Amidst “The Great Rossening,” Zodiac Watches Turn Up at Discount Stores

The Zodiac watch brand is in an odd spot these days, but they used to be a widely beloved name. The Zodiac Seawolf dive watch debuted in 1957 and sold very well among American military at PX stores in the 1960s-1970s. It was an attractive, high-quality watch at half the price of a Rolex Submariner. But those glory days are long gone, and as Zodiac’s current corporate owners (Fossil) face bankruptcy, their watches are turning up en masse at Ross and Winners discount stores for about 85% off list price. Here’s the lowdown on the “Great Rossening” of the Zodiac watch brand.

When Did “The Great Rossening” Begin?

On November 10, 2025, a Reddit user named Champunova posted that he bought a Super Seawolf for $125 at Ross. As the news spread, more watch geeks began hunting for discount Zodiacs and sharing their Ross finds. The user who coined the term “Great Rossening,” Jmomoney44, had to hit 8 Ross stores to find one with Zodiac watches in stock. And although they had several, in the spirit of the Rossening, he only bought one for himself. Good on you, Jmo.

Which Discount Stores are Selling “Fire Sale” Zodiacs?

Ross (in the USA) and Winners (in Canada) are the only major chains that I can conclusively say have been participating in this Zodiac clearance event. Interestingly, TouristInOz found a discounted Zodiac at a small Californian discount store that buys “liquidation pallets from one of those b-stock consolidators, mostly electronics.”

Because Winners is owned by TJX, some enthusiasts have been checking other TJX stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls, but there have been no signs of $125 Super Seawolfs there yet.

Is This Normal?

Discounts this severe are not normal for Swiss brands. History is littered with failed watch brands, and certainly discounting tends to increase the longer products languish in display cases. And, well, I can tell you that when weaker brands have inventory sitting around sometimes it ends up getting sold to dealers like Luxury Bazaar for cheap–maybe even 70% off MSRP in extreme cases.

But that’s a wholesale price, and these Zodiacs are in the 85% off ballpark to the end consumer. That means Ross and Winners must be getting these things for peanuts. This is way more extreme than any sort of discounting I’ve ever seen from a Swiss firm. I’ve never seen a Swiss watch brand go into full-blown fire sale mode before.

What Caused This?

To be clear, I think Zodiac has actually been on a positive upswing since 2015. Their first bankruptcy occurred in 1997, then some company called Genender bought them and gutted most of their lineup, and finally Fossil bought the brand. 2001-2014, the first years of Fossil ownership, missed the mark.

Not only did Zodiac drop the Seawolf–by far their most iconic watch–from the lineup, but they sold the rights to the name Seawolf to Breitling! So when the Seawolf line thankfully reappeared in 2015, Zodiac had to call every single one a Super Seawolf. Nevertheless, Zodiac has been doing some interesting things with this revived Super Seawolf line, paying homage to their popular vintage models while offering lots of colorful configurations.

Overall, the automatic chronometer-filled 2025 Zodiac lineup is light years ahead of the quartz-centric 2010 Zodiac lineup. So, I think their financial struggles have more to do with Fossil’s debts as a whole than any particular recent failing on Zodiac’s part.

Is There Hope for Zodiac?

There is still hope for Zodiac. Although Fossil had $150 million of debt due in 2026 that they apparently wouldn’t have been able to pay on time, judges have approved debt restructuring terms as of November 14, 2025. Fossil says they plan to keep Zodiac and all their other core brands alive.

Making watches with four-figure list prices that end up getting sold at Ross for $125 certainly isn’t ideal. But on the bright side, you can read countless stories of people driving around to Ross after Ross after Ross hunting for them. When this many watch geeks are driving to nine Rosses to get Zodiac watches, even at a deep discount, they must resonate with the people on some level.

I’m rooting for Zodiac, although I’m admittedly biased. My dad has a classic Seawolf, and my high school graduation gift was a 1990s Zodiac Marine Life–similar to one worn by Kenny Rogers. I wore that Marine Life for most of college. And a couple years ago I paid $1,800 for a white ceramic Super Sea Wolf identical to one that some guy just bought at a discount store for $360. Oh well. Breitling bought Universal Geneve and Gallet so maybe they’ll buy Zodiac and take them to the next level too! Or maybe Fossil will just keep on trucking, pay their $150 million in debts, and pretend like the Great Rossening never happened. We’ll see.