Jan 7 (Reuters) - Watchmaker Fossil Inc (FOSL.O) said it expects its quarterly sales and earnings to exceed its prior outlook, helped by stronger wholesale shipments in the U.S. and higher sales in the worldwide direct-to-consumer segment.

www.fossil.com

Fossil, which also sells jewelry, leather goods, sunglasses and apparel, now sees sales of $520 million to $525 million for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 2, up from its prior view of $497 million to $506 million.

It also expects to exceed the top end of its profit view of 82 cents a share to 86 cents a share, helped by the better-than-expected sales results.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 85 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $503.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Our Fossil brand outperformed our expectations during the holiday season driven by continued innovative product offerings, resulting in a particularly strong performance from the core watch category," Chief Financial Officer Mike Kovar said in a statement.

"Stronger than expected sell-thru across many of our U.S. wholesale accounts also favorably impacted our net sales as retailers continued to flow receipts to meet demand," he said.

Shares of the Richardson, Texas-based company closed at $34.19 Wednesday 6 January on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)