Where Are Fossil Watches Made?

Fossil is a well-known watch brand worldwide. However, did you know that they also manufacture watches for a variety of other watch brands? That’s right, they are not only an American fashion brand, they also manufacture and distribute trendy, and high-quality wristwatches globally.

In case you didn’t know, the Fossil Group Incorporated includes a diverse portfolio which includes brands like Relic, BMW, Fossil, Misfit, Michele Watch, Zodiac Watches, WSI, and Skagen Denmark.

The Fossil brand also manufactures accessories that have been licensed for brands like Burberry, Armani Exchange, Adidas, Diesel, Burberry, Chaps, Michael Kors and Karl Lagerfeld. Other brands include the Emporio Armani, Kate Spade New York, DKNY, Chaps, Tony Burch, Puma, and Marc Jacobs.

This brand list keeps growing because the Fossil brand has also bought some watch brands which are independent. These brands include the Swiss brand Zodiac and the Danish brand Skagen.

Several of the watches for this brand include quartz movements made in Japan. However, the Fossil brand has ventured quite recently into watches made by Swiss manufacturers.

These include watches such as the Fossil Swiss which are made with mechanical and quartz movements. These watches are made by the Fossil brand divisions located in the Canton Ticino region of Switzerland.

Due to the fact that the brand has other brands like Tory Burch and Armani as part of their brands, their raking in the Swiss market has been strengthened further.

The Fossil brand also creates and distributes and produces additional merchandise including jewels, leathers, and accessories. Notwithstanding, the revenue obtained from these products don’t compare with the revenue from their watches.

Where Are Fossil Watches Made? 

It may interest you to know that the first watches manufactured by Fossil were made in Hong Kong. Since that time, the company has grown into a brand worth over a billion dollars.

Now, they have their own companies that manufacture their watches globally. As a result of this, the company has the freedom to provide watches for several brands in addition to a variety of market sectors.  

Like we mentioned earlier, the Fossil brand has a diverse range of sub corporations with each of them containing their own merchandise lines. Due to this, the brand designs manufactures and distributes quartz and mechanical watches .

Their watches which are classified as high end and contain a mechanical movement are manufactured in Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

These watches tend to be quite expensive with the cheapest watches retailing for about $750. The watches can get as expensive as $25,000 or more.

If you think this is pretty steep, Fossil watches are actually fairly affordable if you compare them to other pricey watches in the same price range.

These quartz watches come with a price range of between $250 and $750 and also get manufactured in the above-mentioned countries, including China sometimes. Quartz watches selling for $250 or less are usually manufactured in the country of Asia, typically China.

Whether a watch is classified as expensive or affordable by a buyer will typically depend on his/her budget.

The video below is a brief video explaining more about the Fossil brand.

Now that you know where exactly Fossil watches are made, let’s take a brief look at Fossil watches and their history.

Fossil Watches – A Brief History 

1.   1980’s

It was in the year 1984 that Tom Kartosis, who was at the time an operator for ticket brokerage and from the State of Texas, established Fossil as Overseas Products International.

This was the period that watches in the fashion category where evolving and fast becoming an important accessory in department stores.

Kosta Kartosis, his older brother, had shared with Tom how they could draw a large profit for themselves. The way to achieve this was by getting retail products imported from the Far East. Their particular target was decently-priced fashion watches, particularly.

At this point, Tom was quite tired of the business he had set up so he decided to withdraw his money and fly to the city of Hong Kong. When he returned, he did so with 1,500 watches. These watches had an appealing old-fashioned look and Tom promptly proceeded to sell them all in the United States.

The next year, in 1985 Tom’s Company unveiled its first watches to be branded with Fossil. During this period, watches categorized as fashion watches were beginning to slowly enter the marketplace and in the lead was Swatch. By the time Fossil entered into the movement, watches considered fashion watches became quite popular.

In the year 1989, the brand unveiled its tin box packaging which is iconic. The packaging was designed using graphics inspired by the eras of the 50s in the United States. The strategy for the packaging garnered a lot of support from their customers. This is the reason why since that time, all watches made by Fossil come in tin boxes.

2.   1990’s

During the year 1990, the brand added leader merchandise to their products in addition to their relic watch line. That year as well, the brand took part in their first Basel world watch and jewelry tradeshow. This took place in Basel, Switzerland.

In the year 1992, the Fossil brand made a move to enlarge its market share by converting its expertise in accessories production. They did this by introducing a variety of belts and small leather goods for women.

They began to expand also across the world by launching the Fossil Europe GmBH which is located in Germany. This branch takes care of the marketing and distribution of Fossil merchandise throughout Europe.

In the year 1993, the brand had its IPO (initial public offering) on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the name FOSL. They also introduced their line of small leather goods for men, which included personal organizers, wallets, and key chains.

In the year 1995, the brand opened its first store which was an outlet after which they opened their store for accessories located in Dallas and Chicago in the year 1996.

It was also in the year 1996 that the brand launched its website. This put them in position amongst the innovators of accessories and wristwatches e-commerce.

They also began to produce and distribute wristwatches globally for a variety of brands in the year 1997 starting with Emporio Armani.

DKNY and Diesel followed shortly after by getting their authorizing agreements signed with the Fossil brand in the year 1999.  

Before that decade was over, the Fossil brand introduced its first line of ophthalmic frames in the year 1999 as well. They also partnered with a leading eyewear company in the world named Safilo.

3.   2000’s

In the year 2000, the brand introduced its wide-ranging assortment of denim and clothing on their website and in their clothing stores. They also opened new stores in countries such as Singapore, Germany, and the United Kingdom. This was also the year where the brand included jewelry in their line located in Germany.

In the year 2001, the brand bought a Swiss brand known as Zodiac watches. These watches were owned by Genender International and they bought them for a whopping $4.7 million.

This was also the year where the Fossil brand started licensing contracts with a globally celebrated designer called Phillippe Starck and the brand Burberry.

In this same year, the brand industrialized a technology that had the capacity to change colors used in watch dials. It’s known as Kaleido and is now located under their Big Tic line.

In the year 2002, the brand combined its distribution in North America in Dallas Texas which has a 500,000-square-foot center for distribution. They also established an arrangement with the Emporio Armani brand to design, market, and manufacture one of their jewelry lines exclusively.

Globally, the brand bought Swiss-owned retail and distribution companies located in Basel, Switzerland. They also opened their first store for retail sales located in Australia.

They followed this by entering collaborations with brands such as Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors women and men’s wristwatches in the year 2004.

The same year also saw Fossil buying over Michele watches and starting a global licensing contract with the brand Adidas.

By the year 2005, the brand started a new global licensing contract with the brand Diesel for their jewelry line.  And by 2007, the brand introduced jewelry merchandise into the United States. They also launched their first site for e-commerce sales not located in the US i.e. Germany.

In the year 2008, Fossil introduced its e-commerce sites for sales in Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This was also the year where they started a licensing contract with the brand DKNY to produce jewelry for a number of worldwide markets. The brand was also given a global watch authorization for the brand A/X.

In 2009, the brand celebrated its 25^th anniversary by re-issuing some of their most memorable wristwatches.

4.   2010’s

In the year 2010, Fossil opened its first store for clothing not located in the United States. These stores were launched in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Click here to read “Where Are Seiko Watches Made?” for more interesting watch history.