A word about Zodiac the brand and their management

As I mentioned in an earlier post this evening, Zodiac was purchased just over two years ago by Fossil, who is primarily known as a fashion chain, which also sells fashion watches... Shortly after they purchased the Zodiac brand, I had opportunity to call them to try to locate some additional links for one of my Zodiac Red Point Chronographs. I spoke with a very pleasant, but otherwise completely oblivious young lady who had nary a clue about Zodiac the firm or it's previous products...

Thus I personally wouldn't count on any assistance from the current management of Zodiac USA on the topic of vintage (read as pre-Fossil) Zodiac's. The Swiss branch might be able to be of some assistance, but calling the US branch and seeking parts would probably get a similar response as calling Gateway 2000 (who bought the old Commodore Amiga Computer system) and asking for parts... You'll probably not get any satisfaction.

The Fossil press release follows:

Company contact: Mike Kovar - 972/699-2229

Richardson, Texas October 1, 2001 &endash; Fossil, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) announced today that it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire three separate companies located in Switzerland. These companies will provide the Company with design, sourcing and production capabilities necessary to manufacture and market Swiss-made watches. These transactions are subject to certain contingencies, but the Company anticipates completing these acquisitions by mid-October 2001.

In an unrelated transaction, the Company also announced that it has acquired the worldwide rights to the ZODIAC brand name for use in connection with watches, clocks and other timekeeping devices

Also included in the purchase are the rights to various other brands including ZODIAC ASTROGRAPHIC, ZODIAC CORSAIR, ZODIAC OLYMPOS, ARISTE CALAME and SEA WOLF.

The combined purchase price of the three Swiss companies and the ZODIAC brands total approximately $7 million.

"The Company is in the process of developing the infrastructure and systems necessary to design, manufacture and distribute better watches made in Switzerland. We intend to operate the Swiss watch business separately from our core FOSSIL business and view the acquisition of these companies and the 120-year-old ZODIAC brand as the first phase of this strategy," commented Enrico Margaritelli of Fossil. "We have demonstrated our ability to successfully design, develop and market better watches at higher price points with our licensed brands and are confident that we can apply these same talents to our Swiss-made brands," concluded Mr. Margaritelli.

Zodiac Customer Service USA:

2280 N. Greenville Avenue

Richardson, TX 75082-4412

tel: +1 800 699 0569

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Gee, if I had $7m to scrape together a couple of years back... How fun would that have been! =)

-- Chuck