11 years of the Underground Fossil Collectors Club: another retrospective
/Every February 10, I like to take some time to give an update on how things are going here in the home of the Underground Fossil Collectors Club. A time of reflection, updates and maybe even some ideas for the future. Just to preface - 11 years ago I started this website as a shout out to other collectors of Fossil stuff to build a community. Stuff is the official term that encompasses advertising, catalogs, limited editions, men’s watches, ladies watches and packaging all from Fossil. Over the years we’ve uncovered a lot of amazing collections.
First let me give you an update. The past 2 years we had a nice relationship with Fossil to review and promote both ladies and men’s limited-edition watches from the official Fossil Collectors Club. Watch reviews were something new for us to post and it was a wonderful experience to learn the lingo of watch reviewing. I was immensely honored to be part of it and was always surprised to get contacted from readers with questions on models, specs, features, availability, etc. Intertwined in those limited-edition reviews, I sorted through a lot of my old catalogs and Fossil Times to give a good mix of new & old.
Going forward into 2021 I don’t know if I’ll have any new Fossil limited edition pieces to highlight from the official Fossil Collectors Club, but I can give you a sneak peek into my wish list for 2021 content as it sits today. Some of you old time collectors are going to be thrilled!
European Fossil Times. I have them all thanks to our friend Heino
A special Fossil Speedway
Fossil Notebooks
Finish posting the watches from the Around the World Series – only a few years late!
Collectors Club Kits – We’re missing a few in the archives - oops!
Fossil Compass pieces
Oddball scans including FSL, RoadTrip, Swiss and even some Defender brochures
Hybrid HR – if and when Fossil releases one with a color screen, you bet it’ll be posted here.
See the latest FTW7019 Review Here! I love this watch
I’m toying with the idea of another watch guide similar to the Defender Watch Guide. Open to suggestions!
A few older limited-edition reviews from the 2010’s that I did not previously cover.
After 11 years of content on this site it is also getting cluttered and hard to find content. I’ll be doing some tag cleanup and some shortcuts on the homepage to find sections easier.
Analytics are fun
I also like to take time annually and highlight the most viewed pieces of content on the site. Excluding main navigation pages from the report like blog, about, etc…the top pages in order of popularity from 2020 were:
In addition, here are some of the more popular search terms & phrases used to find content on the site in no particular order
Elvis Presley, FS-4473, Men’s Fossil Defender, ftw7008, fossil forrestor (notice the misspelling?), fossil watch collectors, fossil solar watches, fossil crosley, fossil pride watch, old fossil watch, cleveland fossil store, fossil watches from the 90’s, road trip Fossil
I have 100’s more of terms used, but these stuck out. I’m always fascinated in how people find our site and what they do when they are here. 2020 was also a year where a lot of readers finally found the Contact Me page.
How do I know this?
Whelp….in the early days of the pandemic I was getting 7-10 messages a week with people asking me about old Fossil watches. I started to respond to all of them with great thought and care believing they were all collectors. Quickly found out that everyone was cleaning out their closets and selling their stuff on eBay! While you can’t blame them because I did the same thing, the majority of readers never said THANK YOU or even acknowledged my replies! I would sometimes go to eBay and type in terms from their item and on more than one occasion I would find my entire email pasted in the listing description! While it’s nice to be an expert, it’s exhausting being taken advantage of with little to no return. Going forward I will be more cautious in providing values or input on Fossil items for people looking for the quick flip.
It wasn’t all bad though. A lot of messages were people looking for specific pieces, telling me about their collections, Fossil memories and asking for more information about reviews & new watches that I’ve posted. That is why this site exists and I have tremendous pride being part of this for the past 11 years. Of all the watches people are still looking for I would say with 100% certainty the Crosley Fossil watch from 2019 takes the cake with a few messages a month with readers asking for one and offering me big money for mine!
Feel free to Contact Me anytime and looking forward to going into our twelfth year.