Fossil Townsman Review

When you’re looking for affordable yet high-quality watches, you should look no further than the brand Fossil. The brand has established itself as one of the most recognized and popular American watch makers—reflected by the history and high sales volume in the United States alone. Moreover, Fossil’s high-quality watches which is met by the affordable price is one of the biggest selling point here. Unfortunately, despite its good value that has been described, we don’t see a lot of Fossil review. I believe this will cause many people have to not buy Fossil watch since people will have doubt for its lack of exposure. This is what makes me want to write this review, to give insight for a very worth it watchs from Fossil that has just recently been bought, the Fossil Townsman.

Eventough automatic watches is not really as famous as it was, many people still admire it for the craftsmanship and since then it has became some kind of status symbol to have automatic watch. I personally like to see how the internal mechanism works because it is so fascinating to see that. However, not many affordable watch could give the high-quality automatic watch, moreover, if there is one, the design is not always the best. Which brings me to Fossil Townsman. Alvailabe in quite affordable price (around 300 USD), Fossil Townsman is a dress watch that mix the usual high-quality standard of Fossil with the beauty of an automatic watch. This watch is one of the automatic watch collection that Fossil sold. What made me choose this watch over another watch is the design: many of other Fossil automatic watch design gives the impression of seeing through mechanism which gives the impression of “naked” watches. The Fossil Townsman only give some small, circular see through body that still could be seen but still give the watch a classical and expensive look. So it could be said that what separates this watch from other range of automatic Fossil watch is the design: where the other automatic watch gives more modern and steampunk-like, this watch gives the classic and classy impression.

In my place (Indonesia), every time you buy Fossil watch you are allowed to choose one of the custom-made watch box from Fossil as your watch box. I chose the red one with some vintage drawing, to add more classical feeling not only to the box but also to the watch. The box is made from stainless steel and could be opened by removing the top part of the box. When we see the watch, the watch is put in a circular watch holder. What surprised me is that the watch holder is made from steel, not cardboard like other watch I have bought. This increase the “premium” feeling of buying this watch. Having opened the box, I shall talk about the part of the watch one by one.

First, let’s talk about the strap. The strap is made from high-quality leather, which could be known just by looking and touching the strap. What I like from the strap is that the strap has “slippery” feeling that it is hard to grip the outher part of the srap by hands. Moreover, having this watch for more than 10 days, the smell of leather still persists, which is another plus point for me. The “slippery” feeling of the watch maybe will be a problem for someone who prefer a more “grippy” texture. But, for me, a dress watch should be designed more elegant, not grippy or ruggy which is for field watches. The end of the clasp is made from stainless steel, which I think has been the standard of watch making for any brand. What I like from the clasp is that the end of clasp is very rigid and solid. I have bought some other watches brand and the clasp is very frail.

Second, talking about the case of the watch. I’d become more technical here and saying that the watch is 44 mm in diameter and has some considerable thickness, which is in 12 mm. The case itself is round and like any other watch in contemporary watchmaking, is made from stainless steel. The dial is another beautiful story. The dial itself uses Roman numeral as it is opposed to Arabic numeral. I always like Roman numeral in dress watch because it adds more classical feeling to the watch and because it is easy to be seen. The Roman dial itself is not present in every number: only the number 12, 3, 6, and 9 has its own number. This is also isn’t problem for me because if it is forced to use all Arabic number in the dial, the dial will become “crowded” and reducing its classical look. In every number, there is a crystal which acts to illuminate if there is considerable darkness near the watch. I think that the crystals do the job well for a dress watches, because it illuminates brightly and easy to be read. In the dial, besides the first hand which tells the hour and minutes, there is second dial, which tells the second and sweeps rather than ticking, and there is third dial which tells the time in 24-hour format. The second dial and third dial are located near the automatic machine in the bottom left, this creates the impression of “floating.”

Thirdly, about the movement. The movement uses Fossil automatic movement which is known for its reliability. Despites the movement is automatic mechanic, which means that you only to wear it to keep it working, you could also use the manual hand winding—a rare feature in the advent of automatic mechanic watches. To use the manual hand winding, you have to rotate it in anti-clockwise direction for about 18 times, and then the power that is generated from the hand winding will become power reserve, although for only short time. The hand winding mechanism is only useful if you want to sleep and you don’t want the Fossil Townsman to lose the track of time. It isn’t designed for up to 40 hour power reserve like from the high-end watches. If you are the type of person who wont wear this every day and still want to make it tracks the time, you could buy a winding machine that could be found in internet.

Fourth, eventhough I like it, I found some disturbance from this watch. This watch could has some date window because there are some unued
space because the large diameter of the watch. I believe that date in a watch is one of the most important complication because we don’t always remember the date. Second Is that the mechanism that could be seen is bit slow, I’d prefer it to go faster. Lastly, I like the small sound of internal mechanism working that could be heard if you put the watch near you ear. But for some maybe this is a problem because the noise.

So, what we have here? A nice and classy watch for every purposes, not only limited for attending a ball, politbureau meeting, and high-ranking official meeting. It is also good for everyday work. This is all-rounder watch for relaxing activity: gold dial, large case, nice leather strap, the “see through” yet not all of the mechanism is the guarantor that this watch is fit for daily activity. Yet it isn’t designed if you are looking for rugged activity eventhough it has 50 m water resistance—just wear your G-Shock in case you want to dive in the Bermudas. Personally, I’d recommend this watch for those who are looking for affordable yet automatic watch, who are mostly young to middle aged people, people who are trying to show that there is still classic option and that hand made is still guarantor of quality in the advent of so-called “smart watch.” This is where the smart watch couldn’t match conventional or specifically automatic watch—the feeling of the craftsmanship of the watch maker who build it for you.

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