Filippo Loretti co-founders and brothers Danielius and Matas Jakutis launched their Kickstarter campaign on 17 November, quickly securing over €200K from the crowd in 24 hours. With a few hours remaining on their campaign the brothers have now raised over €4,462,100 from more than 17,277 backers. Quite a surprise considering their original goal was a mere €20K.
The more expensive time pieces were initially capped to 1641 pieces, in homage to Galileo and his discovery of the pendulum effect. According to the campaign, Filippo Loreti unisex watches are made from 316L stainless steel, guaranteeing the watching high strength, durability and long-lasting visual appearance… for ten years. The strap is made-to-fit from Italian leather. There have been comments from backers regarding difficulties contacting the Filippo Loretti; the company has responded to direct questions to their rewards website.
Why watches?
“Years ago we were searching to buy a quality timepiece and were surprised how much ones does actually cost…, ” commented Danielius and Mates Jakutis via their campaign. “We did the research and found that the average watch retails for 10-40 times what it costs to make, due to wholesalers, distributors, retail mark-ups and expensive ad campaigns involved in the process. Danielius has a design and fashion management background, while Matas – business operations. We dropped out of our universities and went all in by contacting and consulting the professionals in the field, producing samples, testing them in a closed beta customers groups.”
The specs:
Watch case: Stainless steel (grade 316L)
Water resistant: 5 ATM, 50 meters
Glass: Sapphire coated crystal with anti-scratch surface finish
Luminous: Milano series hands (glowing in the dark)
Strap size: 20 mm, best fit for 14 – 23 cm wrist
Watch size (diameter / thickness): Automatic models – 42 / 12 mm;
Milano – 42 / 10 mm; Venice – 40 / 9 mm; Rome – 40 / 9 mm;
Japan automatic: Venice automatic Miyota 9100; Milano automatic Miyota 9122; Rome automatic Miyota 8215.
Japan semi-mechanical quartz:
Venice VX3F; Rome 2035; Milano VD75.
Strap: full grain Italian leather, handcrafted.
Available strap colours: brown mahogany, black nappa, deep ocean blue nappa, smoke grey nappa.
Buckle: stainless steel pin buckle, deployable buckle
Warranty: 10 years limited warranty against manufacturing defects.
Prices range from €149 to €695 (€139 watches are sold out), with less than 200 watches still available.
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