If you are reading this post you have probably stumbled across an advertisement from Filippo Loreti and are curious to know if their watches are worth the money!
In this post I am going to share my experience with Filippo Loreti as a company, my first impressions and a brief review of the Filippo Loreti Ascari GP 1953.
However before we jump into the specs and first impressions I think its worthwhile starting with a bit of background about the company, the brand and the watch itself.
Background of Filippo Loreti and the Ascari GP 1953
With a name like Filippo Loreti many might be lead to think that it is an Italian brand, however it’s not.
Filippo Loreti was founded in 2015 by a pair of Lithuanian brothers and based on their website the watches was assembled in the Shenzhen province in China.
Although their website says their watches are manufactured in Hong Kong I believe it is Mainland China
The Filippo Loreti Ascari GP 1953 watch is a homage to Alberto Ascari, Italian racing driver and two times Formula One World Champion who used to race with Ferrari at the time.
The case back features this really nice artwork of Alberto Ascari’s car, it’s also got the Ascari logo embossed as well and the Filippo Loreti writing.
This particular model the Ascari GP 1953 is a limited edition and is limited to 1953 timepieces.
First Impressions
My first impressions of the watch.
It’s nice and solid and aesthetically good looking. It feels like a well made watch.
It’s got a gold crown, gold pushers, two-tone pushers, two gold bezel, which is fixed with a tachymeter on it and two-tone bracelet.
The bracelet itself, feels nice and solid and a bit on the heavier side.
As mentioned above the back has some nice artwork on it too.
All in all, it looks good and feels quite good too.
Specifications
- Case diameter: 42 mm excluding the crown and pushers
- Case thickness: 12.9 mm
- Strap lug width: 20 mm
- Glass: sapphire coated mineral glass
- Movement: Seiko VK64
- Case Material: Stainless Steel
- Water Resistance: 100M (10 ATM)
- Lume: Luminous Hands and Indexes
Packaging
The watch came in a triple box. It’s got a nice little sort of welcome card that says “You’re awesome. Thank you for your purchase.”
The inner box has a nice little engraving of the watch on it and it feels nicely packaged.
Inside the box.
- It’s got some spare links.
- It’s got a polishing cloth and
- it’s also got the instruction manual.
Wrist Shots
That’s what it looks like on the wrist on my 7.25 inch wrist.
Luckily I didn’t have to do any length adjustments or anything straight out of the box, which is a good thing.
The watch does come with some spare links however should you need to add a few links in case you have larger wrists.
It feels nice and comfortable and sits nicely on the wrist. I didn’t feel any pinching in the bracelet or anything.
What I like about the Filippo Loreti Ascari Grand Prix 1953
- The Movement – One of the biggest deciding factors in purchasing this watch was the movement.
It’s running a Seiko VK64 meca quartz movement, which is a pretty decent movement for the price point.
Its got that mechanical feel and has a nice sweeping hand action when the chronograph is started and snaps back to 0 nice and crisp when you press the reset button. - Look and Feel – Its an aesthetically good looking watch and feels good to wear. As a I mentioned earlier the bracelet feel comfortable and I didn’t experience any pinching.
- Design – Design wise I feel like its nicely designed and dial is well balanced.
- Finishing – For the price point that it was sold at I would say the finishing is quite decent
- Easy Returns policy and Generous Warranty – the other deciding factors in my purchase was the fact that they offer a 100% NO-RISK MONEY BACK GUARANTEE with Easy 90-day returns and a 10 year warranty
What I don’t like about the Filippo Loreti Ascari Grand Prix 1953
- Long wait times – I placed my order in September 2020 and received it in Dec 2020.
Their website, does say that this watch was made to order and It took almost three months to get to me since placing my order. - Pretending to be a luxury brand – If you have seen their adverstisements you will notice they pitch themselves as a luxury brand or a luxury watch without the mark up.
In my humble opinion, I don’t think it is. I will cover more on this in a seperate post.
I think Fillipo Loretti are more of an affordable fashion brand that fit more in the category of Daniel Wellington, MVMT, Vincero and so forth.
I would say they are a good entry level fashion brand watch. - Frequent Price Drops – This is probably the most disappointing thing for me.
When I purchased this watch I paid about $309 Australian dollars, excluding postage which is roughly about 229 US dollars.
Around December 2020 they were selling it at 219 Australian dollars, which is roughly about 157 US dollars.
That’s almost a $70 price drop!
Let’s face it brands create limited edition products to give it a feeling of exclusivity.
Not that I’m interested in the resale value of it but its always nice to have something you purchase hold its value.
In my opinion if a watch company creates a limited edition watch or any product for that matter they shouldn’t be dropping prices.
It dilutes the brand and the gives the impression that its isn’t exclusive after all. - Poor Communication – Another thing I wasn’t impressed with it was the fact that they said, “Once you place your order.” “We’ll keep you constantly posted and updated.”
I didn’t receive a single update. In fact, I had to follow them up all the time.
The only time I got an update without following up was when they actually shipped the watch and sent me a tracking number. - Longer Shipping Time – This is one is not their fault but worth a mention.
I paid for expedited shipping, which was slightly more expensive shipping instead of the free shipping and it still took over 15 days to get here.
December is generally a very busy period for shipping and the pandemic may have contributed to further delays.
Closing thoughts
All in all I think the Filippo Loreti Ascari is not a bad watch.
Sure there are some other watches with similar specs that can purchased for a lot less from Ali express watches like Pagani Design, Parnis etc.
However, running a global business has a lot of overheads and Filippo Loreti differentiates itself with its marketing and creating a perception of a luxury product without the premium.
You can tell they spend a lot on their marketing which is probably why they charge more compared to the likes of Pagani Design, Parnis etc.
As with every business there is always room for improvement and given they are a fairly young company I am hoping they will continue to improve their quality and reduce their lead times.
If you look at other watch brands like Dan Henry or Hoffman Watches they offer similar watches at similar price points but don’t have long wait times.
If you are after a watch that looks good and don’t care too much about the brand then its not a bad choice.
If however you want a watch with a bit of heritage or something that’s well regarded amongst watch enthusiasts then Seiko, Citizen, Bulova, Dan Henry offer some very nice watches in the same price range.