Fossil Swiss Made Watches – Pictures & Specifications
The one and currently only line of Fossil Swiss Made watches released in 2013. Check out the beautiful artwork and specifications on the entire FSW line.
At this point it should be no secret we’re big fans of the short-lived Fossil Swiss series. Launched in 2013 at an incredibly high price point, the series came and went. In 2015 I saw this catalog at the Fossil headquarters and finally found one on eBay.
Proud to present scans from the Fossil Swiss Made catalog. The scans are also now permanently placed under Galleries in the top navigation.
Fossil Heritage ME3224 Hands-On Discussion
Right off the bat what I like about my new Fossil Heritage watch is the premium feel of it. The weight and the materials you can tell are meant to be set apart.
Let’s talk about the Fossil Heritage Series. I’ve been waiting to obtain one for a while now, see my thoughts from October 2022 and obviously part of owning always comes a discussion. I could have done what other watch bloggers do when unique Fossil pieces come to market by posting some marketing photos and repeat the specs. While that’s fine and part of the industry, I know that others like me enjoy the hands-on review with amateur photos and any type of story or history from a collector point of view. Case in point - not one Fossil Heritage review mentioned the short-lived Swiss line. Before we dive in, let me preface that this post is regarding the Heritage watches and no other items in the current Heritage line which includes handbags & jewelry.
Fossil Swiss we should start here and for a background see a post from way back in April 2015 for more insight into the Swiss line and also some thoughts about the why. The short of it was that Fossil Swiss was a premium line of Fossil watches from 2013-15 that were very expensive and now have become a collector’s piece. I know of several collectors past and present in our Facebook community that chase after these and post some of the most creative pictures with their Swiss. The automatic pieces featured a Fossil owned STP movement, same brand of movements found in other Fossil owned brands including Zodiac. Pictured below are actual pieces in my collection. Good design is timeless and these Fossil Swiss pieces are in constant rotation, especially the FSW7000 chronograph. The quartz line of Swiss pieces including my chronograph featured a Ronda movement. Note the Swiss line of chronographs is 45mm vs. the Heritage non-chronograph at 43mm.
As mentioned, the Fossil Heritage series when launched made no mention of Swiss. A few of the comments on Instagram from fans (including me!) mentioned Swiss and eventually on a Fossil Live event a designer said these pieces were based on the Swiss series. I don’t think you’ll need verbal confirmation that these 2 lines are related. Pictured below side by side is the new Heritage ME3224 and my old (now sold) Swiss FSW4003 - both are 43mm.
Right off the bat what I like about my new Fossil Heritage watch is the premium feel of it. The weight and the materials you can tell are meant to be set apart. Most notably for me is the sapphire crystal – quite a difference in weight and clarity from a lot of others in my collection. The concept of premium something Fossil is chasing and promoting with their traditional watch lines and it makes 100% sense that the first order of business in this premium go to market is reviving the Swiss line with a lower cost movement. All the premium looks without the higher priced movement. Swiss retail prices were $695-$895 USD and Fossil Heritage retail prices are currently hugging around $280-$295 USD, which is high, but much easier to deal to explain to my wife now vs. my Swiss purchase in 2014! Speaking of wives there is a women’s line of Heritage watches at 38mm and some are on sale. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge!
Take a look! https://www.fossil.com/en-gb/featured/the-edit/fossil-heritage/
The original Swiss line wasn’t very colorful and featured a lot of rose gold pieces (did you catch my old FSW4003 comment above)? The green dial on this Fossil Heritage automatic was the first piece I saw when launched and it immediately spoke to me. The dial is gorgeous, it’s not as bright as pictured on the website, but green is my color lately and this goes well with anything.
Heritage ME3224
Action photo in front of a very old Fossil poster.
The movement for those of you who are curious is Miyota 8N24. Interesting in this new premium line are no quartz movements and that’s just fine – these non-chrono pieces have the premium, simple and elegant look that seem to be a universal love for most. Some automatic pieces you’ll actually feel the rotor spinning on the watch, but that’s not the case with the Heritage.
With all these positives I do want to list out one negative – the bracelet. This is really a negative on the trend of the bracelet deployant in premium watches lately and not the watch or the look of the oyster bracelet with the watch. The bracelet deployant or what most call a butterfly clasp on most premium bracelets these days is painful!
I find with all bracelets like this (even non-Fossil) that the butterfly clasp is uncomfortable because it does add quite a bit of bulk under the wrist and by the end of the day the skin pinch and embedding of the clasp in my wrist is enough for me to remove the watch sooner than I normally do. The butterfly clasp doesn’t allow for any adjustments outside of removing links and sadly like most things in my life I’m in-between sizes.
Earlier I mentioned I wear the Swiss FSW7000 all the time and I don’t experience this pain as much as I did with the Heritage. I measured the bracelets and found that while I did remove 4 links from the FSW7000, there is a very small link next to the butterfly clasp that the Heritage doesn’t have. A very small difference that makes all the difference in the world for my comfort and maybe a few others. See the pictures below.
All in all, I like where Fossil is going with this line and look forward to grabbing a few more colorways in the future. Most notably the deep blue ME 3244 dial is calling my name. For now I welcome the green ME3224 into the family.
Fossil Swiss
A few weeks ago we featured the most valuable limited edition Fossil watch, the Greatest. On the coat-tails of some great feedback on the article I wanted to write about the most expensive Fossil watches to date: the Fossil Swiss.
Launched in early 2013 the Fossil Swiss caused ripples and discussions with watch people and Fossil fans right away. Why is Fossil doing launching a $695-$995 range of Swiss made watches? Who would buy such an expensive Fossil watch? Why are they doing this? These questions are still being asked and I admit it I was part of that camp originally. The day I saw the announcement on Twitter I was following #fossilswiss to see all the details because honestly I couldn't believe it.
Fossil is no stranger to Swiss if you know some of the companies that are part of the Fossil Group. Even earlier than that some of our beloved Defenders had a Swiss Quartz movement, which is different from saying Swiss Made. Swiss Quartz is essentially having the movement meeting Swiss Made standards, but the watch most likely was assembled outside of Switzerland to save costs.
Today Fossil has a design center in the heart of watch making country in Switzerland. One article I read said it's across the street from the Rolex SA factory! It's an interesting strategy to watch and if & when you think in terms of Fossil being a global brand, the allure of having a Swiss made watch isn't necessarily for those of us located in the United States (yet), it's for Asia. The majority of Fossil's watches are Asian made and Asians aren't attracted to Asian made watches. Having the term Swiss Made is a no-brainer for Fossil to market upscale products to the ever increasing and particular Asian customer. Who better than to launch a more attractively priced Swiss Made watch than Fossil?
I can't help but think of Buick here in the United States in comparison. Although perceptions of Buick are changing here in the USA, you still have stereotypes of who owns a Buick, but over in China it's the luxury car to have and aspire to. On a recent trip to China I was SHOCKED to see so many Buicks on the road that didn't look like a Buick. It's a great example of a global company knowing it's local markets and it's the same for Fossil. Buick over here is just a Buick, but over in China it's a status symbol -- same could be said with having Swiss Made on the watch vs. Made in China for the Asian consumer.
Recently I took one of my Fossil Swiss watches over to my local Fossil store and the team there gathered around the watch because they've never seen one in the wild before, I even got a handshake from one of the associates who thanked me for bringing it in. Experiences like this and reading articles on watch sites/magazines, I would bet that the majority of sales of these watches do take place in Asia. Anyways I didn't mean to go into a dissertation on it, but as a marketing person I'm fascinated with strategies like this and obviously I'm watching this closely and hoping it pays off for Fossil in Asia and hopefully in the USA. For me being a Fossil nut, I'm proud to finally say I own a legitimate Swiss Made timepiece that didn't cost me thousands of dollars and maybe even a possible divorce for spending that kind of money on a timepiece.
I don't normally go into reviews and discussions around movements and the same will be said today. I'm a fan of great design and currently I own 2 Fossil Swiss watches, both of them are the larger 45MM case. Fossil does offer an automatic Swiss Made watch, but the 38MM case is a little small for my tastes at least for the price point.
I really enjoy these watches and honestly of all the Fossil watches I own, the FSW7000 is the one I find myself staring at every time I wear it. To me it's perfect and it does draw comments and second glances whenever I wear it. Well done Fossil - keep it up!
A little bonus video from the Youtube archives.