page_title: Zodiac Watches
section_title: Financial troubles and the Fossil Inc. acquisition
hierarchical_section_title: Zodiac Watches / Financial troubles and the Fossil Inc. acquisition
caption_attribution_description: English: ZOD1996
context_page_description: Zodiac Watches is a brand of Swiss watches owned and manufactured by Fossil Group.
context_section_description: In 1990 Willy Gad Monnier, formerly of TAG Heuer purchased the Zodiac brand, but this company, Montres Zodiac SA, went bankrupt in November 1997. In September 1998 Genender International, Inc. purchased the Zodiac inventory including their trademarks and registrations and other assets. Genender discontinued all of the "Point" series models, the Swiss Formulas, the Sea Wolf, and most automatic watches and all of the Zodiac automatic chronographs. The only two 1990s models kept were the Super Sea Wolf and the Marine Life, both of which were updated with new metal bands.
  On October 1, 2001 Fossil Inc. acquired the worldwide rights to the Zodiac brand name for approximately $4.7 million for use in connection with watches, clocks and other timekeeping devices.
  In April 2002, the new Zodiac line was introduced at the BaselWorld watch show in Switzerland, with the notable absence of any Sea Wolf model for the first time in 50 years.
  In February 2010, Fossil Inc. launched the ZMX (Zodiac Mission Extreme) line to reflect a new segment of sports and outdoor enthusiasts. The much larger case sizes (44mm and up) and caoutchouc rubber straps denoted the bulk of watch lines, focused on automotive racing (ZMX Racer), aviation (ZMX Aviator), diving (ZMX Oceanaire) and exploration (ZMX Adventurer).
   February 2015 marked the return of the brand's Sea Wolf model, reissuing "vintage-inspired" versions of the 1954 model in two editions, "Skin Diver" and "Diver." Since the depth rating on the new version of the Sea Wolf is the same as the original (200 meters/660 feet), the technical advancements come primarily in the form of the watch's automatic movement, the Fossil Group manufactured STP 1-11 (Swiss Technology Production 1-11); housing 26 jewels with 44-hour power reserve.
caption: Sea Wolf model relaunch, 2015
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