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Fossil unveils limited-edition timepiece in partnership with Varun Dhawan
MUMBAI: FOSSIL has announced an all-new limited-edition watch designed in partnership with Varun Dhawan. This limited edition watch aligns itself with Fossil’s curator series – a collaborative collection of watches fuelled by a creative class of artists and innovation icons.
Blending Fossil’s timeless style with Varun’s personality into a dynamic design, this watch features Fossil’s bestselling Machine watch case with a sleek black dial with a polish of Varun’s signature red on the three hands that display the hour, minute, and second. Varun’s initial and birthdate are inscribed on the dial, making this exclusive watch more personal. The watch case comes with two premium strap choices for additional versatility – a black steel bracelet and black silicone strap with croc pattern and red accents.
Each timepiece is individually numbered and comes encased in exclusive packaging featuring Varun’s signature and a personalised message to all his fans.
Taking forward this personalised initiative for Varun Dhawan and reflecting his compassionate side, Fossil has collaborated with the NGO Magic Bus, whose efforts are centred on helping children develop the necessary life skills to lead a brighter future. The timepiece is the latest iteration of Fossil’s commitment to community impact: Make Time for Good.
Make Time for Good is Fossil’s pledge to unleash the power of youth to take action toward transformative, cultural change. As a Make Time for Good partner in purpose, Magic Bus is currently helping more than 375,000 children and 100,000 young people in India escape the cycle of poverty by providing access to essential life skills, education, and employment. As an organization close to Varun’s heart, a portion of the exclusive Varun Dhawan x Fossil watch sales will be donated to Magic Bus to support their mission of ending the cycle of poverty through education.
Commenting on this development, celebrity brand ambassador Varun Dhawan said, “Fossil is an iconic brand that has always celebrated creativity, authenticity and optimism, everything that I swear by when it comes to my style. I am honoured to be associated with a brand that is so close to me, to create a watch that truly personifies what I believe in – something new, exciting, and affordably classy. I hope everyone loves it as much as we do.”
Talking about the launch, Fossil Group India managing director Johnson Verghese said, “We are proud to announce the launch of Varun’s watch – a one of its kind curation. This elegant timepiece embodies Fossil’s ethos, rightly blended with Varun’s personal style. With our brand spirit translating perfectly into a distinctive design that is in line with the current style trends, we are certain that this limited edition watch would be loved by Fossil’s and Varun’s fans. ”
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
