Fossil winds back the clock and focuses on what it does best.
On January 26th, the popular watch designer, Fossil announced that they would be leaving the smartwatch business behind to focus their attention on the analog watches that made them. This comes three years after the release of the last (and final) smartwatch, the Gen 6.
Company spokeswoman Amanda Castelli said that the company will continue to keep the OS running for “the next few years”, leaving fans with a mix of reactions.
In an interview with The Verge, Castelli went on to explain that “As the smartwatch Landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years, we have made the decision to exit the business. Fossil Group is redirecting sources to support our core strength and the core segments of our business that continue to provide strong growth opportunities for us: designing and distributing exciting traditional watches, jewelry, and leather goods under our own as well as licensed brand names.”
A quick look behind the brand
Fossil watches have been a well-known brand in the industry since their founding in 1984. Tom Kartsotis and his brother Kosta grew their brand from a few small shops in Richardson Texas to a worldwide watch phenomenon in just three decades.
Today, Fossil is known for its sleek designs and a wide variety of clockfaces along with its collection of interchangeable straps for a more personalized watch.
Fossil offers timeless designs of men’s and women’s watches from its classic style–the Neutra, Machine, Grant, and Townsman collections to elegance offerings like the Jacqueline, Riley, Stella, and Carlie collections. For something unique, the unisex Q Commuter Hybrid Smartwatch and Carlie Mini offer a blend of tradition and modern functionality.
Fossil’s smartwatch history
In 2015, the brand entered into the smartwatch space with hopes of creating a smartwatch that didn’t look like a smartwatch. Though lauded for their design, first-gen smartwatches faced criticism for Google WearOS limitations, offering similar functionality to competitors at a higher price.
Nevertheless, Fossil was undeterred. A year later, Fossil released the Gen 2 and the reviews were all positive. With fans eager for the next drop, it seemed they had finally got it right with this one. In subsequent years, the Gen 3, 4, and 5 were all announced with improved technology at each release, leaving them all very popular watches.
So what’s next for Fossil?
After releasing the Gen 6 in 2021, Fossil kept quiet about its smartwatch plans for the future until now. For many smartwatch buyers, this may seem like a missed opportunity to evolve the Gen 6 into something better. With the analog watch business starting to make a stylistic comeback after the smartwatch takeover, it seems only fitting that the brand return to its more reliable roots.
