Fossil is a well-recognized fashion watch brand. It was founded in 1984 by Tom and his brother, Kosta, Kartsotis. It's recognized by most watch wearers in the United States. Fossil was a nickname for Kosta Kartsotis because he really liked retro aesthetics. The brand initially focused on importing inexpensive, but well designed, fashion watches for retailers. Fossil adopted collectible tins as packaging for their watches in 1990 and went public in 1993. The brand has grown in popularity since it was founded. But, with retreats in the watch market, it has dropped its forays into Smartwatches and has expanded more into leather goods and sunglasses.
Fossil owns the Fossil, Relic, Skagen, WSI, and Zodiac watch brands and the women's watch brand, Michele. The company also manufactures and distributes Armani Exchange, BMW, Chaps, Diesel, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, and women's watch brands Kate Spade New York and Tory Burch.
At lower price points, Fossil is also thought to own or supervise the manufacturing of generic quartz watches stamped with FMD on the caseback. Some believe this stamp stands for Fossil Manufacturing Division. I believe this to be the case because--as of a couple of years ago--the warranty service address for FMD watches at Walmart matched the Fossil Headquarters address for North America. FMD makes many of the watches sold under the George brand at Walmart.
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| Could these George brand FMD watches be made by Fossil? |
The Fossil brand makes excellent watches that sell at affordable prices. On Amazon, men's Fossil watches sell for prices between $80 and $350. The most expensive Fossil watches are skeletonized automatics. You can see them at my Amazon affiliate link here. It's very easy to overlook Fossil or denigrate them as a "fashion watch brand," but they make great looking watches that are satisfying to own and wear.
If you live near an outlet mall with a Fossil outlet store, you should definitely visit. You an often find great deals there.
