A RETURN BACK TO THE OFFICIAL COLLECTORS CLUB

Howdy Fossil Fans!

Today is a red letter date in the history of Fossil collectors - after 21 years the official Fossil Collectors Club has relaunched from Fossil. Yes, you read that right, it’s 2019 and Fossil is relaunching the Fossil Collectors Club. How did this happen? Cue the flashback….

I’ve been collecting Fossil watches since 1996. I would find watches on eBay, Craigslist, garage sales, resale shops and always find a little flyer or brochure in the tins talking about the Fossil Collectors Club. The short lived Collectors Club ended in 1998 and there was NOTHING online about it and zero community around it. In those dark years I would collect & gather any materials I possibly could find from Fossil including newsletters, brochures, catalogs, web archives and anything else.

Sometime in 2009, I decided I had enough Fossil content and frustration with the lack of community that I had enough to start the site www.fossilcollectorsclub.com

The site was launched with the hopes of bringing Fossil collectors together AND re-igniting the Fossil Collectors Club from Fossil HQ themselves vs. just a passionate Fossil fan from Cleveland. I had the URL, Facebook group, Flickr page setup and probably a few other sites all linking back into this site to bring people together who collect (not buy & resell) these fine timepieces & collectibles. I’ve had some communication & one awesome trip to Fossil headquarters over the years to discuss history & various product lines, but no mention of ever re-launching the Fossil Collectors Club came up until just a few weeks ago.

And that brings us to modern day….

Starting today (March 25, 2019) the www.fossilcollectorsclub.com will be redirecting over to Fossil’s official Collectors Club page and eventually be owned by Fossil altogether. On this page you’ll have the ability to read about Fossil’s new Collectors Club, the Archival Series of Limited Editions and signup! Please signup!

For the fans I’ve acquired over the years, our little fan site will always be located here:

http://www.undergroundfossilcollectors.club

In the coming weeks & months, you’ll see some changes in this site’s identity and branding. I’m super excited and can’t say now how this fan site fits into the Fossil ecosphere, but please remember this is all still coming from one passionate fan from Cleveland and not Fossil. The overall identify and future main URL is currently in the works, but I’ve been assured that we have a home in the future now that the Collectors Club is back in action!

So here’s to a new generation of Fossil Collectors Club starting in 2019! I’m very proud of the community we’ve built here & on Facebook. Now a little blurb about the OFFICIAL FOSSIL COLLECTORS CLUB that was recently announced at Baselworld:

A tribute to more than three decades of design, this curation of limited editions celebrates Fossil's innovative spirit. Rediscover our beloved past styles with the reissues of the Archival Series, or explore our collaborative exclusives with the Curator Series. Welcome to the only club where Fossil fanatics can continue collecting one-of-a-kind accessories for years to come.

More to come obviously stay tuned to Fossil, Fossil Collectors Club and this site for the latest!

Here’s to the new www.fossilcollectorsclub.com

AN ANNUAL REPORT YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO READ - Fossil 2000

Have you ever been excited to read an annual report? I mean really excited to drill into the numbers, forecasts and stock overviews? No you haven't? I'm not surprised, BUT let me introduce you to an annual report that will actually change your mind.

Introducing Fossil's Annual Report from the year 2000. I heartily advise you however to glaze over the financials and look at just the artwork. I've been looking for this report for years (in paper format) to scan for the site and I recently discovered that it's already posted online on www.fossilgroup.com. I've uploaded the PDF to this post just for you to review and keep in case one day it disappears from Fossil's site. If you look on Page 21 you'll see a certain gentleman that's been part of this site since the very beginning.

I've always called him Ward, but I knew I liked him back in 2010 and apparently he's been a Fossil fan since 2000. Thanks Ward!

Ward says this is amazing.

As a bonus I've included a photo of yours truly looking at the paper copy of the Fossil 2000 Annual Report on a recent trip I took to the Fossil World Headquarters near Dallas, Texas. I don't always read annual reports, but when I do it's a Fossil Annual Report from 2000 with stellar artwork and funny little graphics. More on that trip in days to come.

By clicking on the image below you'll be able to download the entire 2000 Annual Report. Enjoy the show!

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)!

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a new year and a new post

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!

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

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!

Updated Facebook Group for Fossil Collector's Club

Yes the posts have been relaxed lately, but the action doesn't have to stop here because I'm lazy and enjoying summer. The Facebook group has been updated to the new version of their groups tool. It looks great and people can finally be added again. Currently I'm organizing pictures on there to be in albums. Please feel free to keep the conversations going and post pictures in there as well. I'd love to see what everyone has! This Facebook group is for all of us to enjoy.

I'm working on a few posts for the site here on my new Dick Tracy Watch, 2 new Defenders I picked up and some random advertising pieces I've gotten a hold of this summer. Looking forward to more posts in the fall when the days are shorter and it's too cold for me to enjoy the great outdoors!

Facebook Group - Fossil Watch Collectors Club