box and a nice little pillow. I've been after this one for years!
The forum. The discussion forum doesn't get a whole lot of traffic and I am going to start posting and encouraging more conversations there. A long time collector emailed me some pics of his massive collection that is for sale and I'm in process now of gathering up the images and listing out the pricing. I encourage you to do the same. As much as I love eBay, I hate the fee structure and dealing with 0 feedback bidders, so if we could buy/sell/trade watches in the forum it's a great example of a community and it's free. Go for it! Also a great place for general conversations especially if you don't use Facebook.
Limited Edition Checklist. An ex-Fossil employee met up with us on Facebook and one of his first orders of business was to update the checklist. I admit the original one I had on there was just a copy of a checklist I found in some old Fossil literature. It could be a full-time job to update this checklist because of the massive amount of Limited Editions out there! Our new friend has done the hard work and here's your new updated checklist!
New Fossil Limited Edition Check List
Finally just a reminder that there is a Facebook group out there for Fossil Collectors. There is a bit more activity on there and more day to day type of posts. I've gotten a few emails from people saying they aren't on Facebook and not to focus on it, I get that, but if you are on Facebook please consider joining our group and adding to the discussions.
Happy Collecting!
Fossil Defender watch FOB DE-1523
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 Defender pics from 1999
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).
Official replacement band idea
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!
More Fossil Defender updates and a small rant
The Fossil Defender Series Guide has been updated with 3 new images. Thanks to a new reader Adam we now have a better image of the DE-1507 and new DE-1505 and DE-1520 pictures, which I didn't have before. Adam also sent some pictures of the original box for his DE-1507. For those of you who don't know much about Defenders they came in special cases, not the tins we're used to seeing. Defender was one of the 8 genres of watches Fossil offered in the 90's and they were a bit more premium than the normal releases.
Fossil Defender Updates and 1995 Catalog pics
I have some updates for you and 2 really cool scans on the Fossil Defender series.
On the top of the site you'll see a permanently housed link called Fossil Defender Series. This link contains a basic guide of Fossil Defender watches that I come across. Some have been emailed by you, some are from catalogs, some are from my personal collection and most are from eBay auctions. I don't post prices there because of 2 reasons.
eBay prices are sporadic, seen the same watch range from $10-$90 for no reason
I don't want to dictate the market and give sellers a guide on what they should list for.
The other update I wanted to share is 2 scans from the Fossil 1995-96 winter catalog. I found 2 catalogs on eBay and I will be using these a lot in the coming weeks/months/years to showcase some of the cool items Fossil did in the mid-nineties. I've already learned a lot and I can't wait to share it with you and hopefully get some great feedback. Today I have scanned the only 2 pages of Fossil Defender watches.
Return of Fossil Defender series?
While browsing through the latest Fossil catalog in the mail last night I came across something familiar. Check out the latest catalog by visiting Fossil.com and check out page 32. Fossil is now promoting the Vintaged Bronze collection and oddly enough a-lot of those watches resemble Fossil Defender watches from the 90's. Now the coloring is different, but the face of the watch and the font of the numbers is exactly the same.
Look at one example. The image below is Fossil Defender DE-1501. Nice watch and very unique.
Fossil DE-1501
Here's the new version from the Fossil Vintaged Bronze Collection DE5009.
Vintaged Bronze DE5009
So not exactly the same, but really close and did you notice the model numbers? Fossil Defenders were always DExxxx or DFxxxx and look at the model numbers of these watches. They have ranges in the DE1000's and DE5000's. Someone at Fossil is respecting the Defender Series.
Click Fossil Vintaged Bronze to view the latest selection on Fossil's site and click Fossil Defender to view our Fossil Defender guide.