Filippo Loreti: The Most Funded Timepiece
Customers are purchasing into the start-up promising a top quality luxury watch at a part of the price. But will it really democratize the luxury watch industry as assured? In November 2015, start-up watchmaking brand Filippo Loreti launched its first collection on Kickstarter with an initial funding objective at $20,000. Thirty days afterward they ended the campaign by generating $926,620 – a record for timekeeping projects on Kickstarter. Within a year, Filippo Loreti launched their second collection, again on Kickstarter. They smashed the old record thanks to the support of 18,550 backers, raising $5,170,445 in only 30 days. With this second launch, they became the 18th largest crowd funding project, irrespective of category, in Kickstarter history.
The brand has promised always to “alter the prospect of the luxury watch industry forever”, taking aim at the big watch brands that “rip off” their trustworthy customers. On standard, they say, an extravagance watch is sold at a last price that is 10 to 40 times higher than it costs to produce it.
That means that a watch that costs only $100 to produce can be marked up to $2,000 when the clients gets his or her hands on it. Certainly this Robin Hood approach to watchmaking – take form the rich and give to the less rich - is a key constituent of their success. Not only that, but the watches are stylish as well. Italian culture and history is the motivation for their series, each named after a well-known Italian city. The Venice line is enthused by the memorable St Mark’s Basilica, the Rome line draws on the arithmetical landscape of the Roman Capitoline Hill, while the Milano line is based on Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Every watch sports a distinctive engraving inspired by one of the Italian cities.
Each watch comes in automatic variants or Japanese quartz. Just for the record, the automatic mechanical movements on offer are sourced from the 8215 for the Rome, the 9122 for the Milano and Miyota: the 9100 for the Venice,. During the early bird Kickstarter campaign, they were ranging from $150-400.
They are packaged in a stainless steel case based on the model. The base crystals are mineral with sapphire coating, but for those fascinated in some additional scratch resistance there is always the option to improve to a more healthy crystal. In fact the watches are collected by hand.
That is all well and good for a watch that can be had for $200-300, but whether we can call that a “luxury” timepiece as claimed by the brand is doubtful. No doubt the watches look good and they are well presented, particularly considering their cost. This makes sense when we discovered that the brand founders have a background in plan.
The fact that Filippo Loreti offers a ten year warranty on their watches recommends that they plan to be around for a while, and that their watches are of a certain quality. As the old proverb goes: time will tell how good the Filippo Loreti watch is.
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